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We all know that creatives have very busy schedules, but there are some dates in the design calendar that simply shouldn’t be missed. So stop what you’re doing and put a big bright note next to the 14 November in your diary as the day you’ll join us for Adobe’s Creative Meet Up. In just a week’s time, the software giant will be heading down to the heart of London’s creative community, where some of the industry’s brightest minds will be sharing their expertise. And you can be there too as we live stream all the action right here on Creative Bloq. Join us on 14 November from 18:30 GMT (19:30 CET) to hear from some of the most creative minds in the business. Principal Manager of Creative Cloud Evangelism at Adobe Rufus Deuchler will kick things off with details of the latest game-changing updates to Creative Cloud, swiftly followed by luminary talks from prolific art director Kate Moross and artist and print designer Kelly Anna. If that wasn’t enough, there will also be live tutorial with multidisciplinary graphic designer Tina Touli, and none other than one of the world’s most influential and visionary photographers Nick Knight headlining the event. Freelance artist and print designer Kelly Anna is part of an amazing line-up at this Adobe's 2017 Creative Meet Up. Image courtesy of Kelly Anna Creative revelations As well as this stellar line-up of speakers, the Creative Meet Up is a great opportunity to find out more about the next generation of Creative Cloud, which was recently unveiled at Adobe’s annual Adobe MAX conference in Las Vegas. Constantly working to meet the needs of and enhance the workflow for busy artists and designers, the show-stopping event showcased new feature updates to its flagship applications, Photoshop CC, InDesign CC, Illustrator CC and Premiere Pro CC. There were also many other exciting announcements, including four brand new applications: Adobe XD CC - developed in open partnership with the design community through a public beta, Adobe XD is the go-to tool for designing and prototyping mobile apps and website. Adobe Dimension CC - previously Project Felix, Dimension allows graphic designers to really get to grips with the power and flexibility of 3D, with the ease of working with 2D. Character Animation CC - launched just a couple of weeks ago, this brilliant 2D animation tool helps bring still image artwork from Photoshop or Illustrator to life. Adobe Photoshop Lightroom CC - the all-new cloud-centric photo service for editing, organising, storing and sharing photos from anywhere. Other highlights at Adobe MAX included details of Adobe’s artificial intelligence platform Adobe Sensei, which has been implemented into all of the new CC updates. This means that the entire design process, from concept to completion, is accelerating dramatically. Attendees were also excited to learn of additional investment and expanded resources from Adobe to help people fully realise their creative potential. This includes the launch of AdobeLIVE on Behance, a livestreaming channel where 10 million Behance community members can learn from and inspire each other. With all this development and innovation, it’s no wonder creatives across the globe choose Adobe products as their go-to tools. Want to know more? Join us for the Adobe Creative Meet Up live stream, right here on the 14 November! View the full article

How do you go about choosing imagery for your brand? This will largely depend on things like the nature of the product, the company’s business goals and the intended audience. So to a large extent, the more research you do into these things, the better equipped you’ll be to know what kind of imagery will work. There are, however, some general dos and don’ts that apply to pretty much all branding projects. Here we talk you through six of them, and provide examples of each. 01. DO be eye-catching You can’t ignore an image like thisRight now, we’re living through a time when it’s never been more challenging to gain attention. Once upon a time, print and TV were the respected gatekeepers channelling all the eyeballs into just a few places; all advertisers needed to do was pay for space. Now, our eyes are darting everywhere, from print to digital, apps to social media. It’s all so cluttered and so, where we haven’t yet managed to install ad-blockers, we’ve installed virtual ones in our own mind, mentally filtering out anything that doesn’t grab us immediately. This dramatic imagery helped make the Lost Village Festival a selloutNowadays, then, any branding needs to work hard to generate excitement, and any imagery you use must be instantly alluring for your campaign to succeed. The visual identity for the Lost Village Festival in Lincolnshire by Only Studio takes that idea and runs with it. These colourful and dramatic shots have an instant impact and immerse the viewer in what looks like an unforgettable experience. You can see more of the branding on Only Studio's site. 02. DON’T be predictable This is not your average gym imageryIf you really want to get attention, here’s a simple technique: think about the kind of images people will expect to see, and then produce something very different. Because disrupting people’s expectations is a key way to make your imagery look authentic and to generate an emotional response. These shots are far removed from the average health or fitness campaignLIFE showed just how this is done with its campaign for GSK’s health nutrition brand Gen P. It used fitness photographer Paul Calver to capture strong, athletic models taking part in a live resistance training session; and the results are far removed from the average health or fitness campaign. Check out more of the images on the LIFE site. 03. DO get creative with collage Photo collages are a great way to convey multiple themesIt may be an old-fashioned technique, but right now the art of photo collage is making a big comeback in the design world. And when done right, it can be a brilliant way to combine multiple and varied images, and to evoke a flurry of complex emotions in the viewer. This old-fashioned technique is being rediscovered by contemporary designersJohnson Banks, for example, made great use of photo collages in its branding for the Victoria & Albert Museum’s 2016 exhibition You Say You Want a Revolution? The exhibition covered a huge range of themes and multiple revolutions, both cultural and political. Photo collages offered a great way to encapsulate all of this visually, and to create a coherent identity for the show. You can see more of the designs on the Johnson Banks site. 04. DO consider illustration Elegant illustrations add a touch of refinement to this hotel brandThink images, and it’s natural to think photography. But precisely because of the ubiquity of this type of imagery, you may be able to make more impact with illustration. After all, in the iPhone and Instagram era, everybody can take a half-decent picture, but a beautiful painting? Technology has not (yet) made that possible at just a touch of a button. Quirky yet sophisticated, these diverse identities give a high end feel to the brandFine showed just how much the right illustrations can elevate a brand in its identity for boutique hotel chain Monaco. Based on the theme of the quirky globetrotter who collects design inspiration wherever they go, Fine commissioned a series of richly diverse illustrative identities that convey the high-end nature of the brand while appealing to the individualist. You can see more of the images of the identity on the Fine site. 05. DON’T overcomplicate A simple silhouette can be all you needSometimes the most effective imagery is the most subtle. Whether you’re using photography or illustration, always consider whether less may be more. The simplest silhouettes and most basic shapes can transmit a powerful feeling to people’s brains, fast, so they’re always worth investigating. Stranger & Stranger was careful not to throw out the brand’s heritage during its redesignCheck out Stranger & Stranger’s redesign of Sandeman’s tawny ports. While the aim was to give the brand a modern-looking refresh, the team was keen to keep the iconic cloaked and hatted figure as the central image of the brand. Because sometimes, the best brand imagery really is the one you’re already using. You can see more of the new designs on the Stranger & Stranger site. 06. DO focus on colour Defining a campaign through a single colour can be an effective strategyAs we’ve often noted in the past, a series of top brands have successfully managed to ‘own a colour’, such as Coca-Cola’s red and Tiffany’s distinctive blue. But it can also be effective to focus a single campaign on a specific colour, particularly when the overarching theme of the campaign supports it. Theatrical images emphasise this sub-brand’s rebellious themeA good example can be seen in AKQA’s campaign for Rolls Royce Black Badge. This modern sub-brand Black Badge is the disruptive alter ego of the traditional Rolls Royce marque, and so called for an audacious and theatrical succession of images. The use of a black theme played nicely into these arresting photographs, and you can see the full series on the AKQA site. Liked that? Then read these: The top 10 big-brand logos Where to find unusual images for your design projects 5 uses for stock images you might not have thought of View the full article

We’re firmly into Black November now – and it’s a fantastic time to grab a cheap Wacom tablet deal if you’re in the market for a nifty new graphics tablet. If you’re not sure where to start, take a look at our selection of the best drawing tablets of 2017. It’s packed with all the info you need to make the right purchase decision for your needs. But for cheap Wacom tablets, look no further. We’ve scooped up the best deals on Wacom's drawing tablets and accessories on this page, and will be updating it throughout the month with the latest deals and discounts as they drop. As always, the best place to bag a bargain on Wacom products isn’t on the Wacom website. Instead you’ll need to look to leading retailers like Amazon, John Lewis and Currys. Staying on top of the best deals isn’t easy though – especially when you’re meant to be at work. That’s why we’re bringing them to you here. Read on for the cheapest Wacom deals we can find on the firm's leading tablets… Wacom Cintiq 13HD Creative Pen Display Wacom's ever-popular Creative Pen Cintiq tablet offers a high precision solution for all your graphics projects, whether in the office or at home. Weighing in at just 1.2kg, it's a highly portable device, meaning you can easily jot down sketches on the go, and with a 13.3 inch display, there's plenty of room to really express your creativity. It also comes complete with Wacom's powerful Pro Pen, featuring 2048 levels of pressure sensitivity and tilt recognition. Wacom Cintiq 27QHD Creative Pen and Touch Display Offering unparalled clarity and colour sensitivity, the Cintiq 27QHD provides true-to-life colour on a high-resolution, 27-inch display. The widescreen 16:9 display has four times the pixel density of standard HDTV, providing artists with the resolution (2560 x 1440) to handle the finest detail. Designed for drawing and painting, image editing and 3D animation, the 27QHD includes a Pro Pen, complete with a range of nibs, including felt for a smooth flow across the tablet surface. Wacom Cintiq Pro If you're after that natural pen-on-paper feel from your tablet, look no further than the Wacom Cintiq Pro. Designed for professional artists and designers who demand an intuitive, pen-on-screen connection to their work, the Wacom Cintiq Pro offers a resolution of up to 4K and a wide-gamut display, so you’ll be able to see your work in life-like detail. Wacom MobileStudio Pro Wacom MobileStudio Pro provides an entire studio full of powerful creative tools right at your fingertips. Featuring the new sensitive, more accurate and responsive Wacom Pro Pen 2, this MobileStudio provides everything you need to create at your best, from your studio desk to on the go. Available in two sizes, 13- and 16-inches, the MobileStudio Pro has been designed specifically to meet the demands of creative professionals who want the freedom to create anywhere. Backed up by powerful Intel chips, these machines have all the muscle you need to run professional creative applications. Plus, the Wacom MobileStudio Pro 16 model come with NVIDIA Quadro graphics and on-board memory to make even the heaviest files fly around your screen. Wacom Intuos Pro If you're after a quality drawing tablet but are on a bit of a budget, then the Wacom Intuos Pro might be just the solution. Simply connect this nifty but affordable device to your Mac or Windows PC with USB or built-in Bluetooth, install drivers, and you’re ready to start work directly in the software of your choice. The ultra-responsive Wacom Pro Pen 2 connects you to your creative work like never before, providing the perfect drawing space. Wacom Bamboo Slate Wacom Bamboo Duo stylus Wacom Bamboo Fineline stylus Wacom Bamboo Sketch stylus Related articles: The best deals on Adobe Creative Cloud The best cheap laptop deals for creatives The best Currys Black Friday deals 2017 View the full article

It might still be 2017, but the Eurovision Song Contest is looking ahead to next year with the launch of the branding and logos for the 2018 contest. Creative Bloq readers might remember the 2017 Eurovision Song Contest logo, which celebrated diversity, but for 2018 there's a distinct underwater theme. This doesn't mean Eurovision has thrown the idea of diversity completely out of the window. Instead it's used the ocean as a creative theme that acts as a framework for a similar angle, summed up with the zingy slogan "All Aboard!" The nautical theme also ties in nicely to the history of Lisbon, Portugal, which is where the 63rd contest will be hosted. Watch how the new logo came about and get hyped for the 2018 contest with the video below. Organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) with its Portuguese Member RTP, the 2018 logos use the ocean to explore how the continent is connected. Gonçalo Madaíl, creative manager of RTP, said: "For centuries, Portugal explored the world by sea. Today, Lisbon is more and more the city of all colours, a great harbour of cultures and sounds that welcomes you all to come aboard!" The main logo for the contest is a sea shell, but 12 other derivations are predicated on the concept of the varying life in the oceans. Through these multiple logos, the creative concept portrays key themes such as diversity, respect and tolerance. Explore the full haul by clicking left to right in the gallery below. Jon Ola Sand, the EBU’s executive supervisor of the Eurovision Song Contest, said: “We are extremely happy with the creative theme and logos for this year’s contest, which resonate with Lisbon’s history and underscore Eurovision’s core values, including diversity, very well. "The Ocean connects all of us, and its variety can provide good inspiration for each of the 42 participating broadcasters that we look forward to seeing in Lisbon next May.” The Eurovision Song Contest final will take place on Saturday 12 May. Related articles: The top 10 big-brand logos The 6 best design industry logos The psychology of logo shapes: A designer's guide View the full article

http://www.storiescentral.com/these-free-things-will-get-you-in-trouble/ … View the full article

In his introduction to Now You See It and Other Essays on Design (published by Princeton Architectural Press, RRP $35/£25), Pentagram New York partner Michael Bierut speaks of the “intimate connection between graphic design and language”. Bierut notes that “Writers are inevitably participants – active or unwitting – in the graphic design process… Words are at once the designer’s raw materials and reason for being, simultaneously a means to an end and the end itself. I am suspicious of any graphic designer who is not an enthusiastic reader.” And with that, he seems to have neatly summarised the raison d’etre for his very own new title (clever), a collection of more than 50 short pieces by the man himself that tackle all manner of design issues, from how to draw, to celebrating the work of Alan Fletcher and Massimo Vignelli, to listicle-type pieces like “13 ways of looking at a typeface” to “the cult of advertising personality.” It’s very much a book of essays about design, rather than a 'design book'. The cover is purely typographic, with bold all-caps lettering struck through with red – a clever play on “now you see it,” because, of course, we really only partially see it at all. The focus is on the “and other essays on design” part. “Seeing” here means reading: there are very few illustrations at all. The vast majority of the essays were previously published in Design Observer, with the odd piece from the AIGA Journal, such as a charming 1989 missive in which Bierut discusses his early days discovering that he had drawing talent while at school. And even more poignantly, the importance of 1950s TV show Learn to Draw with Jon Gnagy, and the accompanying instruction book of the same name. There’s a beautiful honesty and sincerity about Bierut’s writing style in pieces like this, which mix personal remembrances with universal lessons that could be picked up by anyone working or interested in creativity. In drawing these writings from the last 25 years or so together, we see that maybe Bierut’s writing is at its best in these quickfire, to-the-point essays: they’re engaging, smart, meaningful and witty, and refreshingly never veer into unnecessary jargon or design doublespeak. "Design is a way to engage with real content, real experience," he writes; and he certainly practices what he preaches. Who else could manage to combine musings on baseball; lessons on client relationships from The Sopranos; seven-piece horn band Chicago; and Miami Vice, and wrangle them through a convincing design lens otherwise? Related articles: 25 names every graphic designer should know Books every graphic designer should read Best free fonts for designers View the full article

Trustwave discloses an unpatched vulnerability in Brother printers with the Debut embedded webserver after numerous attempts to contact the vendor failed. View the full article

http://www.zdnet.com/article/windows-10-if-you-want-a-highly-secure-device-follow-these-rules-says-microsoft/ … View the full article

Whether you work in web or print design, you need to understand grid theory. While some designers actively eschew grids in favour of a more intuitive, freeform layout, the most successful do so having worked with grids for years – they understand the rules before they break them. For self-taught designers, a lot of the theory and rationalisation behind the grid as a design tool simply isn't covered by the typical blog posts and conference talks. We're here to set things straight with this pocket-sized guide to the grid, including a small smattering of theory. Let's get started. 01. Grids establish a meter and rhythm A grid will help guide the viewer to the information they wantThe foremost purpose of a grid – in graphic design at least – is to establish a set of guidelines for how elements should be positioned within a layout. Not only does an effective grid provide the rhythm for a design, but it also defines the meter. This is an important part of making the content accessible, and helping the viewer understand where to find the next piece of information within the layout. It sets expectations and defines the rules, timbre and – in some cases – voice of the design. Think of a grid as providing the road map along which your viewers travel. 02. Grids define and reflect proportion A key aspect of the grid is its ability to help determine and define proportion. In print, proportions most commonly echo the size of the media; the shape and orientation of the paper are often reflected in the size and shape of images included within a layout, for example. This feels comfortable because the reader subliminally understands the context of the layout as a result of the physical shape and size of the delivery mechanism, such as a piece of paper. On the web this idea of reflection isn't quite so important, but grids can be used in the same way to anchor content back to the screen. Screens can be more fluid, and as a designer it's not possible to know with the same confidence what size and shape of screen will be used to view content. Regardless of this, proportion and scale are important tools in a layout, so using a grid to determine and enforce rules helps define that all-important set of signposts that enable the reader to access and understand content. 03. Grids work with the Golden Ratio Basing your design on the Golden Ratio can help ensure a pleasing layoutThe whole concept of a definitive grid 'system' is a relatively recent invention in the world of design. Grids have existed intuitively since the earliest days of man drawing and writing, but it's only recently that layout has been considered in a scholarly fashion, and as such it has never existed in isolation from other best-practice layout rules. One such example of crossover is where the Golden Ratio meets the grid. The Golden Ratio (also known as the golden mean) determines the most pleasing set of proportions for an element, and is simplified to the 'rule of thirds'. When used in combination with a grid, these simple rules for size, position and proportion can help ensure a layout feels coherent, but also aesthetically appealing. This is important because, once again, it can help make the content more accessible. Remember that a grid is the invisible glue behind the content – in most cases it should be transparent to the viewer. 04. There's a 960 grid system on the web A 960px grid can be divided up in many different ways, making it a flexible optionOnce you know the benefits of having a grid system in place, it makes sense that web designers have adopted grids. To make things more practical, a few common sizes have become the standard. The most common is the 960px grid system. 960px is a good size because it has many factors (whole numbers it can be divided into): 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 10, 12, 15, 16, 20, 24, 30, 32, 40, 48, 60, 64, 80, 96, 120, 160, and so on. Being able to divide the grid up in this way provides a lot of flexibility for the width of columns, offering a multi-purpose, reusable grid system. Needless to say, numerous designers have been busy wrapping up the 960px grid into a helpful set of CSS libraries. One such example can be found at 960.gs, but there are others available if you look around. 05. Grids provide a solid foundation As we've seen, grids exist primarily to help determine the positioning and balance in a layout. Providing this kind of firm foundation can help ensure content is presented in an easy-to-understand order, but it can also be used to highlight specific areas of content simply by breaking them out of the grid. The viewer will naturally identify these break-outs and be drawn towards them, giving the designer the opportunity to play with the hierarchy of a layout and tweak the meaning of a piece of work. 06. Grids work with other key design principles Once you've mastered the basics you can start to break away from the gridDon't forget that the grid is just one tool alongside many basic principles you can use to enhance your layouts. Don't get caught up in using a grid too rigidly – some of the best designs break all the rules of grid layout and are all the more successful for doing so. Understanding how and when to use a grid can only really come from experience, so experiment. Check out our other articles below on design theory to pick up other handy tools and principles you can use to enhance your designs. This article was originally published in net magazine. Subscribe to net here. Related articles: Create a responsive layout with CSS Grid The designer's guide to Gestalt Theory How to master colour theory View the full article

Adobe's Creative Cloud subscription packages continue to divide designers – they offer great flexibility, regular updates and the latest app updates, but they do cost more for long-term users than outright purchasing used to. If you use more than one app (which you almost certainly will), you’ll find yourself paying at least $600/£600 per year to use the Creative Cloud package. Special Creative Bloq November deal: We’ve teamed up with Adobe to offer Creative Bloq readers a special 15% discount on Creative Cloud membership. Instead of paying the usual $49.94/£49.94 every month, you’ll pay just US$42.49/£42.49 per month for the first year. So if you’ve been debating whether to sign up, now’s your chance to get hands-on with Adobe’s stellar suite of world-class design tools – and save some cash in the process.The offer is valid from now until 27 November 2017, and includes Adobe’s entire suite of desktop and mobile apps for Mac and PC, from essentials such as Photoshop CC to next generation tools such as Adobe XD CC. If you just fancy paying as you go (with a monthly contract) the price rises to nearly £76 per month. Add Adobe Stock on an annual contract and it’s around £75 per month. Remember that Creative Cloud subscriptions also give you 20GB cloud storage allowance, making it easier than ever to create across multiple devices and collaborate by sharing files with others. Our pick of the best Adobe Creative Cloud deals available right now The best Adobe Creative Cloud deals As well as our exclusive 15% discount on subscriptions, the price widget below will show you the latest deals on Adobe's Creative Cloud today. The best Adobe Creative Cloud Photography Plan deals As well as our exclusive 15% discount, the price widget below will show you the latest deals on Adobe's Creative Cloud Photography Plan. Related articles: 95 top Photoshop tutorials The best Black Friday deals 2017 7 insane tech sneaks from Adobe Max 2017 View the full article

It's just three weeks until Black Friday and Cyber Monday 2017 will bring you some great discounts on creative tools, but in the meantime, we've got you a great daily deal on a portable chalkboard and chalkboard markers. You never know when you're going to have your next great idea, so when it comes, you have to be prepared to capture it. The Contact Paper Creativity Bundle lets you turn any flat surface into the perfect place to record your latest inspiration and bring your ideas to life. You can get this bundle on sale now for just $17.99 (approx £14). The Contact Paper Creativity Bundle is an essential tool for any creative type. This simple peel-and-stick chalkboard can be set up anywhere on any flat surface, no assembly required and no need to lug around extra equipment. Just cut it into the perfect shape and stick it onto your surface of choice. Whether you want to just write down your to-do list in a place you won't miss or work through your latest brain storm, this is the perfect bundle for you. You can get the Contact Paper Creativity Bundle on sale for just $17.99 (approx £14). That's a saving of 30% off the full retail price for a great tool that will help spark your creativity, so grab this deal today. About Creative Bloq deals This great deal comes courtesy of the Creative Bloq Deals store – a creative marketplace that's dedicated to ensuring you save money on the items that improve your design life. We all like a special offer or two, particularly with creative tools and design assets often being eye-wateringly expensive. That's why the Creative Bloq Deals store is committed to bringing you useful deals, freebies and giveaways on design assets (logos, templates, icons, fonts, vectors and more), tutorials, e-learning, inspirational items, hardware and more. Every day of the working week we feature a new offer, freebie or contest – if you miss one, you can easily find past deals posts on the Deals Staff author page or Offer tag page. Plus, you can get in touch with any feedback at: deals@creativebloq.com. Read more: How to get the best Cyber Monday deals 2017 10 top tools for illustrators to try this October Doodle art: 52 great examples View the full article

Colour harmony is the theory of combining colours in a way that is harmonious to the eye. It's the 'magical glue' that binds all of the elements of your painting together. Without it, you can have the perfect subject to paint, a great base drawing, strong composition, and correct values, but end up with a painting that looks wrong. This problem is pretty common, and the chances are, it’s because the colours you’ve used lack harmony. In real life, the light falling onto elements and the air surrounding them affects the colours we see. The colours on a misty day are completely different to those on a bright and sunny one. It is this ‘atmospheric veil’ of lighting conditions that unifies all the elements of a painting together. There are many rules as to how to achieve such harmony, such as using complementary or analogous colours. We already have an in-depth colour theory guide so I’m not going to go into the theory here – I won’t even mention which colours go well together. Instead, I’ll simply give a few practical tips that can make a big difference to the final result of your piece. The following five tips should help you use colour to create that ‘magical glue’ that harmonises your oil painting and links all the elements within it together. 01. Use a ground colour Start with a ground colour before paintingI always apply a ground colour before starting a painting. It means I won’t need to fill every gap on the canvas, but more importantly, it helps harmonise the piece. The ground colour helps establish an atmosphere, and it can even show through thinly painted areas of the finished piece. My ground colour varies – it could be pink, orange, ochre or grey – depending on the mood of the scene. In this unfinished painting, I chose a vibrant orange to convey the feeling of heat. This colour appears across the whole painting and although in the final piece, many of the gaps are filled in, the feeling remains. For my oil paintings I use primed MDF boards, as they have the correct absorbency for my painting style. I prime each with three coats of acrylic gesso before applying my ground colour. 02. Use a limited palette Keep it simple by using fewer coloursAs a beginner, it is easy to get carried away and buy every colour available. But using a limited palette has many benefits. Fewer colours means you mix most of the colours yourself. I very rarely buy green, for example. Instead, I mix it from two blues and two yellows, so all the greens on my painting look related, and are harmonious with the blues and yellows. The fewer colours you have, the better you’ll get to know them, and the better you’ll become at mixing them. Too many different colours can lead to chaos. Try using only three colours (yellow, blue, red) plus white. You’ll be amazed at how may hues you can make and how harmonious they will look. I mainly use Winsor & Newton Artisan Water Mixable Oil Colours, which means no solvents are needed. 03. Don’t always wipe your brushes Harmony can be achieved by using different colours with the same brushThis tip is rather controversial, and many artists probably won’t agree, but it works for me. I often paint with the same brush for an extended amount of time and consecutively work on various colours without needing to wipe or clean my brush in between. This results in a painting full of harmonious colours that all share some of the same pigments. Obviously, the vibrant colours, strong highlights and darkest darks need to be done with clean brushes to ensure maximum impact. But the mid-tones can benefit from a bit of blending. This technique sometimes even helps to make the highlights stand out. I like to use Rosemary & Co Ivory Filberts (Sizes: 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 7) and Riggers (Sizes: 0, 2). These combine the silkiness of synthetic brushes with the firmness of hog bristles. 04. Work across the whole canvas Add colours across the canvas for better blendingWhen I paint, I try to see the painting as a whole. If I load my brush with purple, for example, I add brushstrokes everywhere I can see purple in my piece, instead of simply focusing on small areas. I then do the same with the next colour. This helps to harmonise the painting and makes all the elements relate to each other. In this image, note how the same colours appear everywhere on the painting. This technique also has the advantage of making the painting look good at every stage because no areas are left untouched – this is particularly useful when painting outside, as the weather might force you to stop your piece sooner than planned. 05. Add glazing Finishing with glaze can help bring harmony to a pieceIf you have already finished your painting but it still lacks harmony, you can glaze the whole canvas with a colour that adds a specific mood. This reduces the intensity of the colours but links the elements together. Think of it as a little bit like adding a tinted glass over a scene to make it look sunnier, mistier or darker. There are various ways to add glaze. Mix a medium (Winsor & Newton Artists’ Painting Medium works well) or a retouching varnish with a small amount of paint and cover the whole canvas. Make sure you follow the instructions to avoid cracks. Alternatively, load a dry brush with a small amount of paint and apply it thinly over the dry surface. This article originally appeared in issue 11 of Paint & Draw magazine. Buy a copy here Related articles: 7 must-know painting techniques for artists 10 essential oil painting tips and techniques How to draw and paint - 100 pro tips and tutorials View the full article

This tutorial, showing you how to make a mobile app prototype in Adobe XD, was put together using Adobe XD CC (2017 beta) in 2016. The newly launched Adobe XD CC has had a few tweaks, making it even easier to use. Get a 15% discount on Adobe Creative Cloud hereIf you are a designer creating user experiences for mobile apps or websites, you may be used to using multiple tools for different tasks when prototyping. You start with research. Then you sketch ideas on pen and paper, and later transfer your thoughts to a design tool. To come up with the best flow, you export all your assets and bring them into another tool to build a prototype. From there, you share or test your prototype, gather feedback, and return to the middle of the cycle to iterate, switching from tool to tool as you refine your design. Several design tools each tackle a different part of the problem. But instead of making your life as a designer easier, switching between all these tools only decreases your pace. What if there were a single tool that meant you could enjoy a fully connected workflow? Where you could design and prototype your experiences in minutes, share them on the web to capture feedback, then make edits easily without breaking your stride? The goal with Adobe Experience Design CC – or, as we call it, Adobe XD – was to do just that. In this tutorial, we'll show you the main areas of Adobe XD by designing, prototyping and sharing a simple 'meet the team' mobile app. We'll create a contents page listing the product team members, then users will be able to click the individual entries to be taken to a more in-depth biog page. You'll learn how to create high-fidelity designs, prototype and share them to gather feedback. Watch the video above and follow the written steps below to learn how to prototype with Adobe XD. Not only will we show you how to make it, we'll also show you how to test it, record a preview video of it in action, and how to share and export it. Note that some processes might have changed slightly in the newer version of Adobe XD. 01. Install Adobe XD and start a new design Start your design by selecting the iPhone artboard from your template options First, ensure Adobe XD is installed on your computer. Launch it, take a look at the welcome screen and start a new design with an iPhone artboard template. 02. Create a second artboard Use the Artboard tool (A) to create a second artboard, then change their titles (by double-clicking on them) to 'iPhone – Team Page' and 'iPhone – Detail Page'. Change both Artboards' background colours to black using the property inspector on your right. With the Select tool (V) selected, you can press the spacebar at any time to pan across your design. 03. Download tutorial assets I've put together a folder of assets that I'll be using throughout this tutorial. You can download them here. From Finder, drag 'iphone-status-bar.svg' to the top of Artboard 1 (x: 8, y: 5). Then copy and paste it into Artboard 2, so both artboards have the status bar on the top. Hit cmd+L to lock these status bars in both artboards so their properties cannot be modified. To unlock them, you can use the shortcut again or click the 'lock' icon. 04. Draw a rectangle and set dimensions Let's focus on Artboard 1 (the team page). Using the Rectangle tool (R), draw a pink rectangle (#FF2BC2 with no border) in Artboard 1 and set its dimensions to 375 x 230 using the property inspector panel on the right. 05. Reorder objects To turn the border or fill on and off, click on the 'eye' icon on the right. Hit shift+cmd+[ to send it all the way to the back, or go to Object > Arrange > Send to Back. If you want to change colours using hexadecimal values, click on the colour icon, and when the native colour picker pops up, select the second tab at the top and change the drop-down to 'RGB Sliders'. 06. Create a header Using the text tool (T), click to create a header for your team page. Mine is Helvetica Bold, 20, #FFFFFF, x: 18, y: 123. Let's start putting together our list of team members. Draw a grey square where the team member's photo will sit (100 x 100, x: 8, y: 238, #D0D0D0 with no border). 07. Add another rectangle To the right of this, we need a white rectangle (260 x 100, x: 108, y: 238, #FFFFFF with no border) on which we'll include the team member's name as a header and job title as a subhead. For now, use placeholder text, and style it up as you wish. 08. Add an arrow icon To show this box will be a tappable area, we'll include an arrow icon. Drag 'path.svg' from Finder onto the XD canvas to a point off the artboard. Then reposition it to x: 330, y: 279. 09. Place your headshot From Finder, drag a headshot into place on the grey square. 10. Create the list Use the powerful Repeat Grid feature to create your list of team members Now we can create our list. At this point, you would normally be copying and pasting the top item, moving the copied version down and adjusting the margin. You would do the same for new items, and if you wanted to change the margins, you would have to do it manually, one by one. Well, not with Adobe XD – you can use the Repeat Grid feature. Select the items you want to repeat, click on the 'Repeat Grid' button on the property inspector on your right (cmd+R) and use the green handles to repeat the items vertically. You could also repeat them horizontally for a tablet version. 11. Adjust the margin Adjust the margin of your repeated grid by hovering on the edge of your items, clicking and dragging. Let's set the margin to 7. Drag the repeat grid to the bottom of your artboard. We now have four rows to play with. 12. Edit the text fields Drag all the headshots onto the grid While properties (colours, x and y positions, and so on) are global, each item's content can be unique. Edit the text fields to each individual's name and job title. You can double-click to enter the grid and the group, or cmd+click to direct-select any element within a group or repeated grid. Now we just need to grab all the headshots at once and drag them onto the grid and we're finished with this screen. 13. Create a darkened effect Let's jump to Artboard 2 (the detail page). Again, we'll start with a placeholder rectangle (375 x 444, x: 0, y: 0, #FFFFFF with no border) and drag a headshot to fill it. We'll create a darkened effect by changing the image's opacity to 60 per cent and sending it to the back (shift+cmd+[). 14. Add another arrow Then lock the headshot item (cmd+L) and add another arrow ('back-arrow.svg') to indicate the user can return to the team list. This needs to sit at x: 20, y: 40. It is important to lock the image first, because otherwise the SVG will replace the headshot. 15. Add contact information bar We want to include a pink bar on each page, which will list the team member's contact details (375 x 45, x: 0, y: 400). Use the Text tool (T) to create a text element reading 'Placeholder link', centre it, style it up, and place it at x: 169, y: 416. 16. Create more instances of the text element Let's use the Repeat Grid tool to create two more instances of this text element. First, convert the text to a Repeat Grid (cmd+R), then hold the option key while expanding your grid horizontally. Beautiful, isn't it? Direct-select the text (cmd+click) and change the contents to read 'Email', 'Twitter' and 'LinkedIn'. 17. Create name and bio box To finish the design, create a white box (360 x 214, x: 8, y: 445) that will include the team member's name and biog. First add a text element using the placeholder 'Person name'. For the text element that holds the biog, we want to use Area Text. To do this, select the Text tool (T) and click and drag to define the area for your copy. Again, type some placeholder text for now, and adjust its styling properties. 18. Create artboards for other team members Duplicate your detail page so there is one for each team member Now let's make some new artboards for other team members. First unlock the main image (cmd+L), then click on Artboard 2's title to select it, and hit cmd+C to copy it. Zoom out (cmd+- or use the trackpad to pinch-to-zoom), then hit cmd+V to paste three new artboards. Add some biog info to each page. Update the names and headshot images, and arrange the artboards on the canvas. Cool! Our design is finished for now. 19. Set up the flow It's time to start defining the app's flow. A prototype can be worth a thousand meetings, so we will create one to communicate our design intent. Simply jump to Prototype Mode (top left), select the item that will be tapped by the user (hold cmd to direct-select), and drag a wire to the right artboard. When the mouse is released, we can set the segue, easing and duration. Simple. 20. Connect up Wire each item on your list to its respective detail page Let's go though each of the items on our list on Artboard 1 and wire them to their respective detail page. For each of these, we want to set the segue to Slide Left, and the easing to Ease out. Next we can wire the back arrows on each of the detail pages back to Artboard 1 – remember to set the segue to Slide Right this time. Boom – our prototype is ready. 21. Test the prototype Any changes to your design will be reflected immediately in the preview To test the prototype, click on the Play button on the top right (Preview). You don't need to close the Preview window to update your design or your wires. Just start making changes, and they will automatically be reflected on the Preview window. 22. Make a video It's easy to record a video of your interactions when testing the prototype. With the Preview window open, click on the Record button to start and stop recording. Save the '.mov' file and share with your stakeholders. 23. Share your work Share prototypes on the web To share the prototypes on the web, click on the last button on the top right (Share Online). Click on the Create Link button. All the assets will be uploaded to Creative Cloud and a link will be created. If changes are necessary, you can go back to Design Mode, make the changes and share again. The whole flow just works. 24. Export files You can export designs as PNGs for Web, iOS and Android at different sizes, or SVGs From XD, you can export PNGs for Web, iOS and Android at different sizes, as well as highly optimised SVG files. 25. Enjoy the results Congratulations! You've mastered the basics of Adobe Experience Design CC (Preview). Feel free to share your prototypes on the web and social media – add #adobexd so we can see your work. This article originally appeared in net magazine issue 280. Subscribe to net here. Related articles How to avoid prototyping pitfalls How to use animation in mobile apps 10 tips for better mobile UX design View the full article

It used to be extremely difficult to find information about how to break in to the movie industry. Concept artists within the profession talked to each other, but rarely with anyone outside the loop, making it difficult to understand what distinguished film work from everything else. Concept art as used in movies has many facets, and these tips are specifically geared toward emphasising clarity and narrative in your portfolio. The advice I give comes from my experiences and observations within the entertainment field (most recently on Star Wars: Rogue One, Pacific Rim 2 and Transformers: The Last Knight, as you can see on my portfolio site), which is a fast-paced and continually changing industry. To stay relevant, concept artists must adapt quickly, and keep ahead of the curve in a challenging environment. Understanding what art directors and production designers look for when assembling their teams is crucial, as is streamlining your process, since time is always of the essence. Joining a project offers many opportunities and you should learn as much as possible from every one, including building strong relationships with colleagues. Since the concept work on a film can last from a few months to a few years, knowing how the industry works and being able to transition seamlessly between jobs will help you stay on the production as long as possible. Here are my tips for making it as a movie concept artist. 01. Show your ability to adapt to storylines Ballarat Establishing: Tell stories with everything you doAny concept artist working for movies is designing for the story, regardless of their level of experience. Every movie is based on a narrative that must be communicated clearly, whether through a design or defined by a key frame, and a movie-oriented portfolio must show the ability to adapt to storylines. Make sure to show your storytelling abilities: usually three or four keyframes can sell a plot point. These moments should relate to each other rather than be chosen from throughout the narrative, since exhibiting one or two important segments is better than randomly choosing points. 02. Design grounded concepts Encounter: Master the art of accurate historical storytellingMany concept artists these days are talented at designing for the fantasy and science fiction genres. But it’s important not to compartmentalise your talents, and drawing on a broad range of genres is crucial for a film designer’s portfolio. Frequently, aspiring artists overlook historical adaptations that can be big selling points in their portfolios. My first position in film came about because of several Western-influenced keyframes I designed. This type of historical work will indicate you have a broader range than the competition. Make sure only to use references that are correct for that specific time period. When your work is grounded in this way, it means you're depicting the past correctly, instead of creating derivative or stylised designs. 03. Get a clear read Hideout: Convey your ideas clearlyExpressing an idea clearly is as important as communicating a narrative, but many aspiring concept artists sacrifice clarity by over-designing an image. The aim is to simplify ideas, not create unnecessary confusion. Studios look to artists who can convey ideas succinctly. Many times it’s the simplest composition that’s the most effective. Always have a reason for every stroke you make, for every light source, and for every composition decision. 04. Create ‘arrows’ to guide the eye Forgotten refuge: Guiding the viewers' eye is essential to film story tellingIt’s important to guide the eye through your composition, and planning the focal points carefully will control the image and compositional elements. A great, simple way to manage this is by breaking down each element into 'arrows'. Think of each brush stroke and texture you add as a line; use the momentum of the shape to carry focus from one object to another, so that they’re linked in a subtle visual way. This can work for any design element, from a shape on a wall, to a character’s shadow, to mist that’s diffusing a scene. Try to guide the eye through several focal points in the image – a main statement followed by supporting focal points. See step 8 for more on this. 05. Consider variations, and how to show them Bistan Gun Designs: Make sure you show the extent of your skillsMost concept artists employed in the industry create variations during their design process, and studios want to hire junior artists who have the same approach. When given a single idea – for instance, an architectural structure – visualise eight different possibilities, each based on the same cultural inspiration and materials. It’s the form and aesthetic that should vary throughout each design, though the theme remains the same. 06. Specialise from the start Stilt House: Become a niche artist to attract the work you wantIn my experience it's easier to break into the industry by specialising in one category, rather than pursuing multiple skillsets. This is not the same as a genre – sci-fi, fantasy, historical, say – rather, it’s focusing your effort on one subject like environments, props, creatures or costumes. Choosing one of these means you can devote more time to mastering that individual craft rather than spreading yourself too thin, which means achieving less but in more categories. Art directors generally choose a “specialist” they have confidence in over a jack-of-all-trades. Selling yourself as the perfect person for a specific type of job reaps rewards. You can always explore other categories later. 07. Push yourself Somnapod: Never get comfortable, keep pushing your skills at every opportunityThis industry is always evolving along with its technology, and as a result, everyone in the field must adapt or risk being left behind. A concept artist who's pushing to learn and grow will be an obvious choice over one who stagnates. It’s tempting to slow down once you get the job you’ve worked hard for. But it’s also important to confront – and learn from – new challenges as you go. This could mean trying a new approach to design once in a while or learning a new program. It could mean taking an extra class on the side. Every person has a different end goal, but the point is to not lose your drive or passion after success. Next page: 7 more tips on becoming a successful film concept artist 08. Use the 'arrows' technique Guide the eye within a composition by making significant choices and establishing a hierarchy of shapesA. Use meaningful shapes Make sure when setting up your composition to place meaningful shapes. Think of lighting as revealing areas in your canvas where you want people to focus. Generally at this point it’s good to think in the abstract. Instead of thinking of the actual object (say, a person), think of it as a shape, and try to create contrast in form where you want people to look. B. Add arrows During the first refinement stage I start adding the arrows we discussed earlier. Here, the concentric rings around the entrance function as a circular arrow, supported by the background rings in the landscape. I add more figures that are centred around my focal point, all looking towards where the action is taking place. I try to reinforce multiple focal points. C. Simplify and refine The last step is just reinforcing the statements from our earlier composition. The great part about setting up your composition beforehand is that it acts as a guide to the rest of your image. The goal is to solve as many problems as you can early on, so when you come to your refinement passes, you're simplifying and rendering rather than changing your canvas. 09. Target pre production vs post production Wobani: Where do you want to be? Working in the initial concepts or on the film itself?There are many phases in a film’s production, and a concept artist has a particular role in each. Some artists are hired even before funding is in place, pitching concepts to investors just as the movie is conceived. When pre-production for a film starts, most of the work is blue sky, meaning it’s focused on exploration and finding the visual style of the film. This is the most open-ended phase of a film, during which time artists usually have more freedom to illustrate their own ideas. As pre-production comes to a close, the creative ideas in a film are resolved. Post-production takes place after principle photography has been completed, when the majority of the film has been shot on camera. In this phase concept artists usually deal with shot replacement, shot extensions, visual effects, and assisting animation and other departments to finalise the CG shots. Often, studios will hire vendors and VFX companies – such as ILM, MPC and Weta Digital – to assist with these shots; with larger-budget films, the amount of vendors required on a film will increase, with CG-heavy films having a multitude of companies involved. While visual development occurs in both sections of a production, generally speaking more development takes place during the earlier phases of the project. 10. Learn about VR Water Tower Callouts: VR is changing the way films are madeVirtual reality is a game-changing technology that’s having a big impact on the industry. Designing in a virtual space has become more popular in film production: set designers construct 3D models of the actual stage, then use real-time simulations that enable the director and crew to move around the scene. This makes conceiving shots and locations easier and faster, sometimes designing sets without any plates or real-world locations. Learning how to design in a virtual set is becoming more important, and a concept artist can offer much more to a team when they can work with this technology. Being fluent in a 3D modelling package is a must when it comes to this kind of work. For a bit of VR inspiration, why not immerse yourself in these VR podcasts? 11. Consider working for a VFX company versus working on-set The Brothers: Being on-set can be preferable if you prefer a wider range of tasksJust as there are differences in production, there are major variations between working within an outsourcing or VFX company versus an on-set art department. When you're working off-site on films, say for a VFX firm or visual development outsourcer, you're surrounded with an extra layer of colleagues, art directors and leads who can help you grow as an artist. Many companies will have artists on several projects at once, which will be very exciting on the creative side as you're switching between many types of design. In contrast, working in an on-set art department brings you closer to the production. You'll interact with the production designer and sometimes the director as well, depending on the project. In a physical art department you work with many more disciplines, with set designers, graphic designers, and the on-stage crew. Based on how long your contract is you might even see the film develop from start to finish. In my experience, you get to try out a wider variety of design in terms of tasks, even though this will normally be governed by your particular speciality. 12. Know your union City of Wind: Make sure to join a union to ensure workEven after you have the portfolio ready, after you know you have the workflow down, many artists still have trouble getting their first gig. If we're talking big productions, getting that first job might be tough, and I recommend approaching either a VFX company or looking for smaller, independent films. If you're hoping to work on big-budget films in the US, specifically in Los Angeles, then there's a film guild/union (IATSE Local 800) that you're required to join before you can work on any major motion picture. There are several ways of gaining admittance: you can get accepted through working a full 30 days on a union project, then submitting an application; a production designer can also sponsor you if they want you on a production; and there's a grandfather clause stipulating that if a show you're working on gets unionised, you can apply for union membership during the transition. That said, it's still hard to get in the guild, and many companies will keep workers on for 29 days, and not sponsor them at all. In the end, being part of the Local 800 union is a huge help to artists working within it, guaranteeing great rates, and providing healthcare. 13. Be sure to network, help others Ruins: Social media can be a brilliant way to get your art seenThe industry is expanding at an exponential rate, and social media is a great platform to get your work out there. Many companies are looking for professionals, but lack the ability to find the right creatives for the job. I recommend promoting your work as early as possible. The internet has a way of compounding search results and information to a point where it'll always assist you down the road. If you ever have an excess of freelance work or clients, recommend colleagues who will appreciate the gesture – and return it one day. 14. Collaborate within the department ARK Tower: Remember, films are a collaborative ventureFilms don't get made without constant collaboration between the artists on your team and also with many other departments. Because of this, personality is a huge factor in the hiring process, and many times I've seen candidates whose work is incredible get passed up because they have a reputation for being difficult to work with. No matter how skilled you are, be humble about your work, always respond well to critique, learn from those around you, and be generous in helping others. Your attitude will go a very long way in this small industry, where you regularly reunite with past colleagues. Remember, they could be hiring you some day. Related articles: 15 concept art skills to power up your illustration Concept design tips for artists How to press start on your game art career View the full article

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Adobe's flagship image editing software Photoshop has a powerful programming language built in that allows you to record tasks as an 'action' and replay the steps to complete the task automatically. Not only can you record your own but you can also import actions, opening up a whole range of effects and time-saving options. Get 15% off Adobe Creative Cloud nowSo to add to our collections of Photoshop plugins and Photoshop resources (not to mention our best laptops for Photoshop buying guide), here are some great Photoshop actions that are free to download and install, for photographers, graphic designers, game artists and more. You can jump to the section you want right now from the dropdown menu above, but you should definitely bookmark the entire list to check out the rest later – who knows where inspiration will strike. Photo filters 01. Nightmare ...and they were never seen againIf your photos just aren't sinister enough for your liking, this free action should make things a little more unsettling. It's designed to let you easily give your photos a dark, haunting effect. Perfect for creating the impression that you're permanently about to stumble into mortal danger. 02. Cold Nightmare Damn it, stand still when I'm trying to skewer youThis amusingly-titled action will transform a photo of a perfectly innocent scenario into a window into a dark world. In this example image, the archer probably shooting at a target takes on the look of someone who is definitely trying to kill a human. It’s amazing what some shadows can do. 03. Summer Haze Get that summer feeling againIf you'd prefer to cheer up your images, take a sunny shot and make it intensely summery with this great turquoise haze effect. Outdoor portraits taken in natural light are most suitable for this filter. 04. Hazy Afternoon Hazy Afternoon adds a soft gradient colour layerPerfect for outdoor pictures, the Hazy Afternoon action certainly lives up to its name by creating a soft gradient colour layer. You can use this free action on black and white or colour images, plus you can easily adjust the gradient until you get the exact look you're after. 05. Sun Kissed Sun Kissed will brighten and tone even the drabbest landscapeLight up any image with this comprehensive collection of sunlight effects that'll brighten and tone even the drabbest landscape. Simply add a bit of a warm tone, or go the whole hog and throw in a setting sun complete with a lens flare effect; it's all there. 06. HDR Action Ramp up your HDR contrast with these actionsRemove the lack of contrast that comes with HDR photography with this set of four actions; HDR fix Light, Normal, Heavy, and Clicker. 07. Strong HDR Effect Get vibrant colour effects with this free HDR filterAlternatively, try getting vibrant colour effects with this free HDR filter from Shutter Pulse. If it works well for you but you’d like more options, it’s part of a set of 30 HDR actions that you can buy for $13. 08. Blue Evening Add a mysterious atmosphere to your shots with Blue EveningBlue Evening is the free component of a paid-for set called Touch of Drama, which gives you various ways to add a mysterious atmosphere to your shots. The strength of the blue cast depends on your starting colours, so click through to see a good selection of examples. 09. Night to Twilight Turn your nighttime images into twilight photosThis set of 11 actions convert your nighttime images into twilight photos by introducing a colour cast and lightening the sky. The effect is rendered using layers, so you can adjust the degree of twilight by reducing the layer’s opacity, making it nice and flexible. 10. Purple Contrast A bit of purple can give your photographs a dramatically downbeat lookThis free Photoshop action washes out some of the colour from an image and gives it a purpley hue. It's a good way to give your photographs a dramatically downbeat look. 11. Bella Create a romantic, nostalgic feel with a pink castThis action adds a beautiful warmth to your photographs, bringing out rich tones in hair and skin, and softening colours with a pink cast that creates a romantic, nostalgic feel. 12. Wedding Enhancers kit These actions are ideal for fixing wedding photographyPhotoshop actions are extremely useful for wedding photographers, dealing with a huge number of shots. Here you get a set of 11 actions that automatically create common portrait effects, especially around the theme of wedding photography. The set includes skin smoothing and soft filter effects as well as black and white conversion. 13. Photoshop Color actions Here's a handy collection of colour treatmentsA nice range of colour treatments including rich, grainy black-and-white, bleach bypass, and some heavy casting effects. Great for experimentation. Next page: Vintage photo filters 14. Cross-processing ATN This action lets you cross-process without all the messCross-processing is a traditional photographic technique involving deliberate processing of one type of film in a chemical solution intended for another, resulting in oddly skewed colours and increased contrast and saturation. This free Photoshop action gives you a way to recreate the effect digitally, and is available free for personal use. 15. Cross Processed Add drama and vivid colour effects to your imagesThis action adds drama and vivid colour effects to your images by deepening shadows and making colours more saturated. It’s especially good for stormy skies, landscapes, buildings and ocean scenes. 16. Color 024 Create rich, sun-bleached photos that still retain a high level of detailDigital pictures are crisp and precise, but sometimes they can lack that nostalgic glow of a film photograph. By downloading this free action, you can adjust the colour saturation and create rich, sun-bleached photos that still retain a high level of detail. 17. 2-strip Technicolor This action simulates the 2-strip look without damaging the original imageRecreate the look of 2-strip Technicolor film by downloading this free action. Popular in the 20s and 30s, 2-strip technicolor film exposed black and white film behind a green filter and a red filter. By merging the green and blue channels in different layers, this action simulates the 2-strip look without damaging the original image. 18. Light Leaks These gradients are ideal for adding non-destructive vintage effects to your imagesThis handy selection of light leaks has been created using gradients, making it very flexible for adding non-destructive vintage effects to your images. The free version includes five high-quality leaks, all featuring support for 16-bit colour so you can achieve brighter-than-white highlights. And they work with video, too! 19. Hard Lomo If you like your lomo action hard, look no furtherDeviant Art is a great place to find Photoshop actions, as this example from BlackLaceStock demonstrates. Included here is a set of actions that add a classic lomo-look to your images, akin to applying an Instagram effect. 20. Retro Style filters These 35mm-inspired effects include some lovely gritty options as well as colour treatmentsChris Spooner is well known for his excellent Photoshop tutorials and giveaways, and he doesn’t disappoint with this new selection of 10 free retro-style Photoshop actions. Each of the effects is inspired by 35mm film and processing techniques, and includes some lovely gritty options as well as colour treatments. 21. Polanoid Generator Polanoid's one of those Photoshop actions you'll use again and againTurn any image into a Polaroid instantly with one of 10 different effects. It includes colour treatments and shadows automatically, and it's one of those Photoshop actions you'll use again and again. 22. The Mini Collection There's plenty to play with in this taster selectionFeaturing some impressive retro Photoshop actions, plus a kit of light leaks and some vintage Photoshop brushes, the Mini Collection from FilterGrade is a free taster of its larger $49 FilterGrade bundle. 23. Old Photo Add colour and contrast with this old photo actionWant to make your images look like they've through a time warp? Then get experimenting with this old photo action, which adds colour and contrast. 24. Portrait Create a vintage effect with a spot of desaturationDesaturate the colour in your photography with this portrait action, which creates a gorgeous vintage effect. 25. Split Toning Make those ransom notes really pop!The area between greyscale and colour is split toning, and adding this slight change to your photos can have a dramatic effect. You can also create retro and abstract images with this technique. 26. Amatorka Get the action movie look with AmatorkaCreate an instant action movie-style colour treatment with a blue-green cast, rich saturation and increased contrast. 27. Set14 Fill your boots with these vintage actionsIf you're after a vintage effect for your photography but you're not entirely sure what, nab this collection from DeviantArt user Yeonseb. It contains 14 assorted vintage actions, so you're bound to find something to your liking. 28. Thinking of You Add a filmic, green-cast and heavily saturated shadow effectThis is another stylised photographic treatment that adds a filmic, green-cast and heavily saturated shadow effect. The end result feels very fashion-orientated. 29. Unspoken Use Unspoken to heighten details and increase contrastThis simple action creates a beautiful blockbuster film look, heightening details in your photographs and increasing contrast, while introducing a blue/green tint. 30. Vintage Turn lowlights into colourful highlights with this Vintage actionThis simple filter give your photos a tinted, washed-out look with an extra neon touch that'll turn lowlights into colourful highlights. 31. HipstaRev Get the Hipstamatic look in PhotoshopThis set of actions creates Hipstamatic-style images inside Photoshop. The download includes three actions, each of which creates a recognisable treatment including borders and noise. Next page: Monochrome photo filters 32. Bold B&W HDR Why should colour pictures get all the HDR fun?It's not just colour photos that you can apply the HDR treatment to. With this free action you can give any photo a bold, black and white, HDR-style look that'll make it really stand out. 33. Infrared Photography Add some infrared chill to your picturesAdd the eerie touch of a cool infrared chill to your pictures with this free Photoshop action. This action creates two adjustment layers inside a layer group, allowing you to change the red and blue balance, as well as the contrast. 34. High Key Turn any photo into a stunning high-key portraitThis action requires a credit if you use it, but offers a very simple way to convert a regular photograph into a stunning high-key portrait with clean lines and an almost dreamy finish, without compromising essential areas of contrast. 35. Lithprint Lithprint turns photographs into striking lithograph-style imagesCreate a lithograph-style image from your raw photos. This works best on larger images that have already been given a medium-contrast treatment. 36. Gum Bichromate Print Emulate the early days of photography with this actionEmulate 19th century gum bichromate prints with this straightforward action that produces beautiful textured effects. 37. Old Photo Get a vintage look with this heavily-aged photo effectThis excellent free action from DeviantArt user ArtOfDecay creates a simple heavily-aged photo effect. 38. Black and White Get a grainy black and white look that's heavy on the blackThis action adds a punchy, high-contrast black and white effect to your photographs. It produces a nice grittiness with heavy grain and over-saturated blacks. Great for creating a stylised image. 39. Dramatic Sepia Dramatic Sepia's contrast curve gives a slightly more refined version of the standard sepia effectThis superb action offers a slightly more refined version of the standard sepia effect by adding a contrast curve to age the final result so that it feels like a faded photograph. Dramatic Sepia offers a great way to communicate a sense of age. Next page: Touch-up techniques 40. 5 Skin Retouching actions Sort out your skin the easy wayWant to retouch skin like a boss? This set of retouching actions will give you a head-start, enabling you to heal, mattify and airbrush skin with one click, and also enabling you to brighten eyes and increase their contrast. 41. Express Eye Bright Brighten up dull eyes with this quick and easy enhancementQuickly put a bit of sparkle into dull, dark eyes with this easy eye enhancement action. Simply click on the background layer (or the layer with the eyes you want to sharpen), run the action, and paint on the layer mask to sharpen and brighten the eyes. 42. Teeth Whitening Alternatively, just brush your teeth properly, for pity's sakeTeeth aren't naturally a dazzling white, but sometimes they can appear grey or yellow in photographs, depending on the lighting. This useful action can easily brighten up the smiles of family and friends by giving their teeth a clean, white finish. 43. Bright Eyes Another way to bring dull eyes to lifeThis free Photoshop action gives an intense look to blue eyes, as shown above. A great effect for extreme closeups. 44. High Definition Sharpening This action offers a simple one-click solution to sharpeningThe final stage of image preparation should be to sharpen your images according to the final delivery method (you sharpen differently for print or screen). This free action from MCP Actions offers a simple one-click solution to sharpening, with the ability to control the degree of sharpening that’s been applied after the fact by adjusting the opacity and masking of layers. 45. Soft Skin Tones Smooth skin while retaining textures and colouringUsed in combination with an existing selection or mask, this smooths skin while retaining textures and colouring, saving clean-up time. 46. Remove White Background Get rid of white backgrounds with these actionsAutomatically remove white backgrounds with this suite of three actions that allow for different automated processes to strip out the background of your isolated images. Next page: Special effects 47. Glitch Effect Get your glitch on with this fabulous free actionYou can't beat the look of stuff recorded onto a knackered old VHS tape, and this free action by Syed Faraz Ahmad does a pretty good job of recreating it, with plenty of glitches and colour smearing. 48. Plexiglass Plexiglass makes it a doddle to add abstract effects to your photosTransform your photos into posters, covers or backgrounds for text with Plexiglass, a set of Photoshop actions that make it easy to add abstract effects and borders to any image with a single click. 49. 3D Isometric Map Why bother with flat maps when you could have an isometric 3D map?A brilliant action that converts a flat vector map into an isometric 3D map mockup. There are three different styles of map available: sand, ice and grass, and the action also allows you to drop in your choice of buildings, trees, landscape elements and signs. 50. Pencil Draw Quickly turn a colour photo into a pencil sketchThis action uses contrast to find the edges in your image and automatically render a pencil sketch effect. Start from a full-colour image with no need to convert to black and white first. 51. Stickers and Tapes Stickers and tape in one package!Create round stickers with a curl in the corner, or polaroid-style images with clear sticky tape holding them in place. This site requires you to register for free before you can download the action. 52. 1930s Glitter Text Get a bit of glam with this snazzy effectAutomatically convert your text into a snazzy 1930s-style retro treatment with shiny sequins and a nice 3D effect. It’s also easy to adjust after running the action, as all the layers are retained. 53. Stamp Generator Please don't use this to forge postage stampsTurn an image into a stamp automatically using an included Photoshop brush to define how the frill will sit along the edge of the final artwork. 54. Denim & Leather If you're planning your own range of jeans, this is a mustThis Photoshop action automatically generates a blue denim texture, 'sews' on a leather patch and embosses your own artwork onto the leather. The nice, simple and effective output could be adapted for a variety of purposes. 55. Spotlight Make details stand out with this virtual spotlightMake the focal point of an image really stand out with this action from Christopher Fowler, which will train a virtual spotlight on your picture. 56. Fold Paper Turn artwork into a virtual mockup with this neat effectAutomatically render your artwork onto a trifold paper design in pseudo-3D, complete with shadows and shading on the image. Ideal for rendering paper designs ahead of presenting them on-screen to clients. 57. Long Shadow Still doing flat design? Here's the cherry for your flat cakeThis free Photoshop action allows you to create a long shadow from your text content, and you can tweak the shadow's opacity. 58. Triptych Generator Create standard triptych panels for printGenerate standard triptych panels for print, with a 3D effect visual triptych generator also available. Print sizes include 1000x600mm, 1300x800, 1600x1000 with 50mm depth at 288dpi. 59. Action 3D Get a fake 3D effect with this channel-juggling actionThis quirky action from JonasFan93 creates a pseudo 3D anaglyphic image by separating out colour channels within your image and offsetting them. This freebie offers a number of different styles that are more suitable for use in printed brochures and website design where you’re aiming for a stylised effect. 60. Outer space Finally! The final frontierCreate an outer space background automatically complete with space dust and nebulous gases. This action randomly colours the scene to produce a different effect every time. Related posts: The 60 best free Photoshop brushes Infographic: 69 incredibly useful Photoshop shortcuts Top Photoshop tutorials View the full article

Modern branding faces a dizzying array of challenges. Consumers are bored, over-stimulated and increasingly sceptical about inauthentic marketing ploys (don't even get us started on period product branding). So engaging them in fresh, meaningful ways with a clear brand voice is the holy grail for any branding agency. Fortunately, the Brand Impact Awards judging panel is well-placed to dig a little deeper into the art and craft involved. We spoke to branding consultant Louise Kyme, and Studio Sutherl& founder Jim Sutherland, the two co-chairs of the judging panel, to get their thoughts on how brands can use humour and behave in a more human way. Why is wit, charm and humour so important in branding? How does it help create standout? Louise Kyme: It's a big world out there, and everybody's competing for the same space. More and more, people are having one-to-one interactions on social media, and brands feel the need to get some kind of emotional response, whether that's a little snigger, or a tear in the eye. But it's tough. Brands work hard to get easy laughs, but actually, clever interaction takes time, thought and intelligence. When brands try to use humour 24/7, it's like being on a bad date with someone who's trying really hard to be funny all the time. Louise Kyme Jim Sutherland: I think it depends on your definition of wit. I don't think it's about humour and making people laugh necessarily – it's about intelligence, and gauging people. There's so much bland, corporate wallpaper out there. Wit is a way of engaging people, and having a bit of humanity. The trouble is when it goes wrong, it just feels like it's massively condescending and isn't very funny. There are lots of examples of brands that get it wrong – it's like somebody's written a really bad joke, and you're supposed to laugh at it over and over again. LK: Brands trying to use humour 24/7 is the equivalent of going on a bad date, and someone trying really hard to be funny all the time. JS: Constantly. That's exactly right. It's choosing your moments, isn't it? Rather than just banging people over the head. If you have someone who constantly tells you jokes, unless they're a clown, it's not very appropriate is it? I don't think so. How can brands behave in a more 'human' way, and establish empathy? How much of it is visual, compared to tone of voice? The Badger, by BrandOpus, was highly commended in the Brand Impact Awards. Our main image, Mozilla by Johnson Banks, won the collaboration award JS: There's no way of separating out those two things – you need both. It's about being genuine. I don't want my bank telling me jokes about what they're doing – or not doing – with my money. You need appropriateness, and genuineness. You don't want to feel that somebody's pulling the wool over your eyes. It's about not pretending to be something you're not. Not trying to look friendly and cuddly when you're an axe murderer. Jim Sutherland LK: To behave empathetically, you have to really relate to your audience and understand the situations they're in. You talk about appropriate moments, Jim – that could be totally dependent on what you're trying to achieve, but also where your audience are at certain moments. In a way, it's easier to do in the charity sector because you're very closely connected to people, and where they're at in their lives. JS: Just be honest. That's the key. You're never empathetic with somebody when you don't feel like they're telling you the truth. LK: Small organisations probably act more as individuals, compared to these big corporate beasts that have systems and structures in place to manage how things are done. They risk losing that human touch. JS: It's a corporate machine – hence that idea of corporate wallpaper. A lot of design is bland because it's not doing any of those things. Are certain types of brand better at doing this, and why do you think this is? The Butcher The Baker, by The Partners, was also highly commended at The Brand Impact Awards JS: It's probably easiest to do in the charity and cultural sectors than in banking, say, because everybody hates bankers, or solicitors, or estate agents – so it's more difficult to do engaging work in those areas. People want to like galleries and charities, don't they? They don't necessarily want to like some other corporate institutions. It's doable, but it comes back to not pretending to be something you're not. Not trying to look friendly and cuddly when you're an axe murderer. LK: It's one of these things that as soon as you try to achieve it, it all goes wrong. JS: When it works well, it feels effortless. When it's trying too hard – too many bits of tone, like packaging that just talks to you constantly – people get a bit tired of it, I think. But doing effortless work takes a lot of work. It takes time to come up with something that looks like you came up with it really quickly, because it just feels like the right solution. This article originally appeared in Computer Arts issue 270. Buy it here. Related articles: 21 outstanding uses of colour in branding How to challenge brand stereotypes 4 vital brand strategy rules View the full article

Studio Analogous has created a set of flash cards aimed at helping others embrace more inclusive design practices. The studio's 'Designing for Everyone' cards contain clearly laid out information to help adjust designs for hearing or visually impaired audiences, and is useful for digital and print designers alike. The set of 11 cards include advice on designing for colour blind viewers, those with poor vision who might use screen magnifiers, severely blind users who use Braille, and those with hearing impairments who rely on sign language. The argument for building accessibility into your designs is a strong one: and in commercial terms as well as ethical ones – it could help you reach a much wider market. Virgin.com increased its online sales by 60 per cent after adding accessibility features to its website, while Tesco found that when it had an accessible and non-accessible version of its site, the accessible version was preferred by customers. Around 8 per cent of men struggle with colour blindness [click the image to see it full-size] An estimated 8 per cent of men experience colour blindness, which can render traditionally designed advertising confusing or even incomprehensible. These cards outline the colour combinations that most people struggle with so you can avoid them in your designs – as well as offering straightforward tips to help ensure your designs are clear to everyone. That's a sizeable segment of potential customers you've opened up. Check out the cards to start integrating the inclusivity tips into your design practices. Studio Analogous is a New-York based design and strategy firm with a special focus on promoting diversity and inclusivity. Knowing which colour combinations to avoid is key [click the image to see it full-size] Blind users need to be considered in more designs – these cards suggest some tips [click the image to see it full-size] Knowing basic sign gestures for deaf and hard of hearing audiences will always be useful [click the image to see it full-size] Visually imparred users may use a screen magnifier to access your site [click the image to see it full-size] Read more: Get started with web accessibility The designer's guide to digital accessibility The essential guide to colour correction View the full article

It's just three weeks until Black Friday and Cyber Monday 2017 will bring you some great discounts on creative tools, but in the meantime, we've got you a great daily deal on a pen that turns drawings into 3D printed objects. Artists see the world differently. Now you can draw differently too. The Scribbler Duo 3D Pen lets you bring your creations to life by allowing you to create a 3D printed object as you would draw. You can get this powerful and unique artistic tool on sale now for just $99 (approx £76). The Scribbler DUO 3D pen is the latest and most innovative tool for artists, taking the art of 3D printing to a whole new level by letting creatives draw their work into existence (it might just be the closest we'll get to becoming Penny Crayon for real). See it in action in the video below. This pen puts you in complete control over your creations, allowing you to bring any idea to life in plastic. Two nozzles dispense plastic filament that mean you can build a handmade 3D printed object. With four control buttons that allow you to change the speed of extrusion and the temperature of the nozzles, it's easy to draw with any variation of plastic filament – you can even use two colours at once. Whether you're an artist or trying to encourage someone's creativity, this is the perfect tool. You can get the Scribbler DUO 3D Pen on sale now for just $99 (approx £76). That's a saving of 23% off the retail price for a powerful creative tool that will open up your creativity, so grab this deal today. About Creative Bloq deals This great deal comes courtesy of the Creative Bloq Deals store – a creative marketplace that's dedicated to ensuring you save money on the items that improve your design life. We all like a special offer or two, particularly with creative tools and design assets often being eye-wateringly expensive. That's why the Creative Bloq Deals store is committed to bringing you useful deals, freebies and giveaways on design assets (logos, templates, icons, fonts, vectors and more), tutorials, e-learning, inspirational items, hardware and more. Every day of the working week we feature a new offer, freebie or contest – if you miss one, you can easily find past deals posts on the Deals Staff author page or Offer tag page. Plus, you can get in touch with any feedback at: deals@creativebloq.com. Read more: How to get the best Cyber Monday deals 2017 5 tips for getting started with 3D printing A quick intro to 3D printing for creatives View the full article

It's through animation that we make sense of the world: doors swing open, cars drive to their destinations, lips curl into smiles. Even the things that feel instantaneous, like lightning striking or dropping a phone on your face while using it in bed, happen over time. It's through that motion that we understand how objects relate and function; if they are light or heavy, rigid or loose, connected or separate, sticky or slippery. On the web, however, we've got used to things appearing and disappearing in the blink of an eye. We click on a link and everything changes. It's like being led into a room blindfolded, spinning around a few times, and removing the blindfold to take in the surroundings. You don't even know which door you entered through. This is by and large how most sites are built. We can do better. When learning about the potential of web animation, it can be easy to let our imaginations go into hyperdrive and sprinkle animations on just about everything. While animation can be great, we need to be careful and always ask ourselves: Is this animation meaningful? Is it adding any value other than being beautiful? Is it making our product easier to use? Meaningful animation This is the starting point for the tutorial – the sample menu that we’ll reveal with an animationIn this article we're going work with a common UI design element: a menu toggle. We're going to create the menu (and an icon to go with it) with CSS, and make it come alive with animations. We'll make sure that the animations are meaningful, but also apply web performance best practices to ensure they're as smooth as possible. You can preview the end result here. When the user clicks the menu icon we'll expand the icon's background plate (a circle) to cover the screen, and present the menu overlay. Rather than just flash to a close icon, we're going to animate and morph the three vertical lines (that make up the menu icon) into an 'X', to represent a close icon. In other words, as the menu is revealed the icon morphs into a close button. Related elements You might be thinking 'So, is this a meaningful animation?' Well, great question. Short answer: Yes! Longer answer: Animations are great at connecting elements on the screen, and showing how they relate to each other. As we scale up the menu's background plate to become the menu, we show how the two are connected – similar to how an app icon, when pressed on iOS or Android, scales up and takes over the screen, showing that the app was launched from that very icon. Our menu icon doesn't just toggle the menu: it is the menu, only collapsed. Similarly, just like how an on/off toggle transforms between its on and off state when you press it on iOS, our menu toggle will change between a menu icon and a close icon depending on if our site's menu is visible or hidden. This helps enforce the idea that the two icons function in similar ways: they both control the menu. So while we're making our site fun to use, we're also making it easier to understand, and improving the user experience ever so slightly. See how to do this in the video tutorial above and written steps below. 01. Get started By drawing the menu icon with CSS (and no images), we can easily animate it laterDownload the project files. Open up index.html in a browser and you should see three big links against a white background. This is the menu overlay we'll reveal. First of all we need to hide it. In styles.css, add these styles to .menu-overlay: With the overlay gone, a button should appear in the top-left corner. Let's draw our menu icon here, so there's something to click on to show the overlay. To make it easy to animate, we'll draw it using just HTML and CSS; no bitmaps or vectors. We've already got some HTML in index.html for the menu: a container (.menu), a background (.menu-circle), a link (.menu-link) and the icon (.menu-icon) with one span for each line. Having a separate div for the background is a somewhat unconventional approach. If we weren't about to add animations to this circle, we wouldn't need a separate div; we could just add a border-radius and background colour to our menu-link. However, we want to be free to use the transform property on the circle, so we can scale it without affecting the icon itself, so we need to decouple the background from the icon. Let's start drawing the lines that make up the icon. What do they all have in common? They are equally wide, they have rounded corners, are absolutely positioned, and they have a background colour. Since all the lines share the menu-line class, let's use it to set these shared properties: Then we can use the lines' unique classes to set the vertical position: 02. Add a hover effect To make the menu appear clickable, we inflate the background plate on hoverLet's make the icon clearly clickable by adding a hover effect. In styles.css, create a new selector for menu-circle to scale it up when you hover over the menu: Now we can add our first animation. Add "transition: all 0.2s ease-in-out" to .menu-circle {} (not to the hover state). We're telling the browser to animate all properties that may change for .menu-circle. So when we scale it up on hover, it animates over the course of 0.2 seconds to its new state, with a timing function of ease-in-out. How do you know which timing function to choose? First of all, avoid using a linear timing function. Few things in the real world move at a perfectly constant speed, so objects animated with a linear timing function tend to look unnatural and stiff (as Einstein would've said, "God doesn't play dice with a linear timing function"). As a rule of thumb, ease-out works great for presenting new objects, and ease-in works great for removing objects. And when in doubt, ease-in-out is a solid timing function to default to: it has a slow beginning and a slow ending, creating a smooth and fluid animation. 03. Show and hide the menu Let's use jQuery to show and hide our newly created overlay. In script.js, toggle the class of open on .menu-overlay inside the existing click handler: Then show the overlay when it has a class of open: 04. Connect the menu icon The transition we added earlier means we already have a neat fade effect going on when we show and hide the overlay. However, we can make it look like the menu icon background becomes the menu overlay, and better connect the two visually. Achieving this effect is easier than it seems: all we need to do is to quickly enlarge the menu circle when it's clicked. The overlay will fade in simultaneously, creating the illusion that the menu icon is transforming into the overlay. We need to be able to style the menu's circle when the menu has been clicked. Open up script.js, and inside our existing click function toggle the class open for our .menu: Now we can target this class with CSS and expand the circle as the menu is opened. At the very bottom of style.css, expand the .menu-circle when .menu also has a class of .open: 05. Transform the icon The white circle expands to become the menu background, and the icon morphs into an 'X'We've got a beautiful reveal effect for our menu, but how do we turn the menu icon into a close icon? It's surprisingly easy once you know how – we'll only need to set three CSS properties. First off, we need to hide the middle line while the menu is being shown: Then all we need to do is flip the other two lines 45 degrees in opposite directions (the lines need to point in different directions to form an 'X', so note how one of the lines has a negative rotation of 45 degrees): Well, sort of. We also need to centre these two lines vertically. At this point you could be thinking 'Easy! We just need to change the top and bottom position to centre them'. And you'd be right – if we weren't animating this icon. Since we can only achieve hardware-accelerated animations by limiting ourselves to animating the transform and opacity properties, we'll have to resort to centring the lines through transforms. These transforms will move the two lines so they are vertically centred within the icon container, and then rotate them to form the cross. Let's break it down. We have two translations being used simultaneously: translateY(7px) and translateY(-50%). The first transform, translateY(7px), is used to move the line's top edge to the vertical centre of the canvas. The maths here is simple: 14 is the height of our icon, by dividing it by two we get the middle point: 7. The second transform, translateY(-50%), is used to move the line so that the line's vertical centre, not its top edge, resides on the vertical centre point of the canvas. Usually when using the % sign in CSS you refer to the parent of an element (setting width: 100% matches the element's width to that of its parent), but if you use percentages with the transform property you refer to the element itself, not the parent. So for us to find a line's height and move it upwards by half of that, all we need is translateY(-50%). 06. Morph between icons Instead of just replacing the menu icon with the close icon, let's morph between the two states. Start by adding a transition to .menu-line in style.css: Ta-da! A morphing menu icon. The animation is a bit dull, though. Let's fix that. To make the lines appear more vivid, we can rotate them both an additional 90 degrees. The icon will look the same in the end, but the lines will travel further during the same time period. Change the rotations to rotate(-135deg) and rotate(135deg). As a rule of thumb, you can always improve an animation by using a custom Bézier curve that's better adapted to your animation. We're currently using ease-in-out – this means that the animation will have a slow start and ending, with a faster pace in the middle. I think a more spring-like effect is fitting for our icon. Let's make it spin fast, with a small bounce effect as it comes to an end. For .menu-line, replace "ease-in-out" with a custom Bézier curve: What are all those numbers? Don't worry: Bézier curves are rarely written by hand. You use cubic-bezier() to define the pace of an animation over time, and rather than writing them on your own, I recommend using a reference site. This comes from easings.net. It overshoots at the end of animation, and creates a subtle bounce effect. While we're at it, go to easings.net and grab the code for easeOutExpo. We'll use this to create a more refined effect for the menu background animation. Update the transition of .menu-circle to use this custom Bézier curve, and make the animation a bit longer (0.5s): Congratulations, you've created a set of animations that are meaningful: they help you understand what's happening on the site while navigating it, creating a sense of spatial awareness. On top of that, the animations run smoothly. By only animating the transform and opacity properties, we can make sure the browser's hardware acceleration support can kick in, and avoid unnecessary lag. When playing around with animations, make sure you tick these two boxes: make them meaningful, and beautiful. This article originally appeared in net magazine issue 281. Subscribe to net here. Related articles: 10 impressive examples of CSS3 animation 28 outstanding examples of CSS Get started with web accessibility View the full article

Autodesk Maya 2018 is out now – priced at $185/£204 per month or $1,470/£1,644 per year with a subscription from the Autodesk website – so we gave it an in-depth test for this review. When Autodesk released Maya 2017, it received a mixed reception. In many ways this was due to the company dropping support for Mental Ray and instead focusing on Arnold, (which is now fully integrated into Maya 2018). This was always on the cards; Mental Ray was quickly feeling dated and users were swiftly moving to external plug-ins like V-Ray, so Autodesk had no choice but to do something if it wanted to offer customers an improved rendering experience. Shortly after, Autodesk released Mental Ray as a standalone plug-in, which you could download and add yourself if needed. With the release of Maya 2018, Autodesk has again divided the community. This time, however, the issue seems to be the lack of any major new features, rather than the removal of existing ones. The new clump modifier lets you to interactively sculpt clumps into hair to make them look less uniformWith that said, the legacy viewports have now been removed, leaving your only option as Viewport 2.0, which is another bone of contention among users. You can, however, add the legacy viewports back via the environment variable MAYA_ENABLE_LEGACY_VIEWPORT, although performance has been improved in Viewport 2.0 to such a level where you shouldn’t need to. Maya 2018 improvements Don’t get us wrong, people making the leap from 2017 or earlier to 2018 have a lot to be excited about. Maya 2018 does feel like more of a stability and productivity release, with most updates focused on fixing hundreds of bugs and improving existing tools. This is actually great news. With Autodesk spending time fixing and enhancing what it already has, it means your workflow should be smoother. Surely this is better than adding a feature you may not use? MASH is one area that has seen many improvementsEven with the lack of new features, there is still plenty to be excited about. Almost every aspect of Maya has had a wave of the Autodesk wand to the point where there are just too many improvements to list. However, there are some key tools which will make your 3D life easier. Extrude and Slide tools Modelling workflow has been enhanced with the introduction of the interactive Extrude and Slide tools. Simply hold Shift and move your selected faces to extrude them. Hold Shift and Control to slide the geometry over the surface of the model. It’s a small thing and something that has existed in other applications for a while, but it’s nice to see it finally be implemented because it will save a lot of time. Circularize and Symmetrize tools You can also quickly create a circle in your geometry with the new Circularize tool, which is neat, but again nothing new. Symmetrize is a nice new addition, making your model symmetrical. In practice this works well, however it would have been nice if it also updated topology changes. Dynamics Node gives impressive results, quicklyRigging improvements Rigging is another area where improvements have been made. For example, building upon the Controller options added previously, which allowed custom pick walking, you can now set the controller’s visibility to only show when the mouse pointer is close to it. This addition results in a much cleaner rig for animators. Improved UV Editor The new UV Editor has seen a host of improvements since last year’s releaseThe UV Editor has also benefitted from an upgrade, making UV manipulation much faster and more intuitive. You can enjoy additions to help automatically generate seams, unfold and layout your shells, base the shell scale on 3D space and full symmetry support. Add to this the viewport enhancements like visible UV seams, and you will be creating and texturing models faster than ever before. Further additions Other improvements include the additions of Dash Scripting, a Curve Wrap Deformer and full Arnold 5 support, not to mention MASH dynamics and Look Dev additions to improve your rendering workflow. The list goes on. Maya 2018 downsides What would we have liked to see? The Node Editor could use some work as it still feels clunky compared to the likes of Houdini and Blender. It’s an editor that a lot of people probably find themselves using more and more often, especially when building complex rigs, so anything that can make the experience smoother is surely an improvement. One complaint about Maya that surfaces year after year is how difficult it can be to navigate the menus, so it would have been nice to have seen a quick menu option. Maya 2018 review verdict As you can tell from this review, Maya 2018 is a bit of a mixed bag, but all in all, it feels like it’s a step in the right direction. Having a more stable release with enhancements to overall workflow is a great thing, although we are not sure we needed to wait for a full release for them. Maya 2018 does feel more like an update rather than a full release but if you’re looking to increase your productivity and streamline your workflow, the upgrade is well worth it. However, if you’re happy with what Maya 2017 has to offer, you may not want to rush out and upgrade just yet. This article originally appeared in 3D World issue 227. Buy it here. Related articles: 22 mighty Maya tutorials to try today 8 3D web projects to inspire you 30 inspiring examples of 3D art View the full article

You're reading How to Improve the UX of Your e-Commerce Website Visitors, originally posted on Designmodo. If you've enjoyed this post, be sure to follow on Twitter, Facebook, Google+! One of the main parts of a high-level website is undoubtedly a great user experience. This will, ultimately, tell if you have an increase in your exit rate or an increase in your conversion rate. You will find that a lot of companies nowadays invest in the user experience of their website, in order to […] View the full article

When it comes to launching a startup, logo design is not usually at the forefront of people’s minds. And rightly so. Finding a product or service that people care about, recruiting the right talent, raising seed funding – those are your priorities at this stage. And many startups get by just fine in the early years with no logo at all. If you do find time to develop a logo, though, it can help enormously with spreading the word about your nascent enterprise – as long as it’s done right, that is. Here are 17 logos for 2017 startups that we reckon hit the sweet spot. 01. Mush Mush helps new parents find each other locallyMany new mothers are surprised by how isolated they suddenly feel. That’s the thinking behind London startup Mush, whose app helps new parents find each other locally, then chat, swap and sell items. Its logo is appropriately fun, friendly and upbeat, using nicely designed icons to convey the kind of multitasking that motherhood demands. Normally, of course, you don’t want your logo design to be too cluttered. But here the different icons perfectly evoke the chaos of life as a new parent, without being too messy, so the approach works well in this particular context. 02. Naava Naava’s smart walls provide fresh air so you can focus on your dayNaava is a startup based in Helsinki, Finland, providing smart walls that clean up indoor air and make it healthier to breathe. As its aim is to purify your environment and life, its logo is appropriately minimalist. And rather than aping the clinical minimalism of the average tech company, it brilliantly uses deconstructed letters, cast in the appropriate shade of pine tree green, to suggest a theme of trees and nature. 03. Uniplaces Uniplaces helps students find accommodation across EuropeUniplaces is a startup based in Lisbon, Portugal, that has helped more than a quarter of a million students across Europe link up to landlords and find somewhere to stay. The cartoony lettering of its logo, and the marked absence of a dot over the eye, convey a relaxed sense of youth, while the icon evokes both the idea of living space and the broader sense that attending university ‘opens new doors’ in your life. 04. Paracosm Paracosm is working at the cutting edge of new 3D technologiesFlorida-based startup Paracosm develops mobile 3D scanning, progress monitoring, and visualisation solutions to help construction teams build things. In these days of samey tech logos, it’s great to see it has gone for something… well, pretty different. We’re not sure how a flying space parrot ties in with its clever software, but we expect there’s a coding in-joke in there somewhere. Or perhaps they just think parrots are a cool play on its name, Paracosm. 05. Shipyard Shipyard Games is driving location-based gaming ever forwardAnother Helsinki-based startup, Shipyard Games develops location-based games and is backed by Supercell. As you can see from this website hero image, when it comes to visual branding it has taken the name of the company and run with it. We particularly love the way a stylised shipyard hook emblem has been incorporated as the opening letter S. 06. Monzo Monzo describes itself as ‘the bank of the future’Monzo is one of the hottest startups in the fintech world right now, having been granted a full banking licence in April. When you’re asking people to entrust you with their money, you can’t be too crazy with your branding, but as a startup you want to emphasise your youth and cutting edge approach. We’d argue this formal yet colourful logo strikes the perfect balance between the two positions. 07. Bundlelist Bundlelist seeks to make mobile bundles more transparent to consumersBunch Design designed this logo for Bundlelist, an online platform aiming to help people decide which mobile bundle they should buy for their connected device. It’s a smart, original creation, catching the eye with its individuality while still remaining simple enough to be super-flexible. 08. Elevatr Elevatr is a mobile platform for people with mental health issuesNew York startup Elevatr is aiming to help people suffering from mental health problems, via a free mobile community that connects them with others going through similar experiences. Much like the Naava logo earlier, this simple yet clever logo deconstructs the A and turns it into an ‘Up’ button, evoking both the idea of an elevator and a positive outlook in general. 09. Houndlabs Houndlabs is developing ways to test marijuana intoxication scientificallyHere’s something a bit different: Houndlabs is working to create the first marijuana breathalyser. As more and more countries legalise the weed, they believe it’s important to be able to scientifically test when people are intoxicated, while driving or working heavy machinery, for example. The idea of ‘sniffing out’ a miscreant is neatly encapsulated by the hound icon, while the colour scheme and overall theme remain upbeat, ensuring that the company is seen as responsible, but not a ‘narc’ on an anti-dope crusade. 10. Bomberbot Bomberbot wants to develop the next generation of computer programmersBomberbot is a startup in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, aiming to teach kids coding in a fun and accessible way. Its colourful, Nickelodeon-esque logo certainly brings the fun, but there’s also a geometric formality to it that suggests a structured approach to learning. Plus, who doesn’t like an old-school robot? 11. Norsepower Norsepower is helping reduce the amount of fuel freight ships need Finnish startup Norsepower builds sails for freight ships to help them save fuel and reduce emissions. It sounds like a wacky idea, but it’s based on solid science and engineering: the rotor sail device is based on a 21st century version of the Flettner rotor. Its logo helps to sell the seriousness of the project, too, with a formal approach and colour scheme that wouldn’t look out of place in an older company. (It’s a startup though, so of course it’s lower-case lettering all the way.) 12. Seenit Seenit helps companies crowdsource their video needsSeenit is a London startup that lets companies crowdsource video footage to save on employing a film crew. We love its logo emblem, based on a deconstructed S, which is instantly recognisable wherever you see it. Our knowledge of video production isn’t that deep, so we’re not sure if there’s a meaning to it or it’s just a cool looking shape. Either way, it works in our book. 13. Habito Habito positions itself as a free, online mortgage brokerHabito is a London startup that aims to make it easier for people to apply for mortgages. Its logo is simple but effective, hitting that sweet spot between fun and formal that’s so important in the new digital market for financial services. The raising of the O, especially, adds a sense of the upbeat and optimistic, which is entirely appropriate when it comes to people’s financial futures. 14. Revue Revue is based on the notion that “everybody should send a newsletter”Dutch startup Revue is an online service that makes it super-easy to create and send newsletters. Compiling a newsletter is rarely a task anyone looks forward to, so the curvy and friendly letters of its logo, each one of which appears to be ‘smiling’, do a great job in encouraging you to give it a try. 15. Varjo Varjo is aiming to jumpstart a new era in VR, AR and mixed reality Helsinki, Finland, VR startup Varjo is developing technology that mimics the natural behaviour of the human eye, and promises this will allow us to create products with up to 100 times the resolution of current VR/AR devices. Exciting stuff. Appropriately, Varjo’s cool geometric logo pushes abstraction to its limits, conveying just how boundary-pushing the startup is, without becoming totally illegible in the process. 16. Mellow Mellow is developing new ways for you to control your culinary creation remotelyLisbon, Portugal-based startup Mellow is developing a smart sous chef, in the form of a sous-vide machine you can control via your phone. The emblem shown above might not mean anything to you right now, but once you’ve seen the machine in question – which has that exact shape – its logo design makes perfect sense. 17. TravelPerk TravelPerk wants to make co-ordinating multiple business trips easierTravelPerk is a startup in Barcelona, Spain, that allows you to book and manage multiple business trips in one place. Its simple logo cleverly uses Wi-Fi-style curved lines to convey both cutting-edge tech and a sense of movement. Which is, after all, what the travel industry is all about. Related articles: The 6 best design industry logos 5 ways to use imagery to create better branding 5 design industry trends that students need to know about View the full article