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All play and no school

Tue, 23 Jun 2020 12:56:56 GMT

Letting children play during lockdown will alleviate stress in both parents and children

The United Nations has described the disruption to education caused by the pandemic as ‘unparalleled’. At the virus’ worldwide peak in April, it is estimated that over 90% of all enrolled learners, from kindergarten to bachelors and beyond, had their education affected by school closures and the pandemic (UNESCO).

For many university students and older children, they have had to adapt quickly to online learning. They can keep in touch with their peers and teachers online and continue their studies, albeit in a highly modified way. As challenging as this may be, this experience will help equip them for a future that is increasingly online.

For parents of younger children, they are assuming a new role: their child’s home school teacher. This is in addition to their usual childcare and household duties, their work responsibilities and often emotional and financial worries caused by the pandemic. Stressful? Yes. The good, and somewhat surprising, news? The experts advise that you don’t teach your children - at least not in the way you might expect.

Don’t Recreate the 6 hour Day

Routine is important for children so it is still advisable to abide by your family’s schedule but you don’t need to plan 6 hours of highly-structured lessons. For young children, expecting them to read, write and sit still for 6 hours is firstly, impossible and secondly, beyond their developmental stage. When children are at school, they are taught by experts! Teachers know how to balance time at the desk with play and opportunities for social and emotional learning, alongside literacy and numeracy! For both the parents and children, recreating the school day at home will add stress to an already difficult and turbulent time. Professor Helen Gillespie, professor of learning and teaching at UAE, suggests that children should dedicate 1-3 hours a day to school work but stresses the importance of quality time. One hour of quality practice that the child enjoys is far more beneficial than 3 hours of forced and stressful practice!

New Rules

These are unprecedented times and it is likely to have caused massive shifts in your family’s routine. Old household rules and routines have likely gone out of the window. But that’s okay! Lie-ins and extra screen time might have crept in but you and your family can create new rules that suit your current schedules.

The Importance of Play

The best advice for parents with children at home is just to let them play. Unstructured play allows children to explore the world on their own, learn how things work and, if there are other children at home, understand and build relationships. Parents can also facilitate simple structured activities that help develop your child’s creativity, such as baking, crafting and playing sports. These activities also help your child develop their hand-eye coordination and fine motor skills in engaging ways. They don’t have to be expensive or complicated to get your child active and engaged!

You can also turn to screens to help facilitate play. From educational videos and songs to video games, there are plenty of resources suitable for children available. The screen isn’t always the bad guy! Scriba and its range of complimentary apps have been specially developed to provide stimulating and educational activities for young hands. Our app Scriba Snap improved key aspects of visual motor performance in children involved in our study in collaboration with Trinity College Dublin. Our other apps, such as A is for…, guide educational activities and provide an engaging, multisensory learning experience for kids! We explore screen time and children’s development further on our blog Not All Screens Are Developed Equal .

Time to Talk

For those of us lucky enough to be spending more time with our family and not working on the frontlines, we have an incredible opportunity to sit down and really talk with our children. Ask your child genuine questions and allow them to lead study and play. It may also be a great time to sit and discuss the pandemic, and other difficulties facing society today, in whatever way you choose. By genuinely conversing with your child, as opposed to adopting the speech style of a teacher, you develop their conversational skills, their socio-emotional skills and stimulate their thoughts.

In stressful situations, the best predictor of how a child will react is how their parents do - reducing pressures and relaxing rules will have benefits for your whole family. Remember that development and learning is not something that only happens in the traditional classroom! Reading, playing or even getting your child involved in daily chores will keep them developing during this time away from school. Use this time to help your child build positive study habits and an enjoyment of learning.

Dyspraxia & Hand Washing: Fine Motor Skills

Tue, 16 Jun 2020 17:44:54 GMT

It has never been more important to support our children to develop good personal hygiene. For children with fine motor skill difficulties, washing their hands can be a very difficult task. In this article, we explore some ideas to support your child with hand washing.

Stayin’ Alive, Jolene or Happy Birthday (twice)- what does the song you sing while washing your hands say about you?

To protect yourself and your family from Covid-19, the NHS has recommended hand washing as the first line of defence. They recommend washing your hands for 20 seconds, the time taken to sing Happy Birthday twice. You should use warm soapy water and take extra care to ensure you are cleaning between your fingers.

For all families, this time is a great opportunity to teach your children about good personal hygiene. It’s a time to explore when and why we need to wash our hands and the correct technique. There are a number of excellent resources for kids available, such as the NHS website. On Twitter, one user shared a now-viral tweet which included a video of someone washing his gloved hands with black paint. The video shows the importance of good hand washing technique in a visual way.

This simple at-home science experiment has also been shared widely and is a fantastic way to teach your children about hand washing. With pepper, soap and water, you can easily show your children how soap fights germs.

Learning to wash your hands is an essential life skill and will help children to become more independent. Meghan Corridan, the paediatric occupational therapist behind blog MAC Toys , believes that these self-care skills are something that parents and teachers of typically developing children often take for granted.

For children with developmental coordination disorders (DCD) such as dyspraxia, completing everyday tasks, such as washing their hands, can be very challenging. Dyspraxia is a coordination disorder that affects the development of motor skills.

People with dyspraxia may have difficulties with motor planning. Motor planning is the ability to think about what you want to do and to carry out steps in order to make it happen. This is often a subconscious process but when we are learning a new skill, it requires more conscious thought and repetition.

Education writer Peg Rosen explains that for children struggling with motor planning, “even if they’ve done a task before, it’s like they’re doing it for the first time”.

Along with motor planning difficulties, children with dyspraxia may also struggle to develop the fine motor skills needed to use soap pumps and to turn taps on and off.

No matter the reasons why your child isn’t washing their hands, it’s important to get them into good personal hygiene habits. Below are some ideas to help support your child:

Display a Step by Step guide

You can download or make your own visual cue cards detailing the steps involved in washing your hands. Displaying these near sinks will support your child as they complete the task step-by-step. You can reinforce this with fun songs and dances, such as Washy Washy Clean or this amazing viral dance from Vietnam , well suited for the TikTok generation.

Organise everything they need

Make sure everything your child needs to complete the task is in the bathroom, ideally in one place. This might include soap, a flannel or sponge and a clean towel. This will help them remember each step. You may also consider making adaptations to your bathroom, such as providing an automatic soap dispenser, a step stool or handle extension.

Explain why

As with all children learning to effectively wash their hands, it is important for them to understand why. Explain in a simple and calm way that clean hands help prevent themselves and other people from getting sick. Explain that your child can help keep other people safe by washing their hands regularly. Fun at-home experiments will help illustrate your point!

Reminders

Once your child understands how and why, you must support them to answer the question “when”. While children are under your watchful eye, you can audibly remind them to do so before eating food or after going to the toilet. When children are at school or playgroup, you can use notes and reminders to encourage good hygiene, for example on their lunchbox or in their backpack.

How the COVID-19 Pandemic has Brought the Future of Architecture Forward

Wed, 10 Jun 2020 16:32:07 GMT

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, businesses are having to adapt quickly. Architecture is no exception.

Lockdown has brought the digital future into the now. Online shopping, entertainment, education and more have moved from the periphery to the mainstream to, in many cases, the only option. With the necessity of social distancing looking to continue for many months, it appears that this rapid digital revolution is here to stay. This means that life as we know it, in most of its sectors, has changed forever. In order to survive, businesses are having to adapt rapidly, embrace technology and look to the future. Architecture is no exception.

There has been a widespread adoption of technology and VR over the past few months in response to the lockdown across all of society. Elderly grandparents who were once resistant to adopt new technologies talk of “Zooming” and have started video chatting with their family members to combat loneliness.

Art galleries that were once considered stuffy or pretentious are now pioneers in VR technology, with Google Art & Culture offering tours of London’s National Gallery or the Musee D’Orsay in Paris. These virtual tours deliver art in a dynamic new way that can be far more engaging than regular photos. Critics have applauded the panoramic and immersive views of gallery building and exhibitions which work well for rendering of 2 dimensional art, however impressions of sculpture is somewhat lacklustre. With VR technology, users can enjoy a truly immersive experience in the comforts, and safety, of their own home. The COVID-19 pandemic has served as an accelerant for the arts and entertainment industries to embrace VR.

The ability to construct highly-detailed, virtual spaces offers many opportunities to the architecture industry. VR affords architects the opportunity to showcase designs to clients before its construction has even started. For many of us, imagining what designs will look like from two-dimensional floor plans or even 3-dimensional models can be challenging. Advancements in VR allow clients to explore designs in a more natural and human way to better gain a sense of spatial awareness. VR can simulate the true interactions between natural light and objects- walking through spaces, you can see how light interacts with and complements the furniture and interiors. This experience can instill clients with a sense of ownership in the design process, allowing them to more confidently make decisions and make any necessary adjustments before work has even started. It reduces the risk of disappointment as the gap between designs and reality is narrowed.

VR and architecture offer other valuable opportunities for architects. The future of VR goes far beyond its use as an elevated presentation tool. VR will become integral to the design process, with the ability to make changes on the spot. In the future, clients will be able to interact fully with the space, engage with the design and have it respond back- imagine being able to open a cupboard door or draw the curtains in a design.

In a not distant future, virtual walkthroughs will allow architects to experience the design of a building and make modifications from within the 3d environment. Collaboration and integration with BIM technologies will only make these tools more effective and are well suited for the socially distanced age we are living in now.

In a socially-distanced society, VR architecture may offer an entirely new way to meet, work and socialise in virtual environments. Space Popular believes VR may replace the video conferences that have come to define the COVID-19 pandemic. They design spaces, including offices, bars and cafes, that exist virtually only and will allow people to meet, work and socialize with others, each in their own physical homes. In the future, could architects turn their talents to design spaces suited for virtual-only interactions?

Throughout history, pandemics have been pivotal in driving large social and technical progress and it’s short period of influence COVID-19 has acted as a catalyst for the widespread adoption of new technologies, including online communication and VR. This opens up a world of opportunity for architects that will change the way architects design, collaborate and communicate with clients forever.

Not All Screens Are Made Equal: Should I limit my child’s screen time during the pandemic?

Mon, 08 Jun 2020 10:03:29 GMT

How much screen time is too much?

With schools in around 190 countries across the world closing in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, many parents are facing a formidable challenge: keeping their children occupied and developing at home. Overnight, students have had to adapt to new routines and parents have taken on new responsibilities as teacher and carer, often all while juggling their own work commitments or financial worries.

Adults and children alike are turning to their screens for a sense of normality, a way to pass the time and to work and study. For parents, giving a child a screen is sure to keep them from bouncing off walls for at least a few hours, providing some much needed respite from 24/7 childcare duties. But many parents are feeling guilty and concerned about the amount of time their children are spending on devices. How much is too much?

The WHO recommends that children under the age of 2 should have no passive screen time whatsoever as excessive use has been linked to language processing delays. Older children, around 2-5 years of age, should be limited to around 1 hour each day. There is no such guidance for older children but excessive screen time is often linked with poor quality of sleep, eye strain and inactivity and weight gain. While all of this is true, never during these studies did a global pandemic come into the equation.

New Rules

It is likely that if you had pre-pandemic screen time rules, they have already been thrown out of the window. With extremely disrupted schedules, it is almost impossible to enforce these limitations. Not only that, screens have taken on new roles as educators as schools and teachers connect with students over these devices. This is an unprecedented time and your child will understand that! Parents can draw up new rules that better suit your family and their current schedules. For example, no screens after a certain time or limit access to devices in children’s bedrooms.

Not All Screens are Made Equal

Studies have found that time spent on devices does not directly negatively impact the development of children. The quality of the content and the interaction with the screen play a key part. Consider this: a child spending 30 minutes passively watching game play on Youtube is far less beneficial than 30 minutes spent playing an educational game. There are definitely ways to make the most out of children’s increased screen time through age-appropriate apps and games that are educational and interactive.

Many games have been found to improve children’s fine motor skills and hand-eye coordination. Scriba and its selection of specially developed games may have significant benefits for children’s fine motor skill development. The therapeutic benefits are currently being qualified in a study with Trinity College Dublin and the Irish National Pediatric Hospital. Find out more here .

Social Life

Adults are not the only ones suffering from a lack of social life and human interaction. Children also miss their friends, grandparents and neighbors. Not being able to go to school and interact with other children can lead to feelings of loneliness and isolation. Even if children are surrounded by family and even siblings, being among children their own age and developmental stage will allow them to interact on similar levels and, together, develop important skills such as sharing, making friends and establishing fair play. Luckily, with huge advancements in technology, children can easily stay in touch with friends and classmates through video and chat apps specially developed for children. While this is no replacement for physical interactions, it will help develop children’s social skills during these difficult times.

Screen Buddies: A Co-View

Screen use is not necessarily a solo experience. Parents may often take a supervisory role when their child is using a device, to ensure content is age-appropriate and suitable, but it can be especially beneficial for children to have caregivers take a more active role in the experience, to ask and answer questions and be engaged with content- this is called having a ‘co-view’.

Alexander Bacalja , lecturer in Language and Literacy at University of Melbourne and advocate for gaming as a tool for education, has some advice for parents looking to take a more active role in their children’s gaming:

“Start by talking with your children about the games they play. Find out which genres and series they enjoy. Investigate other games that share similar features. Sit down and play with them. Take turns slaying a dragon and building a city. The evidence tells us that computer-mediated communication between children and their parents increases closeness. Sharing experiences in the virtual world involves first coming together in the real world.”

In an ever-increasingly digital world, teaching healthy screen habits should be a priority for parents. Healthy screen habits are all about balancing time, content and interaction. Off screen entertainment, play and interaction is important but it is not the end of the world if children are spending more time with screens during the pandemic. Accessing educational content with interactive features will help make the most out of this increased time with screens and support your child’s development.

How Designers Around the World are Showing Resilience During the Pandemic

Thu, 04 Jun 2020 13:47:09 GMT

Despite the design industry being hard hit by the COVID-19 pandemic, designers have not been discouraged from seeking and discovering new opportunities amid the chaos.

With social distancing measures altering the daily lives of millions of individuals across the world, almost every industrial sector has been affected. Many industries have been hard hit by the effects of the pandemic, but not all. Some industries actually stand to profit from the pandemic, such as e-commerce and cloud computing.

But these are tough times for the design industry. Budgets have been slashed, workplaces abandoned and exhibitions and events cancelled. Nearly two-thirds of American designers and creatives have lost their jobs due to the pandemic and self-employed designers are struggling to access government support for their income loss. But the industry is showing great resilience in the face of this pandemic and have not been discouraged from seeking and discovering new opportunities amid the chaos. As they say, necessity is the mother of invention.

Image created by Kevin Kobsic. Submitted for United Nations Global Call Out To Creatives - help stop the spread of COVID-19

PPE

COVID-19 has created a huge demand for PPE, such as surgical masks, gloves and gowns. Global supply chains have been put under immense pressure due to the pandemic and this has resulted in market manipulation with PPE reportedly doubling in price. For people in the first line of defence, such as healthcare workers, this shortage is putting the lives of workers and patients at direct risk from COVID-19 and other infectious diseases.

To keep them safe, there is an immediate need for innovative solutions that will provide PPE in sufficient quantities when and where it is needed. This is where designers can step in. United by Makerversity , a community of makers, designers can use their network of professionals and their knowledge of fabrication and distribution to make 3D printed face shields and other PPE that is in demand. Design & technology teachers are using their abandoned classrooms and unused 3D printers to play their part in supporting medical workers.

Don’t have a 3D printer at hand? Handy with a needle and thread? You can also support workers on the frontline by making scrubs and gowns. You can even play your part by making DIY fabric face masks for use in non-medical environments which will help preserve PPE stocks for those who need it most.

Design Competitions

If you’re interested in tackling a problem related to the pandemic through design, there are many opportunities to respond to open calls across a range of disciplines- and on a world scale. COVID-19 has united the world around a common concern and thanks to technology, it is easy to connect, collaborate and share with creators on an international scale.

UN Graphic Design

During the pandemic, visual messaging has been, and continues to be, important to relay messages to the public in clear and effective ways. The UN has recognised the important role creatives play in creating effective campaigns and issued an open call for any visual creative medium that expresses one of the key messages of the UN’s response to the pandemic, such as social distancing and personal hygiene. Responses included graphic design, embroidery and illustration.

Global Grad Show

The Global Grad Show invited the global student community to submit innovative proposals that address any issues relating to the pandemic. The submissions are diverse and cover areas of technology, engineering, product design and medicine.

Opportunities for Young People

For students and young people stuck at home due to school closures, they may feel powerless over their current circumstances. But the pandemic may serve as an interesting opportunity to develop problem-solving and creative-thinking skills. These skills are more critical than ever as the future grows less certain. Makersempire have specially developed design challenges related to the pandemic to encourage children to think innovatively and feel a sense of empowerment during a turbulent time. The resources are free to use and suitable for use by teachers, parents and caregivers.

Learn from Creatives Around the World

For those looking for more inspiration, Wallpaper* Magazine has tapped into its global network of creators to document the stories and projects arising during this difficult time. Each instalment of World View spotlights a different international city where we can learn how local designers are meeting the challenges of the pandemic with creativity and resilience- and finding the silver linings.

Type, Scroll, Swipe: Why Write?

Wed, 13 May 2020 11:30:35 GMT

As we spend more time on digital devices and less time with pen and paper, could the future of handwriting be under threat? With the temptations of typing, scrolling and swiping, how can we ensure students develop the necessary fine motor skills they traditionally develop through handwriting?

It’s every 21st century parent’s battle: balancing children’s screen time with child development off-screen. But as adults, we are guilty of spending around 11 hours a day staring at a computer, mobile or tablet screen. In fact, the average office worker will spend almost 1,700 hours a year at their computer screen. This figure is only set to increase as more and more jobs provide work from home opportunities.

As our daily lives make way for technology, there is far less need for handwriting. When was the last time you had to handwrite something beyond a scribbled note or to sign a form? If the role of school is to best prepare students for the working world, why, in an ever-increasingly digital world, should children learn to handwrite? Why do we persevere with the archaic practice when so many children face handwriting difficulties?

In recent years, many schools across the world have abandoned cursive handwriting lessons and branded the practice outdated and a waste of time. In Finland, these lessons have been completely replaced by typing practice. In Wales, it was announced that paper exams are set to be replaced by computer-based assessment by 2026. But there are major neural differences between the way an individual produces handwritten or typed language.

Learning to write by hand is an important developmental milestone for children. Holding a pen or pencil with the appropriate grip and applying the appropriate pressure builds fine motor skills and strengthens the small muscles in the hand.

Fine motor skills are key to efficiently complete everyday tasks far beyond the classroom, including tying shoelaces, opening lunch boxes and even manipulating small objects. Children struggling to develop fine motor skills will therefore have limited play options and be unable to develop independence through important life skills, such as dressing and hygiene.

Typing does not develop fine motor skills in the same way and research suggests that children who struggle with handwriting may also struggle with typing. Many of the prerequisites for typing are the same as for writing, such as fine motor skills, letter recognition and hand-eye coordination. On its own, typing is therefore an unhelpful alternative for children struggling with handwriting.

There is also an unexpected impact on reading for children with writing difficulties. Handwriting is a multisensory activity. As a child writes a letter or word, the small muscles of the hand communicate with the language processing areas in the brain. The effect is heightened when children ‘sound out’ letters as they write. This multisensory activity engages the language areas of the brain and encourages memory and recall far more than the act of typing alone.

For parents and teachers of young children, the question should not be ‘either/or’ in the debate about handwriting and typing. Handwriting is important and always will be. Equally, it is undeniable that there is a pressing need for digital skills in the 21st century.

It is important to support children struggling with writing to develop the necessary fine motor skills to reach their developmental milestones. This doesn’t have to be without technology! Many apps and tools, including Scriba and its software, have been developed to simultaneously support both traditional and digital literacy.

Dr Sally Payne, an advisor to the Royal College of Occupational Therapists , explains that children struggling to write commonly complain of pain in their wrist or hand. She attributes this pain to “unusual grip techniques”, rather than the preferred tripod grip. A correct grasp of the pen is natural and will support children to write fluently, comfortably and at speed.

Kim Griffin, an occupational therapist, reports that children often struggle to modify their grip after the age of 7- so it’s a good idea to start early! Her website Griffin Occupational Therapy has a range of resources available for parents and teachers to better understand pencil grip development and tips on how to best promote the tripod grip.

Scriba can support children to develop this skill. Scriba’s form and shape evolved from the ergonomic goal to promote the tripod grip. It can be a great passage to penmanship for children who don’t enjoy using pens and pencils. The Scriba team are currently collaborating with Trinity College Dublin and the Irish National Paediatric Hospital on a study to qualify the benefits of Scriba in children’s fine motor skill development. Find out more about Scriba and dyspraxia here.

V & A Dundee

Thu, 27 Feb 2020 16:40:43 GMT

With our Scottish connections, we are proud to have been blown away by Kengo Kuma's world class design for Dundee.

You may or may not have heard of this little city but it is the number one city to watch out for in 2018. As a Dundonian by heart, I can’t help but love this gorgeous city and its thriving student life. Dundee has been flying under the radar for a number of years now, and it is finally getting the attention it deserves, this was all thanks to its newest addition, the V&A. Dundee has been classified as a UNESCO city of design and has since then given us many masterpieces. However, the V&A promises to be the most ambitious project so far.

The original Victoria and Albert museum is located in London and was founded in 1852. As breathtaking as it is, it was time for a breath of fresh air, that came in the form of the new Dundee V&A. Its spectacular design is already catching the eye of the public and its opening on the 15th of September is expected to be highly successful.

The design of the building itself is already a hint as to what the museum will offer. The stacked layers of precast concrete are meant to refer to Scotland’s ‘rugged cliffs’; the V&A seems to take immense pride in its Scottish heritage and will be displaying a large number of Scottish artefacts found around the country in the main exposition which will be free to the public, as opposed to the traveling shows that will require an entrance fee. There will also be a reserved space for Scottish design history, not to mention features by local artists, such as graphic designer Maeve Redmond. This Scottish Centre of Design however will also offer a more global outlook and some expositions shared with the London V&A museum in the main temporary space.

All these exciting revelations make for a highly anticipated opening. The V&A team say they are expecting about 500,000 visitors for its first year starting 15th of September 2018. This is great news for the city itself as the Dundee City Council revealed they believe this could boost the local economy by more than £11.6 million per year.

This project grew hand in hand with the city itself as Dundee is now one of the ‘coolest little cities in Europe (GQ article). Its ascension has been slow but steady and the creation of the V&A has certainly helped to its rise to the top. Some could qualify this as the Bilbao effect, as similarly to Dundee, it’s the Guggenheim museum that was the major factor in Bilbao’s international reputation.

Respect your audience

Wed, 26 Feb 2020 10:16:16 GMT

Respect your audience, have a conversation, not a presentation

Do you have a presentation to prepare for an audience? Well, you are not the only one in this situation, but what’s your plan for it? You definitely have something important to communicate, and a presentation is the best way to offer information to an audience in an easy-to-digest and comprehensive manner. Of course, just putting together a PowerPoint presentation will not guarantee that you will actually get this information to your audience. If you're not creative then chances are that some of your audience may fall asleep during your presentation, if not, they may be bored stiff. If you really respect your audience, then transform your presentation into a conversation with them.

Use your presentation slides to demonstrate the main ideas, but use your conversational skills to engage the audience and make the process more interesting. This is even more important when talking about having a presentation in front of students. As a teacher, digital presentations can be extremely helpful in the learning process. However, just giving your students information in the form of bullet points and reading each slide to them instead of having a conversation will not just bore them, but will also make your class a waste of time. If the mind and attention of the students is not stimulated in any way by active learning, the received information will not settle. The student will walk away from your class not having actually learnt anything at all. It doesn’t matter if you have to address a group of students, co-workers, or employees, the best way to make a presentation useful is to have a conversation with your audience, not just read the slides. The presentation itself is only there to underline your main ideas, to help you to guide your speech during the presentation. This energy and involvement is the best way to make sure your audience pays attention to what you have to say, retains the provided information, and has a heightened level of interest. If you feel that the atmosphere is dropping during your presentation, it's a good idea to throw in a joke or a fun fact to grab the attention of those listening to you.

I f you care about your success and reputation, and if you want to show your audience that you care about and respect them, do show them that you want to talk to them and engage them. Make sure they don't have to go through the ordeal of a boring presentation. Ask questions, encourage them to share their ideas, opinions and experiences based on the ideas and information presented by your slides. Make the process interesting and interactive and the results will exceed your expectations. The reason people use presentations is to make classes, meetings, and public events more interesting. Show everybody that you have mastered this ability by communicating with your audience and getting the very best from your presentation.

Fancy Transitions Don't Make Better Presentations

Wed, 26 Feb 2020 10:16:12 GMT

Scriba is a revolutionary digital stylus that is ergonomically designed to comfortably fit your hand and uses unique squeeze-motion technology

Audience engagement is what really matters when giving a good presentation. We all know that visual content captures the attention of the audience every time. A picture paints a thousand words. This is why presentations are the preferred media when it comes to announcing new projects, plans, strategies, and achievements. Images have a powerful influence on the people viewing them, especially when they are accompanied by the right kind of information. For the maximum impact it is no longer enough to just make a presentation and expect to have a great engagement level from your audience. These days, people are very accustomed to the traditional PowerPoint presentations. If you want to really succeed you have to be prepared to take things to the next level.

What does this mean? It means that you will have to think outside the box and come up with something really interesting and engaging. You see, just spending time making fancy transitions from one slide to another is not the way to go. This might have worked back in the day when powerpoint was still considered a novelty, but this is not the case anymore. How do you impress your audience and have your efforts appreciated? Here are some useful pieces of advice you can use to create a presentation that will engage your audience and help you achieve your goals. First of all be confident, and emphasize the excitement that your presentation will create. Your audience will be drawn in and get into a positive and receptive mood. This will then help your work to be received in an open and constructive way. Introductions are really important. They set the scene and get your audience ready for what is about to come next. So do invest your efforts in an interesting and innovative introduction. Also, make sure that you avoid reading from your slides while having your back to the audience. The slides are made for the audience to see, so you don’t have to read from them. Instead, use them as a base and then offer explanations and additional information that will help the audience have a better understanding of what they are seeing. Don’t be afraid to include something fun in your presentation, no matter how serious the treated subject is. An audience that laughs or smiles will be more open to hearing the rest of your presentation.

To really think outside the presentation box, you may want to switch your tools as well. Leave the PowerPoint aside and try something new, like Scriba. When it comes to making a presentation interesting and engaging Scriba is one of the best tools to have around. It will help you underline the most important aspects of your presentation and produce artistic and interesting slides. It even creates new slides during your presentation if you find that the audience needs extra information to enhance their understanding of your points. By using Scriba you will be able to create presentations with multiple visual elements in an easy to comprehend, simple, and interesting manner that engages your audience and brings a whole new dimension to your presentations.

Adapting to the Modern Classroom

Wed, 26 Feb 2020 10:16:10 GMT

Parents need to adapt their understanding of the modern classroom

Times are changing and so are the ways children learn. It is easy to see that in our digital world traditional textbooks and classes are not keeping children engaged anymore. They get bored and lose interest in paying attention to what is happening inside the classroom. Children are always attracted by new things; in this case technological breakthroughs, and are more than willing to learn when they are stimulated. So, in a world where the child is surrounded by technology and digital media, it is somewhat unnatural to expect them to still want to learn in the old ways. Therefore, parents should be prepared to understand how the modern classroom functions, in order to provide the best support to their children.

For a parent, it may be hard to understand the child’s powerful attraction to technology and digitalization. Things were so different when they were young, with none of the present-day technologies available. While it is true that spending too much time on the Internet and devices can have a damaging effect on behaviour, when it comes to learning, appropriate technology provides the best means for education. The resources of the Internet represent an inexhaustible and extremely rich source of information. This accessibility of information stirs the interest of children and young people to do their own research on various subjects. With such a great variety of information available constantly there may be no need to visit the library or search through paper books for the information needed. Using a computer or mobile device through appropriate channels can get all the information the child needs to target their interests and in the shortest time possible.

I n school, teachers noticed that they got much better responses from children when they intertwined digital technologies with face-to-face communication and traditional teaching methods. Digital teaching technologies have the power to capture the attention of children, while, at the same time, making them more receptive to what the teacher has to say. The present generation of children enjoys active learning and prefers to be challenged and engaged during the learning process. This is a development from older methods of passive learning where they just sat back and listened to the lesson presented by their teacher. While a parent would really like to see his or her children read paper books, if the child shows any signs of interest in reading, researching, and learning, even if it involves using technology, then the parent should encourage this behaviour. Of course, it is always in the power of the parent to limit the use of the Internet and devices at home, so that the child has a balanced childhood.

The modern classroom is adapting to reflect the way things are changing in the wider world, but also from a desire to make school and education better for future generations. Our children are brighter and smarter and feel the need to be challenged in order to learn, and appropriate technology can make all of this happen. When used correctly, technology can contribute to the development of well-prepared young adults who have everything they need to embrace life and their future careers in the best prepared way.

Developing Fine Motor Skills

Wed, 26 Feb 2020 10:16:05 GMT

The development of fine motor skills is one of the main priorities of every parent. In their first years of life, a child learns how to manage in the world, which also means learning how to use their hands for various tasks. But, when it comes to motor skills, paediatric specialists and occupational therapists say that too much technology can be detrimental to the development of these skills in young children.

According to a recent report from the UK, many preschool children struggle to hold pens and pencils properly. “Children are not coming into school with the hand strength and dexterity they had 10 years ago,” paediatric occupational therapist Dr Sally Payne told The Guardian . They lack the fundamental movement skills needed to hold a pen.

While this is concerning, things don’t have to be this way. There are several (fun!) fine motor skill activities to ensure children are able to meet important developmental milestones. These activities can also include the use of technology. So, let us take a closer look at what you can do to make sure that your child develops a healthy set of motor skills.

Playing with Play Dough

Play Dough isn’t just fun for kids, it’s also a great way for children to strengthen the smaller muscles in the hands and fingers. Tracy Le Roux, also known as OT Mom , explains that playing with play dough is a highly sensory experience that develops hand-eye coordination. Manipulating small pieces of dough and using tools to create patterns will develop children’s fine motor skills.

Art with Syringes

Manipulating syringes will also build good hand control and dexterity, so you can use these simple items to make fun activities that will develop great motor skills. Just give your child liquid colours, generous sheets of paper and a syringe. The idea is to use the syringe to draw up the liquid colours that will be then squirted onto the paper.

Water Tracing

This is another great activity to enjoy with your child if you have a small blackboard and some chalk. You will have to write some letters onto the blackboard with the chalk and ask the child to trace them by using a small brush dipped in water. The idea is to make the child follow the lines of each letter with water.

Using a Special Mobile App

As mentioned earlier, technology doesn’t have to be the bad guy when it comes to developing fine motor skills. Among the activities unrolled in this direction, you can also include Scriba Snap, a special app developed for the Android operating system that is designed to help children improve their motor skills. The app works by the child adjusting the pressure in their hand when squeezing different items displayed on the device’s screen. The idea is to apply the right amount of pressure so that the displayed items end up having the same size.

Beading, Sewing, and other similar activities

Any creative activity that involves the use of the hands, like beading, sewing, lacing, painting, drawing, sticking stickers, and so on, should be encouraged. Michelle Walsh , an early childhood trainer and consultant told The Guardian: “Children learn through play … It doesn’t matter what they’re playing. They are learning.”

It is easy and affordable to come up with new and exciting activities of this kind. Children do not always need expensive games and equipment and can develop fine motor skills with everyday items.

5 tips to creating a successful basic concept.

website@sitemodify.com (Website Editor) — Wed, 26 Feb 2020 10:16:03 GMT

New PaWhen trying to be successful, basic doesn’t mean inferior. Usually, the most simple solution to any problem is the best solution.

You want to find a concept that is simple, straightforward and free of too many frills. A basic concept is clean and allows you to be efficient and effective. It’s something that does what it says it will do and does it right the first time. Let’s look at 5 ways you can approach creating a business concept that is unique and strong, but basic enough to actually succeed.

1. Consider the Service or Product

The backbone of the concept is what you are actually offering. Your product or service should solve a singular problem or multiple similar problems. For instance, the Apple iPod headphones that now come standard with all products are revolutionary because they were one of the first headphones that allow you to go from listening to music to talking on the phone with the press of a button. Before, you would have to take your phone out of your pocket to answer the call. With the headphones, one click takes you seamlessly from music, to call, and back to music.

No matter what your product or service is, its function should solve a problem. This solution should be the highlight of your concept.New Paragraph

2. Consider the Target Demographic

We would all like to think that everyone can benefit from our product or service. It makes sense to think that the more people you target, the more customers you will get and the more successful you will be. However, it’s best to get specific. For instance, the aforementioned headphones can theoretically be used by anyone. But it’s important to identify that the person who is most likely to buy would be someone who listens to music and takes calls on the go. This simple persona can mean easier marketing in the long run.

3. Consider the Selling Proposition

Having a specific target demographic leads into developing a selling proposition. “Having a unique selling point—even one that ostracizes some prospective customers—is a competitive advantage that allows you to avoid the trap of trying to please everyone.”1 This means that within the concept, you should identify the best way to sell that highlights why your product and service is the best option for that audience.

4. Consider the Competition

Once you establish your target demographic and seller proposition, you have to consider not only what makes your product the better choice, but what makes it a better choice than the other guy. It’s great to say that your headphones have a simple button control which allows you to answer the phone. But there may be other headphones that do the same thing. What makes yours better than theirs? Is it cheaper? Does it come in various colours? Are there other functionalities that make it a bargain?

5. Consider the Room for Growth

Even if your product or service is simple, don’t back yourself into a corner. Always look for ways to expand upon what you have. Your headphones are a great invention, but how can you make them better? Are customers complaining about the size of the button? Maybe they want to also be able to pause their music instead of answering a call?

Within your concept, make sure to build in room for development and growth

Brain-writing: Sketch Down Your Ideas

Wed, 26 Feb 2020 10:16:02 GMT

What is Brain-writing?

If you work as part of a team, you may have meetings or talks where research and ideas are presented to the other members. New ideas may emerge out of this brainstorming meeting. These meetings can often impede some great ideas from coming forth. As everyone tries to get their ideas or questions in, you may forget what you were going say. Or the conversation gets sidetracked down one way of thinking and another interesting avenue is left unexplored.

We can avoid this with brain-writing. This is simply the process of everyone in a group sharing and building on ideas by silently writing them down. And you don’t just have to use words. Some ideas can be drawn or sketched out to better explain. No one has to be an award winning artist; as long as they idea is communicated the drawing is successful.

Brain-writing is great if you have a ground that is too large for a traditional brainstorming session. For instance, in a conference of 300 people it is difficult to get everyone’s opinions heard unless you organize it in a brain-writing type fashion. Brain-writing is also great if you have quiet people in your group who are intimidated by large, loud discussions, if you are short on time, or if you want to put an emphasis on having all voices heard and not just the most assertive people in the group.

What are the benefits of Brain-writing?

With brain-writing, you can

Speed up the process. Brainwriting means many ideas can be generated in a short period of time.
Make the process easier. There is no facilitation needed with brainwriting.
Save money. Instead of bringing everyone together for a conference and wasting time and money, you only need paper, cards and pens.
Work in quiet. With writing only, no one is talking and it’s often easier to focus.
Include everyone. Not everyone has a type-A personality and is good at making themselves heard. Shy or naturally quiet people can contribute just as much as anyone else.

How do you implement Brain-writing?

There are lots of different methods of brainwriting that you can use in a research or brainstorming group.

6-3-5 Brainwriting is when you have 6 participants, 3 ideas and 5 minutes. Each person has to write down 3 ideas on a piece of paper. Set a timer for 5 minutes. When time is up, each person passes their paper to the person beside them and that person builds on those ideas. You can do this for 30 minutes for 108 new ideas.

If you’re looking for a more relaxed format, you can write on cards and eliminate the timing aspect of the option above. Each person writes their ideas on a card and passes it around. Ideas can flow more freely as each person takes as long or short as they need to build on the idea on the card.

There are many other methods including brain-writing in the lab, gallery method, and any variation that works for you and your team.

How to get rid of the Naughties look

website@sitemodify.com (Website Editor) — Wed, 26 Feb 2020 10:15:54 GMT

How to get rid of the Naughties look; How to modernise your humble abode

Already in the second decade of the new millennium, it’s surprising to think that there is already a full period of time after 2000 that is now out of style. In 2016, home decor trends are very different than they were in 2006. If you feel like your home could use a style upgrade, modernize by recognizing and removing these naughties faux-paz from your abode.

What’s Left Over From 2000-2009

The naughties were big on individualisation, less clutter than the 1990s but still an emphasis on comfort, thriftiness and showing your personality with details around the house. We wanted to bring home every single piece we found and loved, cramming shelves and every corner of our homes with stuff.

Colour was a huge factor in design with bold colours on every surface. There was an emphasis as well on rich patterns, florals, especially for feature walls. Painting or wallpapering one wall was a lot cheaper than doing the whole room.

In order to bring your home into this decade, place a focus on the following:

Neutral colour

2016 is all about minimalism. Pops of colour here and there can add fun and personality, but overall, clean and flat neutral colours rule. Especially in kitchens and bathrooms, functional design presides over visual design.

Minimal styling

Continuing the minimal trend, understated design is now king. Unlike the naughties, it’s better right now to have a room free of knick-knacks and clutter. Statement pieces should rule the room in order to avoid too many elements merging together.

Purposefulness

In the naughties, reality TV home makeover shows were so popular, everyone wanted to redo their home just for the fun of it. In the end, the quality of the rooms ended up falling short. Instead, let the things you have speak for themselves and avoid going out and buying tons of new furniture and accessories just because.

Sleek style

With the economic crisis, came the need to re-purpose and reuse old-style furniture. But the shabby chic farmhouse look is over. Sleek modern furnishings with flat design and little depth or detail will bring your home into the new decade. It’s not all about metal and chrome. Dark unfinished wood cut into sharp lines is a huge aspect of 2016 interior design. But keep the minimalistic approach by skipping the flowery tablecloth.

Go Retro

A lot of design elements from the 60s are coming back strong. From lighting fixtures to kitchenware to sofas, if it was popular in the 1960s, it’s groovy again. (We aren’t counting shag carpet here.) The “futuristic” yet still, homely feel of the 60s can be found everywhere, which is great for keeping with design trends and still not having to buy new, as many popular pieces can be found at thrift stores.

Technology

When it doubt, embrace the Internet. The world is still fascinated with DIY trends and re-purposing old finds. These days, who doesn’t have a Pinterest board with ideas and plans for their bathroom remodel? In the naughties, we threw together our rooms based on what we liked. Now, we have the ability to learn from experts and plan out our home design down to the last throw pillow.

Creating the perfect home environment on a budget

website@sitemodify.com (Website Editor) — Wed, 26 Feb 2020 10:15:52 GMT

Hack; Creating the Perfect Home Environment on a Budget

We all want the perfect home to come back to every day after a long day of work, school or travel. But we can’t always achieve the look and feel with the budget we have. Fancy decor and tools for functionalities can be expensive and really add up. Take a look at these hacks for every room in your house to create the perfect home environment on a budget.

Kitchen

For cleaner and minimalistic look in your modern kitchen, hang your spice rack on the inside of one of your cabinet doors. That way it is out of the way and spices are still easily accessible when cooking.
Use magazine holders in cabinets to organise ziplock bag boxes or to create more shelf space in the fridge.
Use dollar-store contact paper to line the shelves in your fridge and freezer. They are pretty and are easily removable in case of spills.
Remove paper labels from jars and use washy tape or stickers to create your own custom luxury labels with a sharpie.
Use a curtain rod in a cabinet for hanging cleaning supply bottles or pot and pan lids. Hanging automatically creates more space for objects.

Living Room

Use cheap painted or spray painted command hooks to hang your curtain rods and still maintain that classy look you want.
Pull curtains back with re-purposed costume jewellery necklaces, decked out with beads or jewels.
Hide your ugly internet router in a hollowed out book or binder.
Paint the sides of your doors to add a pop of hidden colour. Do the same with the sides of your drawers in your dresser.
Use old sweaters or blouses that don't fit anymore to create DIY couch cushion covers.

Bathroom

Use a glass thrift-store decanter to hold mouthwash. This works especially well in guest bathrooms.
Tie shower curtains up with pretty satin ribbons instead of plastic or metal rings that can break or rust over time.
Use a thrift store spice rack to neatly organise and store lotion, hair care products, nail polish and more.
Use a magazine holder under the sink to neatly store hair appliances like hair dryers.

Bedroom

For any room, take a trip to the dollar store and thrift store and look at everything with a discerning eye. With a little paint or added flair you can turn cheap or used items into something that looks vintage or even brand new.

Artist Spotlight: Cristina de Elias

website@sitemodify.com (Website Editor) — Wed, 26 Feb 2020 10:15:47 GMT

Everyone’s work is deeply idiosyncratic: in our regular Spotlight segment we explore artists’ experiences and inspiration to understand what defines and inspires their unique styles.

Concept artist Cristina de Elias draws from literature, movies and modern technology to inspire and create her pieces.

Can you give us a brief background on yourself?

I’m an illustrator and concept artist born and raised in Barcelona, Spain. I manifested my passion for drawing when I was a little child. I knew I wanted this to be my profession the moment I learned you could make a living out of it.

Now that I’ve earned my bachelor’s degree in Fine Arts, I’m looking forward to investing all of my efforts into achieving my personal and professional goals as an artist. I’m currently working as an environment and character concept artist at 3D2Entertainment, and I am developing a fantasy video game named Arima.

What kind of influence does your location have on your career?

Many of the big studios I would one day like to work for, such as Disney, Pixar, Laika, Dreamworks, and many more, are located in the U.S. This makes it slightly harder for me to get an opportunity at one of the big studios, and would eventually require me to move there. However, thanks to technology and the internet, I can work on various projects with enterprises from all over the world as a freelance artist. Also, the internet is full of resources and online art schools through which we can compliment our education. As a result of this, the location one lives in definitely has a lower impact in an artist’s career than it did a few decades ago.

What is your greatest source of inspiration?

For me, anything that creates a sensorial stimulation can become a source of inspiration. Some examples of this would be music, literature, movies, other artists' work, a certain smell, a certain place, a color palette, nature. T o be more specific, I’m especially moved by traditional tales, fairy tales, celtic folklore, romanticism, gothic literature, Tim Burton, Edwardian era, and Victorian era. Basically anything that incorporates a sense of nostalgia.

Could you pick one piece of art that has made a lasting influence on you, and if so why?

Charlie Bowater has always been one of my greatest influences. I was lucky to find her work on deviantart when I was just starting to get more serious about digital art. I learned a lot by observing and emulating her painting process. That definitely had a noticeable impact on my style. She did this piece called "Declan" back in 2009. I was 13 when I saw it for the first time, and I felt it really resonated with my own imagination and taste. I loved the concept, the composition, and the execution. I simply had a "This is the kind of art that I want to be able to create" moment.

What skills or techniques do you find most useful in your line of work? Do you use primarily traditional or digital methods to create your artwork?

To be an illustrator it is essential to know the fundamentals: anatomy, composition, light, color, etc. If you lack a good foundation you will encounter many obstacles on your way, which can easily lead to frustration because it cuts short your creative process and makes you feel stuck. I’ve learned this the hard way, and I’m still practicing and working towards building a solid base for myself. Mastering these essential skills gives you the ability to successfully replicate the images in your mind, which translates into a wider range of possibilities, more self confidence, and a greater sense freedom. I still draw traditionally from time to time, specifically on my sketchbook, but I mainly use digital methods.

How can people who are interested in discovering more of your work find it?

www.instagram.com/cristinadeelias and Artstation www.artstation.com/cristinadeelias accounts.

Scriba is a revolutionary digital stylus that is ergonomically designed to comfortably fit your hand and uses unique Squeeze-Motion technology. Order here.

Sketching: the emotion in architecture

website@sitemodify.com (Website Editor) — Wed, 26 Feb 2020 10:15:46 GMT

Why sketching is an important tool to any architect.

Is sketching or drawing irrelevant in a world of technology?

Architect-academic Michael Graves disagrees: “architecture cannot divorce itself from drawing, no matter how impressive the technology gets. Drawings are not just end products: they are part of the thought process of architectural design.”

The ability to sketch (with or without technology) enables you capture ideas as they flow, to record the thought process at the time of inspiration when the hand comes into accord with the heart.

Sketching also offers a very effective means of communication for conveying ideas, concepts or solutions quickly to colleagues, clients or contractors.

So, whether you want to visualise your thoughts more or enhance your communication skills, here are some tips for improving your technique your skill in drawing.

Copy and trace

In developing your skills you can — as an exercise — learn a lot by copying the drawings of other illustrators and designers. Tracing helps you identify how certain effects are achieved. Using a grid helps you examine detail and technique.

Record your progress

Keeping a sketchbook and making a habit of taking it with you wherever you go means you can sketch whenever you want. This record of your work is a good motivator as you assess how your skill develops over time.

Attend a class

A taught class or course is surefire way to learn from an expert, to develop and improve your style and to get inspiration from others.

Alternatively, online tutorials and resources provide a great breadth of tips, skills and information and inspiration for all over the world. Bob Borson’s ‘Life of an Architect’ website offers a great deal of professional detail on, among other topics architectural sketching and is well worth a visit.

Draw what you see, not what you think you see.

This may always be a challenge but it is important for speed and efficiency to be able to sketch rough at pre-concept stage. With time and practice, your rough will become smooth!

Practice makes perfect

Draw when you can and wherever you can. Practice drawing different shapes, forms, and textures. Start simple and build, over time, to complexity through setting setting goals for speed, legibility, consistency etc. Experiment with different tools such as pencils, pens, felt tips, and styli. Practice on different media such as paper digital tablet and even your smart phone.

Sketching is a skill that requires practice. It is method of communication for which speed and efficiency can always be improved. Sketching is an important part of the process that starts with inspiration and through a visceral connection results in a building. Regardless of ever evolving technologies, drawing is and will remain the basis for emotive design, so don’t put the pencil down just yet.

“The initial sketch is always an emotion, not a concept” - Samuel Mockbee.

DIY: Simple ideas that create riches from rags

website@sitemodify.com (Website Editor) — Wed, 26 Feb 2020 10:15:45 GMT

When you look at old objects with an imaginative eye, anything is possible. This is the key to transforming your home from dowdy to plush on just a small budget.

Creating a cohesive and beautiful home on a tight budget can be more than tricky. All of the accessories and details that make a home look richly decorated can really add up. However, with some simple DIY projects, you can give your home a luxury look and feel while remaining on budget.

First off, avoid department stores or specialty stores that will tempt you to pay $50 for something you can make for $5. With a few trips to the thrift store and craft store, you can recreate almost anything you dream of.

Re-purposing Old Furniture

Buying new and expensive furniture is completely unnecessary, even if you want furniture that looks new and expensive. You can grab a piece for free or cheap online or at a used goods store like Goodwill or Salvation Army. With the proper cleaning, coat of paint, or upholstering, you can turn a drab old piece into something new.

For instance, old fashioned oak furniture can always be sanded down and painted. Add a few cheap brass handles from a hardware store and you have something that looks like it came straight from Ikea.

If you’ve got a torn and stained sofa or armchair on your hands, instead of buying a new one, simply invest a little bit into cleaning it and then buy a large, cheap piece of fabric that you can use to cover the old upholstery.

DIY Shelves

Shelving and all the pieces you put on your shelves can add a rich and carefully designed look to your decor. But shelves can be pricy. In order to create fancy shelves on a budget, you can:

Find old shelves or wood someone is giving away on Craigslist.
Buy a used shelving unit from a thrift store.
Buy wooden planks from a hardware store and try to get any metal hardware on sale.

Once you have your raw materials, you can sand down the wood you have and paint it whatever colour you like. You can make it shiny, matte, or skip painting altogether and varnish the wood instead if you’re going for something more rustic.

Home Decor From Nothing

Thrift stores, yard sales, and estate sales are great places to get home decor for free or extremely cheap. Keep an eye out for anything you can re-do or remake into something special. An old glass jar filled with marbles, flowers made from old newspaper, dollar store picture frames, spray painted vases and lamps with freshly painted shades can all add sophistication to a drab room. If you know how to sew, it’s easy to get cheap fabric with online coupons and make your own throw pillows or buy large pieces of fabric to make your own curtains.

It’s also a good idea to reuse and recycle things you may have thrown away otherwise. Old t-shirts you would otherwise throw away can be braided together to make a boho rug or old coffee canisters can be repainted to make beautiful storage containers.

Chipped teacups or mugs can hold flowers and broken or scratched CDs can be cut into pieces to make a shiny mosaic picture frame or piece of art.

When you look at old objects with an imaginative eye, anything is possible.

Artist Spotlight: Andrea von Bujdoss

Wed, 26 Feb 2020 10:15:43 GMT

Everyone’s work is deeply idiosyncratic: in our regular Spotlight segment we explore artists’ experiences and inspiration to understand what defines and inspires their unique styles.

Bold and colorful and certainly inspired by her environment Andrea von Bujdoss tells us what inspires her.

Can you give us a brief background on yourself?

As a New Yorker, I grew up in the vibrant neighborhoods of downtown Manhattan in the 1980s and 1990s. These neighborhoods were full of exciting subcultures such as graffiti, street art, skateboarding, raves, punk rock, and clubs. So I've been deeply inspired by the urban landscape from an early age, but I was particularly intrigued by graffiti. As a young teen, and part of a newer generation of early 1990's graffiti writers, I became friends with some of the most prolific old school subway graffiti writers. I began to teach myself the complicated art form of graffiti by consistently practicing my letters and graffiti style. I’ve always loved lettering, design, and drawing from a young age. I would sketch and draw for hours everyday as a teen. Then I would go out with friends and paint in the street. I eventually developed my own unique style and went on to earn my BFA at Parsons School of Design. I began a successful career working for worldwide brands and magazines who appreciate my passionate knowledge for typography, branding, and visual communication. Since the early 2000's, I have consistently painted murals and graffiti in the streets of New York City and other major US cities, as well as Paris, Amsterdam, and Tahiti. These days as a full time artist, I work on new paintings for exhibitions as well as large scale murals, branding, illustration, commissions, lettering, and apparel. I've spent nearly 20 years perfecting my graffiti and typography skill sets and I'm always developing new styles. It is really fun work and an exciting journey as a creative.

What kind of influence does your location have on your career?

My hometown New York City is the most amazing city in the world, in my opinion! Not only is it bustling with great galleries, museums, and advertising agencies. It is also a multicultural city full of people from diverse backgrounds, which is such an important aspect of vibrant communities. My work is definitely influenced by the diversity around me and I find it exciting to visually translate my experience of urban life. Some of my work incorporates clashing combinations of different patterns and phrases, which basically conveys diversity through interesting visual juxtapositions. Being in New York City is also great because it's home to some of the best advertising and media companies, so there's a huge amount of creativity and innovation buzzing here.

What is your greatest source of inspiration?

Typography and color are my biggest sources of inspiration at this point in my career. I love researching vintage lettering styles and following the evolution of typographic styles in advertising and media. Letters can be illustrated to convey powerful messages and affirmations. My work includes song lyrics and inspirational phrases that I paint as large scale murals or detailed digital illustrations, to create a big impact for those particular phrases. It’s an ongoing obsession with letters! I also explore different color palettes in my work by researching trends in art history and in nature. The natural world is a huge inspiration for my color palettes and color combinations, especially tropical nature.

Could you pick one piece of art that has made a lasting influence on you, and if so why?

The "LOVE" typography sculptures and prints created by pop artist Robert Indiana have had a big influence on me. They're so bold and iconic, and were unlike anything else at the time when he debuted them. I used to work at a design studio across the street from one of these sculptures in midtown Manhattan, and it was just amazing to see his sculpture every day. I think Robert Indiana opened the door for such bold letter-based works. The clever typography and positive message are very direct and appealing. The fact that these sculptures were placed on such busy streets in Manhattan is incredible, they have become iconic public works of art.

What skills or techniques do you find most useful in your line of work? Do you use primarily traditional or digital methods to create your artwork?

Drawing and sketching is a fundamental method that I always use to generate ideas and explore ways to express concepts or phrases visually. There are so many digital programs and new devices to illustrate with, but I think traditional drawing on paper is a beautiful practice that shouldn't be forgotten. It’s fun and liberating to let your mind wander and to just draw. For my paintings, I mix a lot of custom colors and use tiny brushes for my detail work. Most of my paintings incorporate hard edged shapes instead of free form brushwork. My work can be abstract and wild, but it’s always precise and graphic in terms of composition and production. When I’m digitally refining my illustrations on computers, I use a few digital tablets with pens, including portable ones when I'm on the go. Using tablets and pens are much faster for digital illustration. Working this way basically mimics my pencil-and-paper traditional drawing style, which is pretty much impossible using a mouse. The settings and short cuts on digital tablets with pens make my process very efficient when I’m re-coloring or adding effects to my vectorized artwork.

How can people who are interested in discovering more of your work find it?

You can find me on Instagram, my handle is @queenandreaone and also at www.superfreshdesign.com .

Cheers, Scriba!

Scriba is a revolutionary digital stylus that is ergonomically designed to comfortably fit your hand and uses unique Squeeze-Motion technology. Order here.

Top 5 benefits of sketching as a hobby

website@sitemodify.com (Website Editor) — Wed, 26 Feb 2020 10:15:40 GMT

Hobbies are a great way to relax and unwind after a busy day at the office.

They can take your mind off anything that is stressing you out, and are a great way to enjoy yourself and let your mind rest. Drawing and sketching are great hobbies that you can do at any time. There are a number of reasons why you should start this fantastic hobby, but here are 5 of the best!:

1 . Sketching and drawing is a great way to improve your creative skills and start thinking in a different way. Art shows you that there is normally more than one way to solve a problem. Art encourages open minded thinking and creativity. These can be really helpful for personal development and solving problems. Skills you learn through sketching can be applied in a number of different areas in your life.

2 . Sketching helps develop a number of different areas of your brain. You develop your ability to focus and pay attention, a skill that can be very useful throughout your life and career. It also develops hand-eye coordination so that everyday tasks can become easier for you. But it also develops strategic thinking, a concept that can be useful to everyone.

3 . Sketching can even improve your holistic health. As you build your self esteem and confidence through your art and your sketches as you become better and better. You will get a sense of achievement and start feeling proud of your art which you will carry that confidence through to the rest of your life. Having confidence in your work -whatever it is- is an incredibly useful thing to have.

4 . Rest and relaxation is one of the main advantages of sketching, as a hobby. Sketching allows you to sit back and sketch a picture at your own pace. There are no rules and no one telling you what to do, you can just draw whatever you want and have fun while doing it.

5. Sketching can also help you improve your communication skills. Because there are no words in a drawing, well, most of the time, the artist finds other ways to communicate with the audience. This can help you improve your other communication skills by better understanding your feelings and emotions and without the need for words to be spoken.

Sketching is great for a number of different reasons and they don’t just apply to pencil and paper sketching. All of these advantages simply come from the act of drawing and taking time to sketch something that you want to, however you want to do that. The lifestyle benefits of this hobby are incredible and can really help improve your skills in a number of different areas of life, not just sketching.

Artist Spotlight: KC Gillies

website@sitemodify.com (Website Editor) — Wed, 26 Feb 2020 10:15:38 GMT

In our regular Spotlight segment we explore artists’ experiences and inspiration to understand what defines and inspires their unique styles.

KC Gillies has a bold and unique style and is open to commissions, when creating hyper real 'portraits'. KC likes to study animals, in particular birds.

Can you give us a brief background on yourself?

I never intended to be an artist. I drew a lot as a kid, but my teen years were spent mostly outside with dogs and horses. I didn't have the time or desire to be inside drawing. However, about four years ago, I was snowed in and picked up an old sketchbook in an effort to relieve some boredom. It wasn't something I was exceptionally good at, but I quickly became addicted to creating and seeing my skills progress. Since then, more days have gone by that I have drawn than days that I have not. I started posting work on Instagram, and after a couple of years, people started inquiring about buying and commissioning me for work. Now, commissions are my main source of income. Previously, I did freelance WordPress support for work.

What kind of influence does your location have on your career?

I moved to South East Asia about a year and half ago. When I first moved here, the majority of my work was done in pen and ink. But with the expensive and unreliable shipping to and from here, I switched over to digital art. This area is also very... urban. Buildings are crammed into every little spare piece of land. Leaving very little room for nature in between. As a result, people here create beauty around them by keeping songbirds and plants. While the songbird trade isn't the most humane, regularly seeing and hearing these beautiful birds up close both inspires me as an artist and motives me to educate others through art about conservation and ethical aviculture. As a result, birds feature heavily in my work. Another way that being here has impacted my work is in my use of color. Being surrounded by concrete and steel makes me crave and seek out more color in my life. My work since being here has become progressively more vibrant.

What is your greatest source of inspiration?

Honestly, I don't put a lot of importance on inspiration. I think having regular drawing and creating habits, and a solid process will get you much further. But when I have felt inspired, it's always been by the little things in nature. The tiny sparrows that sing louder than the traffic, corals and seashells, the house plants I can never seem to keep alive, and that gorgeous golden hour afternoon light on a clear day. I'm also inspired by words that evoke tangible feelings, such as lush, fluffy, airy etc. I want my work to elicit a sensation that feels like you can reach out and touch it.

Could you pick one piece of art that has made a lasting influence on you, and if so why?

A few years ago I had the privilege of seeing Frederic Edwin Church's The Icebergs in Dallas, TX. It's a ginormous painting from 1861 that has the most incredible detail and coloring in the highlights and shadows. It completely blew my mind that someone could create something so lifelike and detailed from just sketches and studies before the time of color photographs. It also really cemented in my brain that realism comes from lights and shadows, more than detail and coloring. That piece is always in the back of my mind when I'm trying to figure out how to light my portraits and paintings.

What skills or techniques do you find most useful in your line of work? Do you use primarily traditional or digital methods to create your artwork?

I think the most useful skills are always the most basic. A good understanding of form, anatomy, lighting, and shadows goes a very long way, no matter the media. These days, I paint and draw mostly with an iPad Pro, Apple Pencil, and a Wacom Cintiq display tablet. I can work fast and from anywhere, sketching out idea after idea without worrying about wasting paper or paint. When I need to slow down though I always bring my fountain pens back out for a stippling session. I don't sell much pen and ink work, but nothing is quite as therapeutic for me as drawing thousands of tiny dots!

How can people who are interested in discovering more of your work find it?

I post regularly on two Instagram accounts. @kcgillies is my digital work and @kcgilliesillustration is my traditional work. I also have a website kcgillies.com .

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The best art museums in the world

website@sitemodify.com (Website Editor) — Wed, 26 Feb 2020 10:15:37 GMT

From the British museum in London to the Museum of Modern art in New York, here is our top picks for the world’s best art museums.

There are a number of amazing museums out there, but the best art museums in the world have become destinations in themselves. Being home to some of the world’s most popular artefacts, sculptures, and paintings, these museums are a treasure of knowledge, allowing visitors to navigate the culture and history through creative expression. These museums show very different exhibits, but they have one thing common: they all definitely worth your visit.

Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

Also known as The Met, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York is the largest museum in the Western hemisphere. The museum is home to more than 2 million pieces of artwork and displays enough variety to attract millions of enthusiasts each year from around the globe. Its collection spans Africa, Asia, Europe, America as well as the Islamic, classical and ancient worlds. The work includes antiquities, musical instruments, interior design, glass, sculpture, photography, painting, statuary, armor and the entire first century Egyptian temple of Dander.

Vatican Museums, Vatican City, Rome, Italy

Located within the city boundaries, the Roman Catholic Church’s Vatican collection is most stunning and one of the largest collections in the world. It was founded in the early 16th century and contains masterpieces of sculpture, painting and other work of art collected by the popes through the centuries. The museum includes different monumental works of art such as the Borgia Apartment, the Raphael Rooms and Loggia, the Chapel of Beato Angelico and the Sistine Chapel.

Le Louvre, Paris, France

The Louvre is one of the most famous art museums in the world and a must visit destination for a person with an interest in art. It was originally a fortified palace that was home to the kings of France before becoming a museum two centuries ago. The museum has a collection of over one million works of art, from which 35,000 are on display. Some of the most famous artworks in the museum are Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa, the Dying Slave by Michelangelo, the Nike of Samothrake and, of course, the Venus of Milo. Come for the best known works but stay for the splendour of the lesser known works. You can easily get lost for a whole day.

The British Museum, London, England

The British Museum, of London is the largest museum in Britain. The museum is dedicated to human culture, art and history and it is located in the Bloomsbury area of London. It holds more than 8 million objects from different era, ranging from exquisite gold jewels to whole Assyrian palace rooms, Athens Parthenon to prehistoric bones.

El Prado Museum, Madrid, Spain

The Prado Museum also known as (Museo Nacional del Prado) is the main Spanish national art museum, located in central Madrid. The museum contains the most impressive and largest art collections in the world from the 12th century to the early 10th century based on the Spanish art and royal collection. The most notable artwork of the Prado Museum display is El Greco, Murillo, Velasquez and Goya. The collection comprises around 8,200 drawings, 4,800 prints, 1000 sculptures and 7,600 paintings. El Prado is also situated next El Parque de Retiro, an enormous, beautiful park owned by the Spanish monarchy until the 19th century. A highlight is taking out a rowboat on the little lake in front of the Monument to Alfonso XII, or visiting the Crystal Palace within the park.

Those are our picks, do you think we’ve forgotten anything? Let us know what your top picks are.

Colouring books for adults: no longer just for kids

website@sitemodify.com (Website Editor) — Wed, 26 Feb 2020 10:15:36 GMT

Colouring books are no longer just for kids - they've become a popular way for adults to achieve mindfulness and reduce stress.

Think back to your elementary school day, the days of recesses, snack time, crayons and simple joys. One of every child’s favourite pastimes was colouring in colouring books, either at school or at home. They would depict nature scenes, cartoon characters, and so much more. Blank outlines would invite you to fill in whatever colours your young heart desires. You had the freedom to colour the sky purple or the grass orange. They made have mostly been tools to improve fine motor skills, but most people just think back on them as fun.

But recently, you don’t have to turn to nostalgia to revisit the feeling of using a colouring book. These days, the new fad is adult colouring books that are designed, not for kids, but just for grown ups.

Kinds of Adult Colouring Books

While the ones you may remember as a kid involved TV cartoon characters and silly scenes, adult colouring books are designed for a more refined taste. They can include:

Intricate flowers and butterflies
Swirling abstract patterns like paisley
Mandalas and Asian inspired art
Detailed or realistic-looking animals
Fun objects like hot air balloons

These artistic outlines go beyond colour-by-numbers and encourage grown ups to create flowing and beautiful works of art. There is a style for everyone. In addition to the ones above, there are also more niche colouring books or joke colouring books featuring hilarious comic scenes or celebrities.

Why Are They Popular?

For the past couple of years, adult colouring books have been everywhere and everyone has been talking about them. In 2015, about 12 million adult colouring books were sold in the US alone. Many entrepreneurs design their own colouring books by drawing the black and white art, print them, and sell them on Amazon or Etsy.

They are popular not only because of the nostalgia factor, but because they give adults (mainly millennials) a way to relax after a stressful day. The activity of colouring, getting lost in a soothing, repetitive, creative task, can be extremely mentally and emotionally therapeutic for many people.

Adult colouring books can even be good for physical ailments. Because of the way colouring benefits fine motor skills, people with limited mobility can strengthen the muscles in their arms and hands with colouring and find new strength. People use it as a tool against self harm, a way to fight depression or anxiety, and much more. There are even colouring book groups in libraries and cafes that bring people together to share their art and their stories.

Relaxing with colouring books can be compared to yoga or meditation in terms of its benefits. It can slow down the heart rate and respiration, stimulate the brain and relax tense muscles. It’s cheap, can be done almost anywhere, and you have a beautiful piece of art to show for your time.

So next time you are stressed out and want to go get a drink or spend money on a spa, try grabbing an adult colouring book and pack of crayons instead.

Artist Spotlight: Fajareka Setiawan

website@sitemodify.com (Website Editor) — Wed, 26 Feb 2020 10:15:35 GMT

In our regular Spotlight segment we explore artists' experiences and
inspirations to understand what defines and inspires their unique styles.

Everyone’s work is deeply idiosyncratic. In our regular Spotlight segment we explore artists’ experiences and inspiration to understand what defines and inspires their unique styles. Fajareka Setiawan is an Indonesian freelance illustrator and concept artist responsible for some incredibly detailed and imaginative pieces.

Can you give us a brief background on yourself?

I started my education at Indonesian Institute of the Art Yogyakarta in 2009, I majored in visual communication design. In mid semester, I worked with a local comic company as a comic artist.I was collaborating with my friend who wrote the stories. I was having difficultly coming up with my own comic stories and mostly got freelance illustration work more than work on comic books. So, I decided to start focusing 100% of my career in the illustration industry.

What influence does your location have on your career?

It started when I was still a college student. I worked at Caravan Studio as an intern in 2014. So many great artist there helped me in my digital illustration works. After my internship program was done I met Lius Lasahido. Lius helped me level out my skills. So, after my graduation he offered me a position at his studio, Polar Engine, and I have been there until now. At Polar Engine I learned different techniques, where to get inspiration, and how to manage a team.

What is your greatest source of inspiration?

My dream is to develop an entertainment industry in my country. That is where I get my inspiration to do what I do.

Could you pick one piece of art that has made a lasting influence on you, and if so why?

I don't know if I could pick just one piece of art, but Craig Mullins' paintings have had a huge influence on me. His digital paintings are epic and artistic like renaissance paintings but with a modern touch. Elements such as lighting, color, texture, and brush shape are all illustrations used in his work.

What skills or techniques do you find most useful in your line of work? Do you use primarily traditional or digital methods to create your artwork?

For industrial purposes, the most useful technique is photobashing if you have a good fundamental understanding of how the process works. I use digital methods because it is required to make a good and fast illustration.

How can people who are interested in discovering more of your work find it?

You can find my artworks at:

Instagram.com/fajarekas

fajareka.artstation.com

facebook.com/fajarekas

www.polarengine.com

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Artist Spotlight: Thierry Lafontaine

website@sitemodify.com (Website Editor) — Wed, 26 Feb 2020 10:15:31 GMT

In our regular Spotlight segment we explore artists' experiences and

inspirations to understand what defines and inspires their unique styles.

Everyone’s art work is deeply idiosyncratic and Thierry Lafontaine is no different when it comes to this. Thierry surprised us not only by how in depth his answers were to our questions, but also the wide variety of styles and techniques in his commissions. To view more of Thierry's work click on the links at the bottom of this article.

Can you give us a brief background on yourself?

I was born in Brazil and when I was 2 weeks old. I grew up in Quebec. I always loved learning and I have always been fascinated by life and discovering new things. I have studied a lot of different subjects in my life. I went to college to study science, then I studied film. After that I went on to study wine, comic books, art, and animation. One day someone asked me what would I do if I would win the lottery and have so much money that I wouldn't need to work and could do absolutely anything that I wanted all day. The answer that I came up with was, I would just learn all my life. When I realized that was the reason why I kept studying different things and why I kept getting bored of every job I had after a few months. I felt like I had learned a pretty useful thing about myself. I almost became a lot of things. I thought about joining the army, becoming a computer programmer, a 3d modeler, and a business man. I worked in the wine industry as a wine adviser for years, but I always felt my heart whispering in my ear to do something else.

One thing that I have always done is follow my heart. When you follow your heart you take an unknown path and your brain and your logic tell you that this is the wrong path and that you shouldn't be doing that. It also looks like you are doing the wrong thing when you follow your heart, but it feels right. There is this faint silent voice inside of my head that guides me and tells me that I am doing the right thing, but at the same time there are these loud voices in my brain telling me that you I'm not doing the right thing and showing me proofs to validate these thoughts. Following your heart doesn't make any logical sense, but it feels right. When I found art, I was 24 years old. I realized that it was the perfect job for me because artists are eternal students and that if one day I wanted to learn about any subject I could study it, draw it, and paint about it. If the next day I was interested in something completely different, then I could learn about that start painting and drawing about that new subject. When I was 28 I was sleeping on my tutor's floor and spending my days learning and doing art. While all of my friends were buying houses, getting married, and having kids. It sure looked like I wasn't doing the right thing, but it felt right because I was following my heart.

After years of hard work, persistence, determination, and blindly following my heart I started teaching. At the time I wasn't as in touch with my intuition as I am right now. So what I did was, I broke up everything that I was learning into rational explanations in order to explain to others what I was doing when I was drawing. I started developing a passion for Life Drawing, the art of drawing human models, and was attending Life Drawing sessions for over 20 hours a week. When my classmates started asking me how I drew certain things it was easy for me to explain my thought process to them. My classmates started telling me that I was very good at explaining things in a very clear way that was easy for them to understand, and that is how I discovered my affinity for teaching. I wouldn't consider myself a teacher, but more of a learner. I just love learning so much. I became very efficient at learning over time. It is my passion and I am constantly trying to find new ways to learn and become better at it. My true passion is learning and art is a never ending learning journey so I knew I had found my calling. Picasso said, "The meaning of life is to find your gift. The purpose of life is to give it away". I can say from experience that this is true. I also believe that the more you learn about art the more you learn about yourself, and the more you learn about yourself the more you learn about others. My gift is my insatiable passion for learning, and giving it away helps others follow their heart by becoming a better artist. I have crossed paths with hundreds of artists along the way and anyone that is committed to becoming a better artists and really wants to learn can contact me, I love company. I frequently mentor apprentices that move in with me for a month or so and we learn together. During this time our paths to become better artists join and become one.

Along with my passion for learning new things, I enjoy nature, spirituality, communication, storytelling, and plants. I work as a Concept Artists and Character Designer on films, and love doing illustrations for children's books. I am working on publishing some books of my own soon.

What kind of influence does your location have on your career?

Nature is the best teacher. I live in the Canadian forest where I am surrounded by trees and wildlife. This type of environment is very important to me. I feel this deep connection to nature, and I have found this environment to be very inspiring. When I have artists blocks, I just go outside and take a walk. I do landscape paintings, and I am always seeing interesting things that I want to paint. I love the quietness and smells of nature. I like to feel like I am not in my environment, but part of it. I think that it is important to love where you live. In this day in age artists can live anywhere and do work for anyone on the planet, because of the internet.

What is your greatest source of inspiration?

My greatest source of inspiration is nature. It is fascinating to me and a bottomless well of knowledge and novelty. It never ceases to amaze me, and whenever I take the time to observe it I feel that it teaches me new things. I believe in something called the Gaia Hypothesis also known as the Gaia theory or the Gaia principle. It proposes that living organisms interact with their inorganic surroundings on Earth to form a synergistic and self-regulating, complex system that helps to maintain and perpetuate the conditions for life on the planet. The originality of the Gaia hypothesis relies on the assessment that there is a planetary homeostasis balance that is actively pursued with the goal of keeping the conditions for life optimal. I believe that our planet and nature is a conscious living organism that I am a part of, so when I run out of inspiration I just meditate on this connection and I instantly feel inspired. I also know that when you believe something, it doesn't matter whether it is true or not. The effect it has on you is real no matter if that belief is true or not.

Could you pick one piece of art that has made a lasting influence on you, and if so why?

One piece that has been significant in my artistic development is called Lady of the Forest. This piece is significant for me because painting it was a special experience. By the end of the painting, I was a different artist than I was before I started the painting. I started this piece with the intent of learning how to paint foliage. I wanted to learn how to paint foliage, so I observed nature and entered into this internal dialogue in my head and spent the next few hours in a meditation like state trying different ways to paint foliage and failing over and over again. No matter how many times I failed I just kept going until I reached something called a flow state. In positive psychology, flow, also known colloquially as being in the zone, is the mental state of operation in which a person performing an activity is fully immersed in a feeling of energized focus, full involvement, and enjoyment in the process of the activity. In essence, flow is characterized by complete absorption in what one does, which results in a loss in one's sense of space and time. By the end of the painting I had came up with two new different painting techniques and a new way to use my digital pen. Every time I look at this piece, I remember how amazing the experience of painting it was.

What skills or techniques do you find most useful in your line of work? Do you use primarily traditional or digital methods to create your artwork?

I share something called The Gift with my students. The Gift is the ability to see beyond the surface of things, to see the invisible relationships that fill the seemingly empty space between things. I think the mission of the artists is to use this Gift to manifest physically the wonders of the invisible world of his imagination. I think the most useful skill for an artist is their ability to see beyond the surface of things and see wonders when most people see nothing.

How can people who are interested in discovering more of your work find it?

website: www.imaginismstudios.com/thierry-lafontaine

facebook: www.facebook.com/thierry.lafontaine

instagram: www.instagram.com/thierrylafontaine

twitter: @thierryart

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12 tips to improve your sketching on iPad

website@sitemodify.com (Website Editor) — Wed, 26 Feb 2020 10:15:30 GMT

Illustration Hacks; 12 tips to improve your sketching on iPad

Digital art is taking over for cartoonists, graphic designers… and anyone who creates art these days. The iPad is one of the most easily accessible and user friendly tablets on the market and it’s great for digital sketching. If you’re making the switch from analog to digital drawing, sketching and painting, here are some tips to make the transition easier.

Get a Hold on the Basics

Just because you’re using a tablet to draw doesn’t magically mean you’ll become a better artist than you were before. The quality over your art will only get better as you do. Spend a good amount of time practicing with real paper and a pencil and learn all the basics before making the switch to an iPad. Basic techniques like figure drawing, perspective, shadowing and colour theory all make great places to start. Once you have mastered them, it will be much easier to transfer your skills to a tablet.

Get a Good App

There are many apps available that offer various tools and options to help you sketch. Once you’re ready to start on the iPad, check out apps like:

Brushes
ArtRage
ArtStudio for iPad
Adobe Ideas
Sketchbook Pro for iPad
Sketches 2
Procreate - Sketch, paint, create

They will give you the tools you need in order to create your next masterpiece. You can also use applications like Osmo to combine tablet and real-world drawing.

Colour Last

Similar to real-world drawing, you’ll usually want to start in black and white sketching. This way you can establish where everything is, sizes and dimensions before adding in your colours. If you dive in, colour first, you may get overwhelmed with all the colour options.

Use Layers If Possible

If your app allows you to, make sure to utilise the layers feature. With layers, you can group pieces of your drawing together and lay them on top of each other, editing them independently for different looks. Removing or changing a whole layer means less time tapping the undo key if you make a large mistake, testing different layers with each other and overall a smoother manipulation of your end product.

Start Big and Go Small

If your end product is going to be a large document, make sure to start with a large board. If you draw on a small board to start with and try to increase the size later, you’ll end up with a blurry and pixelated end product that will end up being a waste of all your hard work. Remember, you can always zoom in on the tablet in order to work on more detailed areas of your sketch.

Work With Old Material

If you sketch with a pencil and paper, scan it and finish it digitally. This is great when you’re first starting out because you don’t have to start from scratch on the iPad but you can get experience colouring, shading and finishing something you already started.

Explore and Be Patient

Use all the options and tools your app allows, from texture brushes, photo textures, lighting features, and more. Take the time to see what each feature does and learn how to use it. Your sketches will be all the better in the end.

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The Art of Courtroom Sketching

website@sitemodify.com (Website Editor) — Wed, 26 Feb 2020 10:15:28 GMT

When it comes to sketching, few professions are as demanding as the courtroom artist.

Proficient at capturing a subject’s likeness within moments, courtroom artists are constantly working against the clock to produce quality results. In some instances, the subject may appear in court for only a few minutes and in jurisdictions like the United Kingdom, the courtroom artist is not permitted to draw during the proceedings and must instead retain all visual information to memory.

Why not just send a photographer instead?

Photography would certainly be a cheaper, more time efficient option, however, many jurisdictions restrict the use of photography during courtroom proceedings – certainly this is to protect the privacy of the plaintiffs and witnesses, especially in high profile cases. Despite this, some jurisdictions, particularly in the US, have permitted photographers to sit in on court proceedings.

But what is actually happening when an artist sketches a photographic depiction of what they see in front of them?

The importance of drawing from life instead of photos will always be relevant. Although camera’s are authentic and easy to use and share, there are some disadvantages of this system. These fall backs include a lack of emotion and essence, difficulty observing personalities, and the inability to focus on what is important during the trial. The nature of visible reality will always differ from a person's perceived reality, compared to a still taken with a camera. No matter how good the camera is, it can not capture all the colours we perceive with our bare eye. On the other hand, there are some advantages taking a photo instead of depicting life. These advantages include the convenience of use, unchanging conditions, the ease of sharing, no need to scan and of course it is real and unbiased.

However, the advantages of drawing from life are numerous. To capture 3d objects and convert them to a 2d painting is a challenge. The way light behaves in life is difficult, being that light patterns and reflections alter as a day continues. An artist drawing from life has the ability to capture the atmosphere and the overall tone of reality in their work better than those artists referencing a bland photograph.

It is a bit different for courtroom sketch artists, since they are pressed for time to complete their work. It is their duty to capture everything that has occurred during the trial, from a person’s tie colour to the facial expressions of people in the jury, every aspect plays an important role in the sketch. Courtroom sketch artists have the ability to summarise the overall scene by certain colours and exaggerations. Whereas, cameras only capture single moments. Photographers often catch people in between facial expressions, completely dodging the value of the moment. Artists however, have the power to deeply examine facial trends and personalities. They later portray these observations in their sketches. Sometimes, a single facial expression has the power to summarise the overall tone of the case.

A 1982 courtroom illustration by Freda Liebowitz Reiter shows defendant John Hinckley Jr., who attempted to assassinate Ronald Reagan, listening to videotaped testimony from actress Jodie Foster, with whom he was obsessed. LIBRARY OF CONGRESS

Challenges of working as a Court Artist

As with all work, it is always hard to not bring your work home with you. For the court artists, this is no different. They are often witnessing all the terrible occurrences shown behind closed doors during trial, from violent pictures of death and mutilations to intense emotional breakdowns. It is easy to become emotionally affected by all this, making it a challenging career to pursue. Seeing the worst of humanity is never something you get used to.

Challenges in Today’s Digital World

Behind all courtroom sketch artists is an intensive process. First, the artist completes their detailed sketch strongly pressured by available time. Upon completion, the artist must photograph their work and begin distributing it to media studios. Having your work published for most artists is a huge accomplishment, however, with attention comes scrutiny. Many of these artists have faced negative feedback, often from extreme fans in supports of certain celebrities undergoing a trial. For example, in 2015, courtroom artist Jane Rosenberg faced brutal criticism after her sketch of Tom Brady during the “DeflateGate Hearing.” The image flooded social media platforms with comical captions along with jabs at Rosenberg. Rosenberg didn’t understand the backlash. She later ended up apologising to Brady explaining her time crunch and innocent intentions.

How can we make life easier for artists in today’s digital world?

It is important to acknowledge that the traditional methods of artistry often produce the best results. We should never discredit the importance of the traditional tools of the trade. However, we should always strive to find tools that can complement these traditional tools in today’s advanced technological society. If we do not want the beautiful art of courtroom sketching to die in today’s society, there must be an opportunity to supplement them to make them more efficient in this digital age. We believe the use of a stylus is a step in the right direction.

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Moving beyond the textbook and the benefits of tailored learning

website@sitemodify.com (Website Editor) — Wed, 26 Feb 2020 10:15:25 GMT

The advances in technology have shaped the world in which we live and changed almost every aspect of our lives. This includes the way our children learn and find out more about everything that surrounds them.

While it is true that too much technology is not recommended in the case of children, as they need to learn how to have a healthy childhood, it can be used successfully to make the learning process more captivating and interesting. No teacher or parent can deny that technology is bringing children closer to school and that it stirs their interest to find out more, capturing their attention much better than the traditional textbooks.

While regular books have a role, we need to be aware that digital books and other types of digital content may have a much bigger impact. The best part about learning with the help of technology is that information is available at any moment of the day and can be tailored according to the needs, interests, and talents of each student. Unlike traditional methods of learning, which treat all students the same, technology allows the teachers to shape the learning process in a way that enables them to get the most from each student. Here are some other amazing benefits of using digital textbooks instead of the traditional ones.

When it comes to children, we all know how heavy a backpack can become when carrying all sorts of textbooks. Not to mention that they require physical storage space. Digital books can solve both of these problems, taking the heavy weight off the children’s backs and leading to more relaxed and less crowded classrooms. Digital content ends up being so appreciated, especially among younger students, not just because it is interesting but also because it is interactive. It is easier for students to get engaged and have their attention grabbed. As a result they are more willing to invest effort and attention in the learning process. With the help of a small device, learning can take place anywhere and anytime these days. Whether one is at home, traveling or commuting, digital books need just a button press to become available. The effort is minimal while the satisfaction is great.

When it comes to digital books, there’s no need to wait for them to be delivered or available in libraries. Regardless of the book you want to read, all you need to do is to download it on your favourite device, which takes just a few minutes, and you’ll be ready to start. Waiting time is over. Digital books are not printed, therefore they are environmentally-friendly, not needing paper in order to exist. Once digital books increase in popularity, we will stop feeling the need to cut down trees in order to produce printed books. So we are doing something for our environment as well. Because they consume so little resources, the price of digital books is much lower than their printed counterparts. How much money will you save if you opt for digital books? On average, the price will be cut by half of what you used to spend on a physical book. Now you have no reasons not to get the books you want.

New Paragraph

Roughing out the smooth and the science of faking paper

website@sitemodify.com (Website Editor) — Wed, 26 Feb 2020 10:15:14 GMT

For quite a while now it has been possible to manifest your creativity on tablets rather than paper. There is special software for those who enjoy drawing, allowing them to create and store their creations directly onto their mobile device.

Yet, if you started drawing on paper, you know that there’s a special feeling to that. The way a pencil slides on the surface of the paper feels very different to how a stylus feels moving on the smooth surface of a tablet. There are probably many people out there who would like to feel as though they were drawing on paper but still benefit from the advantages of using a mobile device.

While the desire to offer artists better and more natural working conditions has led to large improvements over the last few years, nothing has yet managed to beat the traditional pencil and paper surface. Companies active in this area are trying to develop a special pencil for tablets that will make people feel as if they are drawing on paper when they use their tablets. Is this even possible? Up until now, a stylus with a rubber or plastic tip has felt hugely different to a pencil when dragged on the glass surface of a tablet. This raises the question of how much drag such an item should offer in order to make the drawing experience feel more realistic. When it comes to such developments, there is always the risk of coming up with something that works well for some, while it can frustrate others. If you have ever tried drawing on a tablet, you will know that its smooth surface can be rather slippery, which can affect and influence the fine details of your drawings. Pushed by the desire to make things better, some have tried to look for solutions. These may include recommendations to cover the tip of the tablet’s pencil in soap or bread soda, to obtain that tactile “rough” experience you get when drawing on paper. This is not recommended as it may damage your tablet’s screen surface! Recently matte screen protectors have appeared, these increase the rough drag on the screen surface as you draw which can make you feel a difference. An example of such a screen protector is PaperLike, a product that, as advertised by its creator, will make your tablet feel like drawing on real paper.

Finally let us talk a little about haptic feedback. This is the effect encountered when a device reacts to inputs by the user, for example, a vibration when touched. This can be seen when the tablet’s pencil or stylus draws on screen in response to the user's movements, however there can be difficulties if the feedback is either too slow or too fast. Our brains know how drawing with a pen on paper should feel like. It is an effect and reaction recorded deep inside our brain, from our earliest days, and reinforced when we used to draw in a more traditional manner. Unfortunately, no tools available today can completely reflect the haptic feedback found when drawing with pencil and paper. We should feel confident that developers are working to find a solution to this. When this happens, technology will certainly shape the world of art and open new doors to artists from around the world.

How drawing can strengthen memory

website@sitemodify.com (Website Editor) — Wed, 26 Feb 2020 10:15:10 GMT

Why do we remember better when we put pen to paper?

People are always looking for more effective ways to retain information. It’s the challenge of every student studying for their next exam, and every designer visualizing their next project.

A notebook and pen have traditionally been the golden standard for taking down important information. But since the introduction of laptops, tablets and smart devices into our workplaces and lecture halls, our reliability on pen and paper has fallen to the wayside.

There is evidence that using a pen allows us to store information to short-term memory more effectively than using other implements, such as a keyboard.

In the same way, our brains are able to better visualise our design projects when we take to sketching before jumping into a digital design suite. While sketching allows us to quickly draft solutions and explore new concepts, there is evidence that drawing is also an effective method of enhancing one’s memory.

What do our brains do when we write?

Simply listening to a conversation, a lecture or a phone call will activate the part of our brain that processes language. But, while processing new information in the moment, the brain cannot always discern between which information is more or less important – and ultimately which materials should be remembered.

A perfect example of this is the art of courtroom sketching . In previous times, cameras were not allowed in courtrooms. In some jurisdictions it was not allowed to sketch during court and artists had to rely on their memory and notes when depicting the courtroom. These artists were only allowed to take notes during the hearing and had to create their sketches after leaving the courtroom. This an impressive feat of memory, and sheds light on the importance of notes and how sketching can enhance one's memory.

When we engage in the physical act of writing or drawing however, our brain establishes neural links that allow us to connect new ideas and concepts. A brain that is both listening and writing does not necessarily remember more than a brain that is only listening, but it does structure the new information such that it can prioritize and retain key ideas.

But what does this mean in an age where notebooks and pens have been replaced by keyboards and iPad devices? Are we connecting the same cognitive pathways when we transcribe information using a laptop, rather than pen and paper?

Writing can strengthen your memory

It’s no surprise that note-takers can transcribe more words in the same amount of time with a keyboard instead of a pen in hand. But it is substantiated that pen scribblers are more likely to develop a stronger understanding of the content , and to successfully apply and integrate new information ahead of their keyboard tapping peers.

Using a pen helps us to remember important information because in the act of writing or sketching, our brains are actively working to isolate and process key information. It is an act of “mental lifting” that exercises our cognitive processes and forces us to develop a meaningful understanding of the information.

Although pen and paper is the recommended method, keeping track of one’s various documents raises an issue that makes tablets and smartphones a more attractive option. How then, can we marry the processes of writing and drawing with the convenience of current day technologies?

The obvious answer is the stylus pen.

Scriba is a revolutionary digital stylus that is ergonomically designed to comfortably fit your hand and uses unique Squeeze-Motion technology. Order here .

Flat design: what's next

website@sitemodify.com (Website Editor) — Wed, 26 Feb 2020 10:15:06 GMT

What’s next after flat design?

If you don’t recognize the term flat design, you’re almost certainly familiar with it in all but name. It denotes the simplistic, classical design that has become all but ubiquitous in modern UI design - a bright, clean aesthetic that favours a minimalistic style by flattening icons and imbuing them with bold, solid colours. The design is intended to cut out clutter and distraction while allowing users to perceive and comprehend icons more quickly. Windows 8 tiles were one of the first prominent examples of this, and the style was quickly popularized by Apple and Google.

Flat design largely replaced skeuomorphic design , a form which retained design cues that were required in previous iterations but are no longer necessary, appearing like its real life counterpart. As an example, think of the page binding rings that would appear in a calendar icon. Skeuomorphic design was used to make iconography more lifelike and recognizable to the viewer, bridging a gap between the physical and digital world. Of course, with technology becoming increasingly integral to our lives, that bridge became unnecessary and was gradually replaced by flat design. Instagram’s transition from a shadowed, lifelike icon of a polaroid camera to its current iteration, a brightly coloured, simplistic icon, is a good example of this .

However, flat design has been around for quite some time meaning a change or evolution is likely on the horizon. Google recently unveiled Material Design , which looks to be reintroducing some of the shadow and depth used in skeuomorphic design, citing realistic lighting, while retaining the bright, bold colours and clean edges of flat design. Isometric icons, which are 2D but give the illusion of depth, are also making a comeback. The Rio Olympics 2016 logo featured yellow, blue and green interlocking loops which appear to be three figures dancing in a circle.

Hero images are also becoming increasingly popular in website design. These are full screen, high quality photos, usually with large text superimposed over the image. While retaining a clean, simplistic style the website can communicate something extra about the brand’s identity. This kind of website means that information isn’t top loaded - instead users scroll down for more information, often accompanied by more glossy imagery. As mobile users are accustomed to ‘the long scroll’, this feels like an experience rather than a slog.

Also, with the mass market launch of VR headsets this year, some have suggested this to be a possible future, probably envisaging Minority Report in the process. While VR is an exciting leap in technology, it’s still in its infancy and will first need years of refinement. Likewise, after the explosive but short lived popularity of Pokemon Go, AR or Augmented Reality has potential. While Google Glass was ultimately a flop, the popularity of Snapchat’s Spectacles may be the reinvention that this technology needs in order to gain traction. Plus, Apple is rumoured to be developing a Google Glass style wearable , so this technology may indeed have a bright future.

Another suggestion of the future of UI proposes that the next step is not the refinement of UI experience but instead the continuous reduction of UI. With products becoming more intuitive they can contextually appropriate choices for the consumer, deciding for you what’s relevant and presenting it in a condensed form (think wearable watches). By pursuing ‘ calm technology ’, or the reduction of intrusions by user interface, perhaps the future of UI is the device itself making much of the choices for you without your intervention.

Flat design, evidently, isn’t going away anytime soon given its popularity. However, it looks likely to evolve, incorporating remnants of old UI styles. Plus, with new and dynamic ways to interact with our technology, it will be interesting to see how flat design will adapt.

To rebrand or reinvent ?

website@sitemodify.com (Website Editor) — Wed, 26 Feb 2020 10:15:05 GMT

You’re in the supermarket, searching for one of your favourites, scanning the rows of shelves with increasing impatience. You finally find it and realize, with horror, that it’s been rebranded . You crinkle your nose in disdain. You liked it the old way, it’s ugly now. Perhaps you’re being a little bit dramatic , but you just don’t care

People hate change, particularly with creature comforts like their favourite brands. Sometimes these changes are cosmetic (re-branding) and sometimes they cut deeper, a core change to a company or product’s purpose and identity (reinvention). Rebranding happens for a number of reasons: a brand is failing, has lost relevance or, less cynically, is going through a natural evolution to facilitate the growth of the brand.

Likewise, a product reinvention can be a positive innovation or a reactive scrambling for relevance. One represents the altering of the image of a product, the other represents a fundamental change.

Iterative rebranding is the most common: a company changing elements of their brand, like the logo or tagline - without fundamentally changing the identity of their brand. This a natural reaction, as very few logos are completely timeless - updates are needed to keeps brands looking modern. Sometimes rebranding is vital, like the Belgian chocolate company that changed their name from ISIS chocolate to Libeert for obvious reasons.

As we know though, people aren’t fond of change, so updates to popular brands can often result in backlash. Instagram’s rebranding, which simplified their iconic polaroid image to facilitate brand extension of their other apps (Boomerang, Hyperlapse and Layout). You may not have heard of these apps - this update brings them into the fold. People quickly got used to this logo though, adapting and forgetting quickly. AirBnB’s rebrand, which was suspiciously similar to existing brand logos, carries an important lesson that everyone should do their homework before rebranding.

As for rebranding for the purpose of remaining relevant is our favourite, but slightly bizarre, example is the diamond industry. After continuing drastic drops in sales (as a result of declining marriage rates) the industry was faced with reinventing the market that was almost single handedly created by the De Beers “A Diamond is Forever” campaign. The result was an attempt to appeal to millennials with a new tagline ‘ Real is Rare ’ and ads that depict unconventional, young relationships where marriage isn’t necessarily on the cards but a lasting commitment is. The ads feel like an Instagram post made flesh, a blurry image of what a ‘millennial’ is, with couples dramatically running through the woods, chasing chickens and saying things like “it will be wild, it will be kind and it will be real” - hey, we’ve all been there...

More drastic rebranding can act as a strategic decision to facilitate the growth of a brand. Diageo, formerly known as Guinness, rebranded in order to avoid confusion when extending their product line. This also allows each of their drinks to have their own unique identity and target market, with their parent brand remaining decidedly detached.

Drastic rebranding can also be a reaction to scandal or an ailing reputation - Ashley Madison’s parent company, Avid Life Media, changed their name to Ruby Corporation after the dating website, which facilitated affairs, was hacked and all its customer data released. The website also changed its tagline from “Life is short. Have an affair.” to the more innocuous “Find Your Moment.” It’s doubtful that’s enough to repair the irreparable damage done to its reputation though.

Closer to home, Eircom rebranded last year to simply Eir , spending millions on a complete brand overhaul to allow them to expand into different areas. However, many found this to be an empty exercise. After all, changing the face of a company doesn’t address the underlying issues people have with it. British Petroleum’s rebrand to BP, an attempt to distance themselves from their oil spill disaster in the gulf of Mexico, was met with much derision .

This is where reinvention comes in - a fundamental changing, or evolution, of identity. Products need consistent reinvention over the years to avoid becoming stale or irrelevant. Apple used to be pinnacle of this - not only were they constantly reinventing their own products, they borrowed/stole ideas from others in the industry and repackaged them into products that were decidedly more attractive to consumers. The iPad single handedly kickstarted the tablet market, which had been dead in the water before that.

Nintendo reinvented the home video game console market with Wii, completely reinventing the complicated interface of typical controllers with accessible and intuitive motion controls (and at the same time managed to coax a generation of gamers off the couch). While they haven’t been able to sustain this momentum, their incoming console Switch , wants to reinvent again by offering a console you can play on your TV or take on the go.

Another great example of reinvention in The National Geographic Society who, after realizing their sales were dropping due to being perceived as an old person brand, expanded their reach to TV programming (making shows targeted towards a younger audience) and put increased focus on social media, particularly Instagram (a platform that makes a perfect home for their beautiful photos). At the same time, unnecessary reinvention can be a mistake - take the “ New Coke ” disaster as an example.

Rebranding and reinvention both serve their own, sometimes overlapping, purposes. Both serve to modernise through different channels with the same goal - make the company or product more appealing to consumers. Their success varies wildly and it would be wise to learn from their mistakes and successes. After all, while people may dislike change, as designers can’t we make this as pleasant as possible for them?

Hot n cold: what colours make a lasting impression on readers

website@sitemodify.com (Website Editor) — Wed, 26 Feb 2020 10:15:03 GMT

Colour is one of the most powerful visual elements we have. In art or in business, you can use colour to influence people, create moods, communicate ideas and make an impression on the reader or viewer.

All colours can be sorted into warm or cool tones. Their influence on us is mostly emotional. Warmer colours tend to be more vivid, energetic and comforting. Our eyes are usually drawn to these colours first. Cool colours typically evoke a more calming effect and are soothing to the eye. Let’s take a look at how you can use colour to create a psychological effect that drives your message forward.

Warm Colours

Pink

Largely labeled a “girly colour”, we use pink usually to communicate sensitivity, romance, innocence and a female touch. It’s a great accent colour that adds a pop of fun.

Red

The colour red immediately draws attention as it’s one of the most vibrant colours on the spectrum. We associate red with danger (think blood and stop signs) but also vitality, romance and half of the Christmas colour scheme.

Orange

Closely related to the fruit of the same name and colour, orange represents health, nutrition, energy and life. We associate it with fire and the sun. You can use orange to grab attention in a more fun and less striking way than with red.

Yellow

Yellow is widely related to cheerfulness and hopefulness. Also associated with the sun, we connect yellow with warm, freshness and youth over everything else.

Green

Most commonly green is used to evoke thoughts of nature, feelings that are fresh, clean, organic and full of life. It’s a cheerful and bright colour, or you can use a darker shade to communicate maturity and stability.

Cool Colours

Blue

If you’re looking for depth, serenity and calm, think blue. We think of the sky and the ocean, two of the largest natural elements we see regularly. Blue also communicates cleanliness and purity, used on a lot of cleaning products in the form of fresh, clean water.

Purple

Depending on the shade, purple can also be a warm colour, but more often it’s cool. Deeper purples are typically associated with maturity, sophistication, royalty or regality. Lighter purples are more closely connected to youth, creativity, fun and femininity.

Black

It’s hard sometimes to use black properly because it’s so powerful it can overpower your design. But used right, it can communicate elegance and power. A design that is meant to be sleek and sophisticated can benefit from sharp and clean black shapes or lettering.

Brown, Gray, White

These colours tend to work best as accents or backgrounds, especially tinted shades of grey. It’s becoming more and more popular to use grey as a colour for text as opposed to black. These colours can help to make the above colours pop. For design, white is falling out of popularity as a background and light shaded colours are taking its place. But it can still be a powerful element for communicating purity, minimalism, cleanliness and simplicity. Browns can sometimes communicate the opposite - dirt and decay - but can also communicate earthiness and humility.

The 12 principles of animation

Wed, 26 Feb 2020 10:15:01 GMT

A set of rules to bring your drawing to life.

The Twelve Principles of Animation are a set or rules for animators as described by Disney animators Ollie Johnston and Frank Thomas in their 1981 book The Illusion of Life: Disney Animation.

Based on the work of Disney’s leading animators from the 1930s onwards, the 12 principles help and encourage animators to create the illusion of reality and emotional appeal through timing, staging and, crucially, by adhering to basic laws of physics.

Despite the great technological changes that have taken place in the animation industry since the 1930s, Johnson and Thomas’ book remains for many the ‘Bible of Animation’.

1. Squash and Stretch

This is the addition of rubberized or elastic qualities to an object (but without altering its volume) in order to give dynamism and an illusion of life to an object or character.

2. Anticipation

Anticipation refers to the addition of minor action that suggests another greater action is about to take place. It prepares the viewer and draws them in. It is a very effective dramatic effect used in setting up a scene add for adding credibility.

3. Staging

Staging refers to the presentation of an idea, concept or character in a way that makes it clear to the viewer what the focus of their attention should be. This is important visual information for understanding the narrative and so should be presented as one idea at a time.

A concept is normally presented in contrast to whatever is happening around it so that attention is focussed on it.

4. Straight Ahead Action and Pose to Pose

Straight ahead action refers to drawing a scene, frame by frame, from start to finish. This approach allows for very creative and spontaneous action and may feature a lot of detail. Maintaining proportions (using traditional tools at least) when creating it can be a challenge for the animator.

Pose to pose is a more planned process where timing is very important. Initially, the animator only draws the key frames from a scene such as one at the beginning, some in the middle and one the end and then ‘tweens’ or fills in the intervening frames later.

5. Follow Through and Overlapping Action

Follow through relates to the termination point of an action. It is based on the fact that actions rarely come to a complete and abrupt halt without some continuation beyond the termination point. Though often exaggerated, it helps make movement appear realistic.

Overlapping refers to the start of one action before the previous action has ceased and is based on the fact that different parts of an object or a body move at different rates depending on their weight or volume.

6. Slow In and Slow Out

Often referred to as easing in and easing out, this relates to a requirement for greater detail at the beginning and at the end of a movement or scene. A greater number of drawings at the beginning and the end of an action, mirrors and/or exaggerates human actions that characterized by acceleration initially and later slowing down.

7. Arcs

An arc describes the visual path of action from one extreme to another. Curved arcs are used extensively in animation to convey a motion that is more expressive than if the action were conveyed along a straight line path. However, the faster an action, the flatter the arc becomes.

8. Secondary Action

A secondary or supplementary action adds life to a scene or character but should not so much as to upstage or overshadow the main action. It helps imbue the character with more personality and depth.

9. Timing

Timing refers to the speed of an action and is conveyed by the number of frames used in depicting that particular action. The faster the action, the fewer the number of frames that are used; the slower the action the greater the number of frames used.

Timing is important for many reasons. It is important for maintaining a realistic narrative pace that keeps the viewer’s attention. It must also be considered in relation to the physical properties such as the mass and weight of an object; the heavier an object the more time it will take to accelerate.

10. Exaggeration

Exaggeration is used to emphasize particular traits of an object or character by making them bigger, faster, greater, worse, etc. with a view to highlighting their significance in a scene or story. It generates interest while capturing and directing the attention of the viewer. In animation, a totally realistic portrayal may come across as being dull.

Exaggeration is often used for comic effect and hyperbole but may also be characteristic of a particular style or genre of animation.

The animator’s approach to exaggeration should be balanced as too many exaggerated actions in a scene is likely to be uncomfortable to watch

11. Solid Drawing

Characters and objects need to look ‘realistic’. They need to look like they have three-dimensional qualities even though they have been created and are presented on a two-dimensional plane.

The core skills of the animator are required here. Knowing how to convey light, shadow and space and how to create shapes with weight and volume is crucial to being able to draw a character from every angle so they look real.

12. Appeal

A cartoon character needs to appeal to viewers in order for it to be of interest to them. Creating appeal for a character relies on the ability of the animator to give personality to the character and to imbue it with human qualities that we identify with - whether good or bad. This is achieved in part through giving the character distinctive facial features and expressions but, as with humans, it also depends on body language and other qualities that, over time, allow for the character to be developed.

At the time of their inception, the 12 principles were considered to only apply to hand drawings. However, as cartoonists and artists have realized, these principles are fundamental to the drawing process, and have survived as a key guide in the digital age. And long may they last!

Have a look at this video for a more visual description of the 12 principles: The Illusion of Life.

And this tumblr page: http://the12principles.tumblr.com/

An Uncomfortable Experience: Drawing With a Reliance on Menus

website@sitemodify.com (Website Editor) — Wed, 26 Feb 2020 10:14:58 GMT

Art and the Digital World

Drawing and painting are some of the oldest art forms in human history. From cave drawings to comic books, we always loved being able to recreate and re-imagine our world with 2D images. And in today’s world, almost everything has made the transition from analogue to digital - even art.

While it may feel less organic at times, the pros of digital sketching are abundant. Clean up and delivery of artwork is easier than ever when you draw directly in the computer. The blessed “undo” feature means you never have to crumple up your paper and start over. For some artists, when used right, digital art is just faster, offering more momentum and speed and a higher quality product.

The Flaw In Digital Drawing

“When you draw on a paper, you have the maximum control over the medium that you use. There is only the brush or the pen between the artist and the work, nothing “strange”, nothing electronic.” (source)

There are some downsides to creating digital art. Most notably is the inorganic and jerky workflow that comes with digital drawing, sketching and painting. Every time you need to change colours, brush sizes, textures, transparencies and more, you have to stop drawing and adjust your settings via menus and buttons.

Drawing this way removes the artist from the art. The creativity does not flow as smoothly. Instead of just picking up a stylus and beginning to draw, the artist must first learn how to use new digital programs. The artist, whose main purpose is to create, must stop frequently and recall binary electronic information, constantly switching between the left and right portions of their brain in order to combine artistic talent and digital processes.

The Stylus

While the handy stylus fits in the hand like a brush or pencil, it often yields little of the same result on its own. The computer is what creates pressure, width and texture, whereas a real brush or pencil gives you total control over these factors. A stylus simply is not an extension of your hand as a brush is, due to the reliance on menus and buttons to achieve what a simple squeeze of the fingers could normally.

Despite the flaws in the relationship between artist, stylus and computer, digital art is here to stay. In truth, a computer in the hands of a skilled artist can become an incredibly powerful tool. So how do we resolve this disconnect?

It’s called Scriba. What makes it better than a regular run-of-the-mill stylus?

It is ergonomically designed to fit your hand, either right or left. As opposed to a simple stick like your normal stylus, Scriba has a flexible body that bends with “squeeze-motion” technology, increasing the amount of control you have and igniting the creative experience.

It captures the natural movements and squeezes your hand makes, allowing you to adjust things like brush size the way you would with a normal brush.

It eliminates the need for referring to menus and buttons with haptic feedback, integrating seamlessly with whatever app or program you use to work in real time.

And the icing on the cake: ten times more battery life than any other stylus on the market today.

Eliminate the need for menus and buttons. Keep yourself immersed in your artwork by bringing style to ergonomic design.

From concept to conquest: 9 key tools for the modern illustrator

website@sitemodify.com (Website Editor) — Wed, 26 Feb 2020 10:14:56 GMT

1. The right pencil

Even if you are a digital illustrator, few things can replace the feeling of a real-life pencil in your hand. Nothing electronic comes between you and your art when using a pencil. You need the right pencil for your style and what you’d like to accomplish, but when you have a rush of inspiration, anything will do. Some great pencils to keep on you at all times are the Uni Ball Kuru Toga and the Staedtler Mars Leadholder.

2. The right pen

Once your sketch is complete and you’re looking for polished lines, you’ll need a high quality pen. The best inkers use a pen with a brush that allows you to vary the weight of the line. Mark Chiarello, the Art Director for DC Comics, uses a plain old Sharpie Fine Point Marker almost exclusively for his art.

3. The right surface

Depending on how you work and with what tools, you’ll need to think hard about what kind of surface you’ll need. It’s best to draw on a slanted desk because on a flat surface, “top of the paper is further away from your eyes than the bottom, but you don’t draw to compensate to that, you just draw what looks right to your eyes, and so when you hold the paper level, everything is out of sync.”1

If you use a computer and drawing tablet combination, you may want a desk that has a stand for your computer above your tablet to streamline your process. If you sketch and draw on the go, make sure to invest in a portable drawing board for comfort.

4. Moleskine

Moleskine notebooks have been used for hundreds of years to help artists capture and contain their most spontaneous creations in a neat and slim package. There are varying colour and page design options, from blank to graphed to dotted.

5. Computer Arts Subscription

This is the ultimate magazine for graphic designers since 1995. You can rely on it for consistent inspiration, advice and resources that will help you become a better designer issue after issue. If you want to do the environment a favour, go for the iPad edition you can easily take with you anywhere.

6. Scriba Pen

If you draw almost exclusively on a tablet, you may be hard pressed to find the perfect stylus for you. So much gets in the way of good design when you’re worried about using menus and buttons to dictate the styles of your strokes. The Scriba is ergonomically designed to make it more responsive to your touch. It has “Squeeze-Motion” technology and due to its innovative shape, you have more control and can more heavily immerse yourself in the creative experience without technology getting in the way.

7. iMac/Macbook

Apple’s history in graphic design is unparalleled, in addition to their amazing OS and fantastic screen displays. iMacs provide more power, yet Macbook Pros or Airs deliver versatility and transport. These machines are fast, yet reasonably priced and most of the best software is optimized for Apple machines

8. Adobe Creative Cloud

Graphic designers have always relied on Photoshop, Illustrator and InDesign to get them to where they want to be. These applications allow you to transform a simple idea into an indepth and detailed project due to an enormous array of built in and customizable tools. A membership with Adobe is fairly priced allows you access to the entire Adobe suite.

9. Surface Pro 4

The Surface Pro 4 is a fantastic sketching tool that also runs Windows. It is fast, easy to carry, with a slightly higher screen resolution than the iPad Pro, meaning your designs look stunning from the first stroke. The Surface Pen and keyboard make your process intuitive and streamlined.

Presentation Tips from Clearpresso

website@sitemodify.com (Website Editor) — Wed, 26 Feb 2020 10:14:54 GMT

Presentation Tips with Ed Fidgeon-Kavanagh

Scriba is more than just a stylus: it’s a handy presentation remote that provides discreet haptic feedback when you’re running out of time and lets you annotate your presentation on the fly to better communicate your point. Since we love great presentations here at Scriba we asked Ed Fidgeon-Kavanagh, Chief Presentationist at Clearpreso, for his top presentation tips.

Use The Tool That Works Best For You

Presentations are an exercise in getting a message from your head onto a screen, it’s not really any more complicated than that, and as such there’s not really a “right way” to go about doing it. I think that people should just the use tools and methods they’re most comfortable with whether that be Powerpoint, Keynote, a flip chart or indeed no visual aids at all. Life’s too short to waste time trying to use tools that suit someone else.

Give A Shit

“It’s either a hell yeah or no” — Derek Sivers

Throwing together a crappy presentation is easy, conversly creating a great one is actually really hard and will take a lot of time and effort. So a key factor is that you really give enough of a shit to put in those hard hours. If you don’t care or you’re not excited about the story you have to tell then just don’t bother, a crappy presentation is almost always worse than no presentation at all.

Steal Design From All Around You

“Good artists copy; great artists steal” — Steve jobs

When it comes to designing presentations most people recreate what they have seen before. This is why slide design hasn’t evolved much past the much hated but oft seen slide with endless tiny bullet points. Because of course, that’s how presentations should look right? Wrong.

To end the cycle of crappy presentations it’s necessary to abandon Powerpoint-world and consider examples of good design that can be seen around you in day to day life. Billboards, posters, magazines, websites and even pamphlets in the post all offer better examples and design elements to inspire you than almost all Powerpoints. There are lots of ways to archive the bits and pieces you come across, I take endless screen shots of great design I see online, and snap photos of design I see in the physical world around me. These all end up in a folder I have titled “Inspiration”. At the start of all new projects I have a flick through that folder to get my creative juices flowing.

Stay Away From Gimmicks

Most slide software now comes with a dizzying array of animations, transitions and other sparkly design gimmicks. In general it’s best to steer clear of all of these completely as they almost universally distract from, rather than compliment, your messaging.

Attempting to bring your boring content to life with “exciting” gimmicks just doesn’t work. And in general if the best thing about your presentation are animations and transitions… you should really start from the beginning again!

Slide Count Is Completely Unimportant

Father Ted “Would you like your pizza cut into 6 or 8 slices?”

Father Dougal: “Oh just 6, I don’t think I could eat 8”

People have a strange psychological relationship with “slide count”. I often hear clients tell me that they need a “max 10 slide presentation because I don’t want to bore people”. This adherance to a strict, and totally arbitrary, number of slides actually almost always actually ensures the boredom they were looking to avoid because in the quest to hit the magic number people start cramming 3 slides worth of material into one slide making for a set of slides which are cramped, incomprehensible and completely unengaging.

The best advice here is to broadly keep slides to one idea per slide. Less is more when it comes to content on an individual slide, which may mean you have what seems like a gigantic number of slides, in practice though they’ll take exactly the same amount of time to deliver, but will be much more effective and engaging.

Artist Spotlight: Miranda Harmon

website@sitemodify.com (Website Editor) — Wed, 26 Feb 2020 10:14:53 GMT

Everyone’s work is deeply idiosyncratic: in our regular Spotlight segment we explore artists’ experiences and inspiration to understand what defines and inspires their unique styles.

Miranda is a comic artist and cartoonist based in California: her work has appeared in the Dirty Diamonds anthologies, Chainmail Bikini, Every/Body, the AV Club, and Comfort Food Zine. Her clients have also included Cards Against Humanity, Boom! Studios, and the city of Gainesville.

Can you give us a brief background on yourself?

I always knew that I wanted to be an artist and luckily, my family was very supportive of that goal from the beginning. When I was a child I had a very specific idea of what an artist was, as someone who paints and displays their work in museums. I had no idea how to achieve that goal! I loved comics and cartoons, but didn't make the connection that artists were also cartoonists. I think I always wanted to be a cartoonist, but never realized that was a job! By the time I was a teenager, I didn't think I would do well in art school, so I went to a liberal arts college and studied fine art and art history. For a while I was on track to go into curatorial studies, or art education. I still love art history and consider my professors from college a big inspiration to me now, but once I discovered comics I took a different route. I went to the Small Press Expo my senior year of college because it was very close to my school, and saw that you could just make comics and nobody could tell you not to. This was very big to me!

What kind of influence does your location have on your career?

I grew up in Orlando, Florida, and to be honest I felt pretty isolated as a teen artist! I always felt like I would have to leave the state in order to achieve anything, but I was wrong. After college I went straight to Gainesville, Florida to study comics at the Sequential Artists Workshop. I was surprised by how supported I felt in a small town in the heart of Florida. The Sequential Artists Workshop was exactly what I needed, and helped me grow exponentially over the course of just one year. I learned that having a community is very important to me. While the comics community in Gainesville is strong and growing, I recently decided to leave. I just moved to Los Angeles, California because I wanted to be around more artists and because there is more opportunity here. I visited the city a few times and decided it was where I wanted to be, and drove here! I couldn't have done that, though, without the help and support from my family and friends from Florida, so I think that's more important than anything.

What is your greatest source of inspiration?

I tend to look to fine arts history as my anchor. Comics history is one thing, and I don't want to knock that because it's very interesting and special as well, but I loved studying the history of the fine arts in college. It's comforting to me even if I feel separate from it as an artist. It's a story that we tell ourselves, and it's not always a true story, but I love the idea that first there were cave paintings, then mosaics, then sculptures, then cathedrals somehow! It's what I go to look at and read about when I'm feeling upset or afraid. It makes me feel small in a good, welcomed way.

Could you pick one piece of art that has made a lasting influence on you, and if so why?

I think Joann Sfar's The Rabbi's Cat is my favorite book. I think about it a lot! I love how Sfar creates little worlds in each panel, they're so memorable to me. I think his lines and colors are fearless and beautiful. I am usually pretty reckless with my mark making, and I used to think that would prevent me from making anything substantial. But here in the Rabbi's Cat, the marks come together in a very strange and special way to make something complicated and lasting. Buildings, mountains, temples, dreams, real human complexities! Every page is like a jewel. I usually keep that book open when I try to make anything important.

What skills or techniques do you find most useful in your line of work? Do you use primarily traditional or digital methods to create your artwork?

I recently got a Yiynova tablet, my first ever tablet monitor. I love it! I feel like a witch every time I draw a line and it shows up automatically on the screen. Most of the time I will draw comic pages straight into my sketchbook, then scan and edit digitally. I usually use Kyle Webster's halftone brushes to create tones. For drawing I love the Ohto Graphic Liner pens. I usually like a thin, consistent line when drawing in my sketchbook.

Can you give our readers a tip or trick you have come across that has made your work a lot easier?

A pitfall I fell into while I was in college was to isolate myself and pretend that I wasn't a person. I got the idea that success meant nothing if it wasn't completely my own, and therefore I had to be working all the time. I don't think that's true! I think it's important to know how to ask for help, for work and also for personal issues. The most valuable resource we have is each other!

How can people who are interested in discovering more of your work find it?

My portfolio site is www.mirandaharmon.com , my twitter handle is @MirandaMHarmon , and my art blog can be found at mirandaharmony.tumblr.com.

Scriba is a revolutionary digital stylus that is ergonomically designed to comfortably fit your hand and uses unique Squeeze-Motion technology. Order here.

Artist Spotlight: Dennie Bright

website@sitemodify.com (Website Editor) — Wed, 26 Feb 2020 10:14:48 GMT

Everyone’s work is deeply idiosyncratic: in our regular Spotlight segment we explore artists’ experiences and inspiration to understand what defines and inspires their unique styles.

Can you give us a brief background on yourself?

I learned pretty early in my life that I conveyed my self best through imagery and drawing. I would almost always get flustered trying to explain something and just end up saying, “Let me just draw you what I’m trying to say.” I went to the Huntington School of Fine Art during my high school days and ended up going to The School of The Art Institute of Chicago for college. I studied Animation and Illustration, mostly 3D, but after college I fell back into 2D and mostly illustration. I’ve done work for The Huffington Post, Mashable, and currently I’m venturing into VR illustration at my own studio TwoThumbs. I tried VR a couple years ago, and since then it’s completely grabbed ahold of me.

What kind of influence does your location have on your career?

Being in New York you see so many different people while commuting. Everyone is so different and I constantly find myself thinking, I need to draw this person, or use their style on a character design I’m trying to develop. Everything’s constantly changing here too, so there’s some place new to always explore and things to experience.

What is your greatest source of inspiration?

Disney and Looney Tunes. Most people my age had cable television growing up, so they were exposed to Nickelodeon really early. All I had was old VHS tapes of really classic Disney and Looney Tunes cartoons. I would just watch the same ones over and over. Nothing beats a classic cartoon smear.

Could you pick one piece of art that has made a lasting influence on you, and if so why?

The animated short Destino, which is Disney & Salvador Dali's piece that was finished in 2003. I love the abstract and surrealness of Dali's paintings, and the animated short is like watching his work come to life. I rewatch it every now and then, it always inspires me to push the limits of what I can think and do.

What skills or techniques do you find most useful in your line of work? Do you use primarily traditional or digital methods to create your artwork?

In my experience the more you learn, the different mediums and styles, the better you will grow as an artist. Traditional work helped me when moving over to a digital medium, and having actually done sculpture, helped me when I wanted to learn sculpting in 3D. My advice is to never say no, and always try to learn as much as you can. Be a jack of all trades and a master at them too.

Can you give our readers a tip or trick you have come across that has made your work a lot easier?

It's not so much a tip or trick as it is a mantra that you should live by, "Draw every day." If you want to grow and become a better artist, keeping up with your craft and drawing each day will make you that much better. Figure drawing also helped me a lot with working with a time limit and drawing from life.

How can people who are interested in discovering more of your work find it?

You can find me at

twitter: twitter.com/denniebright

facebook: facebook.com/dennie.bright

instagram: instagram.com/dennie.bright

linkedin: linkedin.com/in/denniebright

and on my website: denniebright.com

Scriba is a revolutionary digital stylus that is ergonomically designed to comfortably fit your hand and uses unique Squeeze-Motion technology. Order here.

Best Design Conferences 2017

website@sitemodify.com (Website Editor) — Wed, 26 Feb 2020 10:14:44 GMT

Each year more and more design conferences and events are held globally. With so many amazing conferences to attend, we’ve chosen some of our favourites for 2017.

Offset Design Conference

Let’s start with Irish design conference OFFSET which has been held in Dublin for the last 7 years and last year had over 2,000 attendees. It grows in size each year with wonderful reports coming from attendees of previous years, describing inspiring and powerful talks and experiences at the conference. This year the conference can boast about hosting the two creative legends, photographer and art director Jean-Paul Goude and film title designer Dan Perri. You may be familiar with Goude’s work from iconic music and fashion photography for Grace Jones and recently ‘breaking the internet’ with Kim Kardashian. (If you don’t, you must be living under a rock!)

Design Indaba

We are not at all surprised that Design Indaba , located in the beautiful Cape Town, has been named the best design conference in the world. The 3 day conference is jam packed with the most cutting-edge creative work coming in the forms of live performances, storytelling, aviations and music. Oh, and the feast of food and drink provided is supposed to be amazing, what more could you want? This year in particular will be extra special because Senegalese fashion designer Selly Raby Kane has been appointed creative director of the conference and will be sure to add her unique mind blowing creative spice to the conference mix!

HOW Design Live

HOW Design Live in Chicago is a conference that really listens to its audience, welcomes feedback and gives the people what they want. This year it’s worth noting the added workshops, masterclasses, ‘bootcamps’ and ‘spark sessions’. These are intended to increase engagement of design experts with the audience on a more hands on and personal level. One thing we love about HOW Design Live in particular is that, along with being a fantastic event for designers, it also brings people together to raise money for Charity Wheels4Water whose mission is to bring clean water to Uganda. In 2015 they raised $18,000 for the charity and will try to increase that figure this year.

AIGA Design Conference

Another killer design conference is the AIGA Design Conference which is being held in Minneapolis this year and, as always, it promises to deliver "provocative speakers, local culture, exhibitions, professional development sessions and face-to-face roundtables." One of the most exciting parts of what the conference has to offer is the Command X live design competition which allows seven up-and-coming designers to face off for the chance to break into the industry, win $1,000 in cash and a collection of prizes.

99U Conference

Seen as New York is known for being one of the most creatively charged city’s in the world it’s no wonder that it hosts an incredible design conference: the 99U conference run by Behance. The main focus of the conference is not on idea generation but instead on the execution of ideas and bringing them to life. If you are undecided on whether to buy a ticket for this year, just picture yourself at the closing party (open to all conference goers) in the MoMA sipping on cocktails amongst the best in the industry. If that isn’t reason enough to go, we don’t know what is!

Artist Spotlight: Michael Taylor

website@sitemodify.com (Website Editor) — Wed, 26 Feb 2020 10:14:43 GMT

Everyone’s work is deeply idiosyncratic: in our regular Spotlight segment we explore artists’ experiences and inspiration to understand what defines and inspires their unique styles.

Can you give us a brief background on yourself?

I was always drawing as a child, usually pictures of the things that interested me at the time. So plenty of sailing ships, trains, cowboys, Dennis the Menaces, and caricatures. The greatest treat on pocket money days was a new black Bic pen and a pad of paper. Things changed overnight when I was unable to make a boat shape right, I put a model on the table and drew it to life. The profound difference this made and the fascinating business of creating an illusion of reality started me on a lifelong journey towards firstly making this illusion convincing, and then subsequently subtlety subverting it. My father had a well stocked book case including books on surrealism, British modernism, Japanese printmakers, Salvador Dali. and annuals of Giles cartoons. All of which got digested and incorporated in my work. With his support I gave up A-levels and went to Worthing Art School, and then Goldsmiths to study fine art for three years. After leaving I considered a career driving London buses, but became inspired by reading a biography of the painter Mark Gertler. I decided to paint for a year supporting myself working every evening in a pub in Greenwich. I did two paintings both of which were shown at the Royal Academy. When both sold, I gave up the pup job and have continued to do one painting after the other more or less without a break since.

What kind of influence does your location have on your career?

Not being a landscape painter, very little really. Having said that, the Dorset landscape where I live is littered with Iron Age burials with their associated grave goods. This has certainly influenced some of the poses and accompanying props in a number of works such as, Portrait with Grave Goods. Also, finding a Victorian rubbish dump being eroded into the sea while fossil hunting gave rise to a whole series of still lives of broken, discarded, and modern fossil-like everyday objects.

What is your greatest source of inspiration?

That varies from time to time depending on what I'm attempting to achieve, but in no particular order: Vermeer, Stanley Spencer, Velazquez, Francis Bacon, early Lucian Freud (Girl with a Rose of 1948 was in one of Dad's books and I never really got over it), Fra Angelico, and strangely the cartoonist Carl Giles, who's wonderful manipulation of perspective taught me a huge amount.

Could you pick one piece of art that has made a lasting influence on you, and if so why?

I would say probably the Girl with a Rose by Freud for it's stillness, intensity, controlled distortions, and just it's very strangeness. It is quite clearly based on a real person but the rigour of the observation has pushed it somewhere very disturbing.

What skills or techniques do you find most useful in your line of work? Do you use primarily traditional or digital methods to create your artwork?

Mostly techniques that would be familiar two hundred years ago. These have evolved over millennia from cave painting onwards to service our seemingly primal need to create a 'likeness' and are very effective. By this I don't mean likeness in the portrait sense, but the need to create or possess convincing recreations of the things we need, fear, or love. This of course includes traditional portraits, but also inventive manifestations of deities, or convincing depictions of food or prey. While mostly working from life, I do employ stereoscopic transparencies to assist in the studio and have had to invent and build suitable equipment. A good stereo large format slide contains a wealth of visual information about form and surface totally missing from normal photographs. This is particularly useful assisting with a portrait of someone too busy to give me the many hours I normally require. My iPad mini plays a very similar role to the drawing pads and biros from my childhood, and I love playing about on it. Sometimes even including sketches or cartoons in emails. Indeed, this interview has come about as a result of sending fan mail to Scriba when I bought one of their stylus! So far the only way I have used digital techniques professionally is to put photos of paintings I am working on into Procreate so that I can experiment with alterations to composition or tone without time consuming experiments on the actual canvas.

How can people who are interested in discovering more of your work find it?

Most of my work has been studio based and is in private collections, but a selection can be seen on my website www.mrtaylor.co.uk. Quite early in my career I was lucky enough to win the National Portrait Gallery Award and this led either directly or indirectly to a number of portrait commissions which can be seen in various public collections including the NPG London, the Holburne Museum of Art Bath, and the House of Lords. I am represented by the London gallery Waterhouse and Dodd and am a member of the Royal Society of Portrait Painters. Finally, if you ever see the Wes Anderson film the Grand Budapest Hotel, I have to confess to being none other than the late Johannes Van Hoytl, creator of the much coveted, much travelled Boy with Apple painting. Very much a one off!

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The definitive guide to Typographic, New York

website@sitemodify.com (Website Editor) — Wed, 26 Feb 2020 10:14:40 GMT

What is Typographics?

Typographics is largely described as a design festival for people who love to use type. This is the second year the festival is happening. It takes place in Manhattan over the span of multiple days. During the festival, attendees can interact with design and typography like never before. There will be talks, workshops, tours and more, all dedicated to the history, present and future of typography. Designers can share and experience multitudes of perspectives on typography and design elements having to to do with type, both digital and in print.

Subject matter for workshops, talks and tours explores all the avenues and worlds surrounding typography that you can imagine. They can include, but aren’t limited to, hand-lettering, Sign painting, calligraphy, font technology, digital publishing, responsive design, the effect of typography on our world, the psychology of typography and more.

Who Are the Speakers?

At this years’ conference, you can expect to hear varying opinions, advice, teachings and perspects from top designers from around the globe, as well as see inspiring examples of their work. The schedule includes speakers from Typologic, Danilo Design Group, Lost Type Co-Op, The Letter Office, Doyle Partners, Google Design, Font Bureau, Memo Productions, IL magazine, Synoptic Office, Cadson Demak, Bloomberg Businessweek, Parsons the New School for Design, and more.

The full list of speakers can be seen here.

What Should I Expect to Learn?

The 2015 Typographics festival was an enormous success, so it’s being done again this year, bigger and better. The 11-day event consists of workshops and tours focusing on typography. Each speaker will be delivering a talk on their area of passion and expertise. You can expect to be able to learn about topics like:

the mechanics of reading and on-screen legibility
problems found in typographic cultures around the world
how branding affects the public environment
typography’s expansion on the web in general
typography for the entertainment industry
challenging typography convention
typography in motion

The full list of speeches can be seen here.

The event is organised by Cooper Union , Herb Lubalin Study Center of Design and Typography and Type@Cooper.

How Can I Attend?

The conference itself takes place June 17th and 18th. All of the surrounding tours and workshops take place between June 13th and 23rd. Most of the festival is held at The Cooper Union in the East Village. There are 5 different ticket types: Professional, Educator, Student, Small Bundle (5-9 tickets) and Large Bundle (10+ tickets). Tickets are on sale until June 18th.

You can buy your ticket on the Typographics 2016 website here.

If you can’t attend personally, the entire conference will be photographed and professionally live streamed, so you can enjoy the content from the comforts of home.

If you attend the conference, you will receive a 10% discount on Type@Cooper’s workshops and tours. Titles include “Making Faces (& Other Emoji)”, “Sign Painting”, “Type Design for None-Type Designers” and so much more. Just make sure to check for the discount code on your PDF conference ticket and use it to register.

Artist Spotlight: Lexis Pryme

website@sitemodify.com (Website Editor) — Wed, 26 Feb 2020 10:14:38 GMT

Everyone’s work is deeply idiosyncratic: in our regular Spotlight segment we explore artists’ experiences and inspiration to understand what defines and inspires their unique styles.

Going by the moniker Lexis Pryme, Stephen Ato Kwamena Acquah, is a Ghanaian digital artist who brings as much emotion and attitude to his minimal line drawings as his brightly coloured final pieces.

Can you give us a brief background on yourself?

I'm an artist with a keen interest in using digital media to create innovative designs / art. Basically I focus on portrait illustration, landscape painting, abstract art, comic illustration, infography, logo design, and other graphic design based works. I extensively use Photoshop, Corel, etc on the computer and android tablet.

What kind of influence does your location have on your career?

Being in Ghana has had a great impact on my career. Experiences in the country have influenced the great percentage of my work.

What is your greatest source of inspiration?

My greatest inspiration is how the computer has availed a broad horizon for artistic exploration.

Could you pick one piece of art that has made a lasting influence on you, and if so why?

I have a digital abstract painting titled "Sails and Oceans", this has had a lasting impression on me. This painting is metaphoric of the experiences one has in life on their pursuit of their lifetime goals and dreams. Life provides each human entity on earth with tools both within and without each person, which are to be used to fight against the turbulent storms of life.

What skills or techniques do you find most useful in your line of work? Do you use primarily traditional or digital methods to create your artwork?

I primarily use digital methods to create my art. This is due to the manoeuvrable nature that digital methods provide when I want to execute my ideas. I'm able to revisit unfinished works (even finished works) to effect changes on parts of my work to introduce new ideas in the work.

How can people who are interested in discovering more of your work find it?

Feel free to check up my creative gallery on Instagram and Facebook

www.instagram.com/lexisprymekonceptz

https://web.facebook.com/LEXIS-PRYME-KONCEPTZ-452365478211120/

Scriba is a revolutionary digital stylus that is ergonomically designed to comfortably fit your hand and uses unique Squeeze-Motion technology. Order here.

Last minute Christmas gifts for creatives

website@sitemodify.com (Website Editor) — Wed, 26 Feb 2020 10:14:33 GMT

Christmas is coming up fast and perhaps you’re starting to feel the last minute panic of not having all your gifts in order. Never fear, we’re here to help. These gifts are perfect for the graphic designer in your life, or someone with a passion for design. Have a look, hopefully we can provide you with some inspiration.

City as Canvas

City as Canvas chronicles street art and graffiti in New York City, featuring works by Martin Wong, a prominent artist in East Village who died in 1999. If you’re looking for something to inspire, this preservation of an often ephemeral art form can do the trick.

The Quick Brown Fox Jumps Over the Lazy Dog

For the typography lover in your life, this memory card game based on fonts could be right up their alley. Niche, sure, but they’ll love getting to show off their expert knowledge.

Logo Design Love Second Edition

Logo Design Love informs you how to create an iconic brand, from start to finish, using plentiful examples and case studies from the industry. Written in an intentionally accessible style, low on jargon, it’s suitable for both a graphic designer and a non-professional enthusiast. Plus, It’s written by David Airey , an Irish graphic designer, and we all love buying Irish products, don’t we ?

Personalised Notebooks

For the creatives who carry a notebook to keep track of their ideas, Not on the High Street does a lovely range of personalised notebooks that can be adorned with the owner’s name. Some are more kitschy than others, ranging from self serious block fonts to more childlike scripts , so knowing your audience is key.

Steal Like an Artist

Steal Like an Artist: 10 Things Nobody Told You About Being Creative is a New York Times bestseller by Austin Kleon on creativity and the old adage “good artists copy, great artists steal”. His take: it’s impossible to be completely original all the time and, if you try, you will ultimately smother your creativity. Acknowledging your influences and having fun with them will make you a happier person and a better artist. As an aside, Austin Kleon also has a great weekly newsletter that you should definitely check out.

Lance Wyman: The Monograph

A collection of the works of Lance Wyman , a legendary American graphic designer most famous for the Mexico ‘68 Olympics logo, the book contains 464 pages of Wyman’s prolific design. A particularly adept study of the designer’s understanding of local culture (especially Mexico) this is a great reference point for any graphic designer.

How To...

With definitely the longest title on the list “ How to: Use graphic design to sell things, explain things, make things look better, and (every once in a while) change the world ” (phew, what a mouthful) by Michael Bierut was a standout publication last year. Chronicling more than 35 of the graphic designers projects, Bierut seeks to educate others on his experience, with the book working both as a memoir and a manual.

Favourite Song Soundwave Print

This one’s for someone who appreciates print art and music:

House of Yve takes a favourite song and creates a distinctive metallic print of the soundwaves of the song. They’re also available framed in silver and copper designs with varying background colours, so if you share a meaningful song with someone this could be a lovely personalised gift.

100 Ideas that Changed Graphic Design

Appearing in the “100 Ideas that Changed... “ series, this book by Steven Heller chronicles the various stylistic, technical methods that influenced graphic design and how they were adopted into the field going forward. Great for anyone wanting to expand their knowledge on the history of graphic design.

Order a Scriba

Scriba is a stylus for iOS and Android devices that’s ergonomically built for the natural contours of an artist’s hand and allows more control over line width using Squeeze-Motion technology .

Happy Christmas Everyone!

Our first day on Kickstarter: a diary

website@sitemodify.com (Website Editor) — Wed, 26 Feb 2020 10:14:31 GMT

Nothing really prepares you for your first day on Kickstarter.

The run-up is full of anticipation, excitement ―and admittedly, some worry― as the team takes giant leap into the future and the business enters a whole new stage of development.

Following a week of little sleep we gathered around a seated David Craig and his laptop for a ceremonial 10:00 am ‘pushing the button’ and launched the campaign with a cheer and a few nervous looks.

Our first funders made contact within 15 minutes and each was greeted with more cheers as we watched the counter change. There soon came a point when we decided to save our energy —and voices— to focus on answering queries and questions and quietly set about (more) contacting and content creating.

The steady flow of support from funders throughout the morning, the afternoon, the evening promoted calm and provided the much needed relief.

And, it became clear throughout the day that what was really motivating us was not so much the rising fund figure as the communication coming from the great variety of people from all over the world. Funders, well-wishers, friends, creative professionals, technology enthusiasts, journalists all provided us with a great result for our first day and the chance for a good night’s sleep!

Overall, enterprises need to focus on value adding activities. In doing so, it’s important not mistake adding functions that appear valuable, with actual value adding functions. Often the last minute addition to the blueprint causes untold hassle and complications that ultimately distract from the overall message and vision, putting the entire enterprise in jeopardy.

The Art of Video Game Architecture

website@sitemodify.com (Website Editor) — Wed, 26 Feb 2020 10:14:29 GMT

Architects and video game designers are more similar than you think. You might be wondering why. Well, both use similar tools to conceptualise virtual buildings with a user centric approach in mind — except of course, one has the intention for it to be actually built in real life. We rarely hear of an overlap between these two professions but the commonality can be quite beneficial to both parties.

The Island of The Witness by Thelka Inc. and Jonathan Blow

Games for Social Change

Consider the UN-Habitat’s ‘Block by Block’ programme. When creating public spaces in poor and developing communities, UN-Habitat wanted to gather the perspective and ideas of the people that would be using it the most. To do this, they gave Minecraft to members of the community, giving them real input into the design of their public spaces. Using Minecraft, they created the kind of spaces and structures that they would like to see in their community, which team then took into consideration when designing the new public spaces. This flourishing programme has resulted in great projects all over the world, which you can check out at their website.

Another example is “Block’hood”, a neighbourhood planning simulator that asks the player to consider ecological, social, and economic factors while building. By creating a game where the player must balance the energy inputs and outputs of the building. Buildings are made up of block with special requirements, failing to follow them can lead to decay, entropy, and abandonment. The creator, Jose Sanchez, seeks to educate people on the complexity of city building and the global challenges of modern architecture.

‘The Fall’ by Beauty and the Bit for Bekerman’s Blog

An increasingly permeable connection between architecture and video game design can also be seen in architectural visualisation. One of the industry’s best, Ronen Bekerman’s Architectural Visualisation blog, showcases gorgeous concepts both for the real world and video game designs with the increasing photorealism of the latter making them almost indistinguishable from reality. Through competitions he runs, Bekerman sometimes asks readers to combine the two fields by creating architectural visualisations using video game engines like, Unreal 4. The results function not just as a showcase for a building, but mood pieces in their own right which could easily be the opening of a film or game. The winner of one competition, the visualisation for the Neue Nationalgalerie in Berlin, shows this well. Tools ostensibly for video game creation can be fantastic tools for architects to create interactive 3D models, complementing the current trend of using VR to show clients potential spaces.

Building your Game Correctly

Of course, it goes both ways: the expertise of an architect can also be invaluable in developing video games. Historically, games would have been designed as separate levels, or hub worlds, with loading times between each area. This meant each area could have significantly different designs without it feeling jarring. Now, games in which the whole world is open to you, with little to no load times in between, are becoming increasingly common. These worlds need to function as a cohesive whole: with enough variety for the player to experience different environments while maintaining a consistent style and a natural transition in environment. Architects and landscape artists can be invaluable in achieving this. A good case study is, “The Witness”. "The Witness", is a game where the player finds themselves on a deserted island, populated only by derelict buildings and gorgeous scenery. While exploring the island, the player has to solve abstract puzzles linked to the environment and architecture around them. It’s a quiet, pensive game brought to life by the detail inserted into every area of the island.

To achieve this, director Jonathan Blow enlisted architects and landscape architects from outside the video game industry to give a unique perspective, not blinkered by the usual assumptions of video game design. Designing the game required creating distinct buildings for each area of the island, each inspired by the style of different eras and civilizations, a job best done by an architect. Many of the puzzles require the manipulation of light or perfectly aligning your view of a building to find the solution. The flora also plays a vital role, not just for puzzle design: there is no dialogue in the game and music is sparse, meaning the beauty of the island is an important part of keeping the player engaged. Deanna Van Buren, architect and FOURM design studio founder, had never worked in video games before and now advocates the inclusion of architects in the video game development process. In interviews, Van Buren talks about her experience working on games and how she no longer had to consider some constraints (the position of the sun never moves in The Witness) while having to consider new ones (how the player navigates the space). As shown in the Witness, incorporating real world architecture into games can make them feel more authentic. For another example take Gone Home, a game about a girl returning to her family home from college to find her family missing. The player explores the house, looking for clues and uncovering deeper details on her family’s identities and relationships. In that game the house is the only place the player goes, making its authenticity paramount to the player’s immersion.

Evidently, both architects and video game designers could benefit from the expertise and tools of the other’s profession. We’re looking forward to seeing what interesting new ideas will come about from these two collaborating using tools like Autodesk, VRay, Blender, and Unreal Engine.

Scriba is a revolutionary digital stylus that is ergonomically designed to comfortably fit your hand and uses unique Squeeze-Motion technology. Order here.

Artist Spotlight: Sahoko Blake

website@sitemodify.com (Website Editor) — Wed, 26 Feb 2020 10:14:25 GMT

Everyone’s work is deeply idiosyncratic: in our regular Spotlight segment we explore artists’ experiences and inspiration to understand what defines and inspires their unique styles.

Can you give us a brief background on yourself?

I am Japanese and I studied art literature & fine art. I moved to Ireland in 1996, and since then I have exhibited extensively here and abroad, including three solo shows and the RHA Annual exhibitions in 1999, 2002, 2005 and 2013. I was an invited artist to the RHA studio residency in 2010. I have worked as a tutor on advanced drawing courses in the National gallery of Ireland since 2007, in addition to delivering Life Drawing classes at the Alexandra College, Sallynoggin College, and Royal Hibernian Academy. I have also worked with a documentary film company that specialises in underwater films.

What kind of influence does your location have on your career?

I love living by the sea.

What skills or techniques do you find most useful in your line of work? Do you use primarily traditional or digital methods to create your artwork?

I only really work with non-digital media, however, I think that the most important skills are being able to make quick observations.

How can people who are interested in discovering more of your work find it?

Annual Exhibition at the Royal Hibernian Academy in Dublin

Schoolhouse for Art

Schoolhouse for Art’ is in essence a facility for the study and exploration of arts and crafts. Located in ‘the old schoolhouse’ in the heart of Enniskerry village, it is an exhibition space and a meeting place where images and ideas mingle. It caters for all ages and all abilities. The former school playground is a natural arena facing the clock tower, a three-dimensional canvas to display an evolving gallery of large pieces of sculpture. ‘Schoolhouse for Art’ is also a host to visiting artists from across the globe who want to paint the surrounding inspiring countryside and experience the unparalleled Irish hospitality.

Scriba is a revolutionary digital stylus that is ergonomically designed to comfortably fit your hand and uses unique Squeeze-Motion technology. Order here.

How to make sugar skulls

website@sitemodify.com (Website Editor) — Wed, 26 Feb 2020 10:14:23 GMT

Over the past few years, sugar skulls (also known as Calaveras or calaveras de azúcar in Spanish) have become extremely popular - you may have seen them plastered all over the many new burrito restaurants popping up in Dublin.

While you may associate them with a Mexican dish that is not even that popular in Mexico , their origin is a lot more sweet than savoury. A Calavera is typically a representation of a human skull, with brightly coloured designs and decorations in the form of sugar. As for its origin, it is traditional folk art from southern Mexico used to celebrate the “Day of the dead”, or Diá de Los Muertos, and the Roman Catholic holiday All Soul’s Day. The term is most often applied to the edible and decorative skulls made from clay and sugar during the celebration day. Spirits of the dead people are welcomed back to their home with artistically decorated Calaveras made by their families or loved ones.

Day of the Dead holiday is celebrated in southern and central Mexico during the chilly days of November 1 and 2. People with the ancient belief come together to honor their deceased loved one, believing that the gates of heaven are opened at the midnight and the spirits of all the deceased children are allowed to reunite with their families for 24 hours.

Families take the sugar skulls and flowers to the tomb and graveyard to decorate it. The sugar skulls are decorated colorfully with colored sugar, pieces of bright foil, icing and also bear the name of the deceased member who is being honored. They can last a year if kept dry and safe and are relatively easy to make. Because of their brightly coloured and often psychedelic designs, they’ve become extremely popular in graphic design and logo circles.

If you’re interested in making your own Calavera, here are some instructions:

Things you will need:

Some flat plates or cardboard panels
Sugar skull molds
Meringue powder
Water as required
Icing sugar (powdered) for the royal icing
Fine granulated sugar

If you don’t have meringue powder it’s not a big deal, you can still make a sugar head without it. But since it acts as a binder to harden the sugar, if you don’t use it your sugar skull might easily fall apart. The powder is purely edible and it is made of dried eggs, so you can easily purchase one from most shops.

Steps to make sugar skull:

Mix the ingredients: take the granulated sugar and mix it with meringue powder and water. Don’t add too much water: you don’t want a paste form. Thoroughly mix everything for a few minutes until you get a consistency like sand. Now, take a small amount of mixture and form an indentation with your thumb. If the clump doesn’t fall apart, it means that the mixture is ready and it’s time to go to the next step: molding.

Mold the Mixture: Take the sugar skull mold and pack it tightly with the mixture. Use a sharp metal object like a knife or scraper to remove the excessive mixture. Now, take a cardboard plate or panel over the mold, gently flip it over and place it on a flat surface. Reveal your sugar skull by carefully removing the mold.

Let it dry: Leave the sugar skull in an airy place and let it dry for at least 5 to 6 hours. After getting it dry your sugar skull is ready. You can decorate it with colorful icing according to your own design sensibilities.

Not too hard: Give it a go and let us know how it turns out!

Karim Rashid: Industrial Designer and Innovator

website@sitemodify.com (Website Editor) — Wed, 26 Feb 2020 10:14:22 GMT

Everyone’s work is deeply idiosyncratic: in our regular Spotlight segment we explore artists’ experiences and inspiration to understand what defines and inspires their unique styles.

It’s a tough-truth, but in today’s society design is under-appreciated and it’s unarguable that increasingly people pay less attention to both the importance and presence of design in their daily lives. However, every so often a mix of passion, energy, and innovation comes together and the industry takes note. Karim Rashid is the embodiment of that sentiment, and his designs have helped reinforce the importance of good design in a wider social context. Born in Cairo, Egypt in 1960, Karim moved across the world to Toronto, Canada at a very young age. Here his ambition knew no bounds and his imagination reigned free. By age 25 he had co-founded and designed for the Babel Fashion Collection and North between the years of 1985 and 1991, only pausing to open his own private design studio in New York City in 1992.

At 32, Karim Rashid had established himself as a key player in the interior design industry. He had his own studio, a wealth of experience and keen ability to bring spaces and products alive with the slightest detail. To put that in context, it took Giorgio Armani seven years longer to have his own studio. More recently, he has been bringing his award-winning talent to the Temptation Spa & Resort in Cancun, Mexico, where he has been tasked with designing a total remodel of the four star resort. According to Karim himself; “For the longest time design only existed for the elite and for a small insular culture. I have worked hard for the last 20 years trying to make design a public subject”. Be sure to listen in on Karim’s presentation at the British Institute of Interior Design’s Conference 2016 where he and a number of other renowned speakers will be taking part in a conference which if you’re a design buff, should not be missed.

Karim’s designs are timeless and universal. From watches to tableware, his artistic touch has been portrayed in an extraordinarily wide range of designs. Nothing illustrates this more than his lasting presence in NYC, where he has designed everything from manhole-covers, to a Giorgio Armani concept store. His most famous and inspirational works reside on display in some of the most historic museums across the globe, including the Museum of Modern Art in New York City, and the Centre Pompidou in Paris.

Scriba is a revolutionary digital stylus that is ergonomically designed to comfortably fit your hand and uses unique Squeeze-Motion technology. Order here.

A Designers Art by Paul Rand

website@sitemodify.com (Website Editor) — Wed, 26 Feb 2020 10:14:20 GMT

This book is an invaluable resource to designers of all kinds. Paul Rand, largely considered as one of the best graphic designers of all time, shares his skills and insights with the reader in the form of essays and illustrations. It takes heavily from Rand’s first book, Thoughts on Design.

Book is divided into sections, such as:

● The Designer’s Problem

● Versatility of the Symbol

● Seeing Stripes

● Integrating Form and Content

● The Meaning of Repetition

● Typographic Form and Expression

● Black Black Black

● The Complexity of Colour

And so much more.

This book is an amazing resource for designers as it takes you into the mind of one of the best. Directly from him, you will learn how to tackle common design problems and how to look at boring principles in a new light.

Scriba is a revolutionary digital stylus that is ergonomically designed to comfortably fit your hand and uses unique Squeeze-Motion technology. Order here .

Beginners guide: importance of proper body portions and how to get them

website@sitemodify.com (Website Editor) — Wed, 26 Feb 2020 10:14:19 GMT

One of the most important factors of human figure drawing, sketching and painting is proportions. Have you ever seen a child’s drawing of a person? Typically what makes it look most childish isn’t the lack of detail or proper shading, but the fact that the legs may be shorter than the arms, or the hands eyes may be larger than the feet.

All bodies are different and no one body is perfect or ideal. Do not confuse proper body proportions with perfect body proportions. Read on to understand why proper body proportions in human figure drawings are important and the best ways to make sure they are always accurate in your own art.

The Importance

Even if you aren’t the greatest artist in the world, if the proportions on your figure drawing are accurate, the realism and integrity of the figure is preserved. We see bodies all the time and the eye knows instinctively when the proportions are out of whack. “Everything that is drawn realistically is drawing with the laws of perspective, even if the artist doesn’t realize that he or she is using them.”

The human body is one of the most complex shapes on the planet. Proportions are the first thing to learn when drawing bodies because they teach you how to be anatomically correct. This can be accomplished by charting out the body and identifying which joints match up to the others.

The Techniques

Artists have been studying the human form for centuries. They have realized that there are a set of guidelines and perspective drawing techniques that vary when you change the subjects’ gender, age or even sometimes ethnic background. Let’s get started with the basics.

If a figure is proportioned properly, it is defined by something called “the alignment of the joints”, which is the same no matter what. You can start to create this by drawing a head at the top of your paper, and then drawing seven sections of equal height to the head below.
The bottom of the pelvis rests on the fourth line, the bottom of the knees rest on the bottom of the sixth line and a vertical line can represent each leg, from lines four to eight.
The area for the ribcage and lungs starts halfway between points 1 and 2. It technically extends down to mark 3, but from around 2.5 to 3 can vary depending on the look of the subjects stomach. Remember that the nipples land on mark 2 and the bellybutton lands around 3.5.
Shoulders sit around 1.5 and the bottom of the elbow should be level with bellybutton. The hip joints should be level with the wrists. Fingertips should not pass mid-thigh.

It is recommended to practice drawing this form consistently and in different poses and positions.

Remember also that men and women differ slightly in their proportions. As a rule of thumb, mens’ body width should be 2 ⅓ heads, the distance between nipples on the chest is 1 head, the width of the calf muscles at the lower arc is 1 head, and the bottom of the knees is 2 heads from the ground.

Women’s body width is a little smaller: 2 heads wide. Their waists are 1 head wide, buttocks are 1 ½ heads wide, width of the calf muscles at mid point is one head wide and the bottom of the knees should be 2 heads from ground level.

If you practice, over time the proper body proportions will become second nature to you and even if the subject is posed, you will be able to see immediately how long and far apart the limbs should be from the body, etc. and you figure drawing will improve greatly

Scriba Spotlight: Susan Szecsi

website@sitemodify.com (Website Editor) — Wed, 26 Feb 2020 10:14:18 GMT

Everyone’s work is deeply idiosyncratic: in our regular Spotlight segment we explore artists’ experiences and inspiration to understand what defines and inspires their unique styles.

Susan Szecsi is a designer who designs human like fantasy game characters. In this article Susan will go through the step by step process she uses when she is designing these characters.

Step 1. How to start and what to look at the references

I almost always start the job with researching and collecting references. Looking at them helps to feel the atmosphere of the era and you will see clearly the hairstyle and clothing or other props that can add to the character. In this case the blue line drawing on the left is the first sketch based on a real British fighter's vintage photo. He is wearing a pullover with a unbuttoned jumpsuit. His carefully trimmed mustache is very stylish. I made his face more characteristic, slightly based on another contemporary pilot's features. Although I liked his natural and confident look he was not what I was looking for. I was drawing him because I thought his study would help me to create the fictional pilot for the game. To get that look some exaggerations were needed.

Step 2. Exaggerating, checking, refining and... sometimes let it go

Admitting (after a satisfying first sketch or study) that your second approach is a failure is not easy. The smallest light brown sketch (only lines, no blocking) shows an abandoned version where I was going in the wrong direction. I drew it over the first sketch, but now our hero is wearing a uniform. Unfortunately, his posture is not specific enough, his facial features are way too general, and his body type is average. It is a good example for a bad design. He is so uninteresting and somehow rigid the best we can do is just let it go and start all over. It is always good to make thumbnails with loose, sleekly, straight, and curvy lines. Draw the spine, a kind of simplified skeleton of the guy, to get the character anatomically correct. I use my other references, sometimes 2 to 6 photos to get the right posture. Family members or friends have to pose when there is no other way to get it right. There is no detailed rendering that can fix a wrong or uninteresting posture.

Step 3. How to refine or modify your character

Since the aim was to provide not an artistic or lifelike, but rather a game-fitting guy I started to play with the proportions. By simplifying the lines I was looking to find, while keeping his posture in mind, it should suggest confidence with a hint of an easygoing attitude but somewhat arrogant as well. He knows he is good looking and after dozens of fights shooting others and almost being killed, he sees the world with different eyes. He does not give a damn about what Mr X thinks of him. On the other hand, he is not cynical but rather smart and charming with a dry sense of humor. So, I broadened his shoulders and slimmed his waist. Not only did he get an almost sculpted hairstyle, but his jawline got more square like and his chin came forward. I love rendering and get carried away easily by colouring or refining details, so I worked only with values as you see it in the brownish blocked image in the middle.

Step 4. Further refining, checking, and experimenting

It is always a good idea to swap the canvas horizontally, or in the case you are not working digitally, using a mirror. It helps to see your drawing with fresh eyes and mistakes will pop up. Working digitally you have the opportunity to check the values when you look at your design in grey scale. The coloured close up shows more rendering. In fact, I have made 4-6 more versions of the character. However, I did not find them acceptable yet. I am going to continue to simplify him.

Thank you for reading. If you have any questions just drop me a comment. You can see more of my work at klinarts.blogspot.com

Scriba is a revolutionary digital stylus that is ergonomically designed to comfortably fit your hand and uses unique Squeeze-Motion technology. Order here .

Artist Spotlight: Gavin O'Donnell

website@sitemodify.com (Website Editor) — Wed, 26 Feb 2020 10:14:12 GMT

Everyone’s work is deeply idiosyncratic: in our regular Spotlight segment we explore artists’ experiences and inspiration to understand what defines and inspires their unique styles.

Can you give us a brief background on yourself?

I was always doodling from a very young age, I got a bit more serious about it when I was about 12/13. I was on holidays at my aunt’s house in Sussex, she was really into creating realistic pencil drawings, and she got me to sit down with her and I drew Spider man and a portrait of a dog. From that week on I really fell in love with it. I studied at NCAD for a year and a half. I did the core year, and then a few months of Industrial Design. I dropped out after a few months, the course wasn’t for me. I had always wanted to do animation so I prepared a portfolio for BCFE. In the meantime, I got offered an apprenticeship to be a tattoo artist at Dublin Ink. I had got my place in first year of Animation in BCFE, so I decided to defer the year and explore the tattooing! I was surrounded by amazing artists for 9 months and learned a lot from them. I got to design tattoos and even tattoo a bunch of people. It was an amazing experience but I felt I needed to go to college to do what I always wanted, animation. So, I’m in the first year of the degree now (4 years in), and hope to have my BA Honours degree in Animation in 2018. I’ve also discovered the world of online courses, I feel like this is what has really helped push my skills to the next level. I’ve still got a lot to learn but I think this is the best path alongside college. To name a few; I started out with a course on Digital Painting with Noah Bradley, I’ve done a couple of Schoolism courses, one with Dice Tsutsumi and Robert Kondo who were the Art Directors on Toy Story 3. Now I’m doing a course on environment painting with Maciej Kuciara on Learnsquared . I’ve done numerous commissioned portraits and paintings. I got to work on a magazine to teach kids to draw. Most recently, I got my first couple of concept art gigs with a German game company called Daedalic Entertainment.

What kind of influence does your location have on your career?

The concept art scene is not as big in Ireland compared to other countries. There’s only a handful of people I know interested in the industry. Luckily, we have the internet so we can be connected with artists from all over the world. We have one of the best animation colleges in the world right here in Dublin, BCFE. The animation industry is really growing here. In terms of workshops and events, again there wouldn’t be a whole lot going on compared to the UK or the US. Gareth Lee is doing some great work with Animationskillnet.ie , and he’s bringing more and more great speakers and events to Ireland. We also have Dingle Animation Festival which is brilliant.

What is your process like when combining traditional and digital methods?

I generally use sketchbooks for getting ideas down and exploring compositions before going into Photoshop. I normally take a picture of the sketch, load it into Photoshop, and paint on top.

Could you pick one piece of art that has made a lasting influence on you, and if so why?

The first image that popped into my head was Cleopatra by John William Waterhouse , it was painted in 1888 with oils. Waterhouse portrays Cleopatra on her throne in a position of power. Rather than choosing to illustrate the scene of her suicide, as many artists have done, she has a hauntingly beautiful gaze which is lying in the shadow. I think this makes it all the more terrifying and really draws the eye of the viewer. There are so many artists I admire though. In the concept art world anything by Craig Mullins, Jamie Jones, Eytan Zana, or John J.Park is magical. I also love the work of Sargent, Jeremy Mann, and Richard Schmid to name a few.

What skills or techniques are you working to try improve at the moment?

I’m working on my first short animated movie in college right now. So, I’m trying to improve everything that’s involved. For example; how to tell a story in a short amount of time and sell something at the same time. While also doing storyboarding, character design, background design, composition, animating, and then putting it all together.

Can you give our readers a tip or trick you have come across that has made your work a lot easier?

Like I said earlier if you can do some online courses in the field you love, alongside college, I think this will help you stand out from the rest. If it’s art, Schoolism, Learnsquared, and Gnomon Workshop are all great places to start. I also follow a lot of artists on Facebook, Artstation, and Instagram. So, I have a constant feed of inspiration from amazing artists and a reminder of how much I have to learn.

How can people who are interested in discovering more of your work find it?

This is my main portfolio , but I also upload lots of sketches and other bits to Instagram or Facebook . So, feel free to follow me on there.

Scriba is a revolutionary digital stylus that is ergonomically designed to comfortably fit your hand and uses unique Squeeze-Motion technology. Order here .

Artist Spotlight: Elentori

website@sitemodify.com (Website Editor) — Wed, 26 Feb 2020 10:14:11 GMT

Everyone’s work is deeply idiosyncratic: in our regular Spotlight segment we explore artists’ experiences and inspiration to understand what defines and inspires their unique styles.

Can you give us a brief background on yourself?

I was always the kid with the sketchbook, ever since I was old enough to hold a crayon, I've been drawing on every scrap of paper to come my way. It wasn't until college that I decided to pursue art as a career and started taking it seriously. My college instruction focused more on design and business. However, all my illustration work is self-taught. I’ve done many things over the years, I currently work as a concept artist for an indie game company called Multivarious. I also do book illustrations and have done some work for Disney in the past.

What kind of influence does your location have on your career?

My career is currently working as a concept artist, and that’s an interesting job to have for someone stuck in Ohio! My location has led me to meet many great people interested in growing the gaming industry here though, and I love it.

What is your process like when combining traditional and digital methods?

I enjoy sketching in pencil and always have at least two sketchbooks on me at all times. Sometimes I scan in those pencil sketches and color over them in photoshop, it’s the texture you get from traditional art that I’m constantly trying to replicate with my digital art.

Could you pick one piece of art that has made a lasting influence on you, and if so why?

This is the first piece I did that started gaining attention online, it was also one of my most extreme color experiments at the time. I would consider this piece the start of what I would call my current style, the strong light and hatching and vibrant colors. In fact, my more recent piece was a nod to the older piece, but with much stronger hatching and more of my current cartoon style.

What skills or techniques are you working to try improve at the moment?

At the moment, I’m working on pushing my colors and texture even further. I would also like to dive into more semi-realism with my work. I work mainly with cartoons so there hasn’t been a need for it yet, but it’s something I’d like to learn.

Can you give our readers a tip or trick you have come across that has made your work a lot easier?

Overlay/screen/soft light layers for color! Working with color is something you become more comfortable with the more you draw, but one of the beautiful things with digital art is the ability to completely change color, or add in color or do whatever you want with just a few adjustment layers. Learning how to continually mess with color as you’re working on a piece helps take off some of the pressure from needing to choose the right colors off the bat.

How can people who are interested in discovering more of your work find it?

I use Twitter , Instagram and Tumblr the most, and I do art streams on Twitch twice a week.

My work can also be found on Deviantart and Facebook.

Scriba is a revolutionary digital stylus that is ergonomically designed to comfortably fit your hand and uses unique Squeeze-Motion technology. Order here.

Artist Spotlight: Dale O'Flaherty

website@sitemodify.com (Website Editor) — Wed, 26 Feb 2020 10:14:10 GMT

Everyone’s work is deeply idiosyncratic: in our regular Spotlight segment we explore artists’ experiences and inspiration to understand what defines and inspires their unique styles.

Can you give us a brief background on yourself?

I've always been drawing from a very young age but it was never something that I thought of pursuing as a career, so I didn't study art or design in college. I actually have a degree in Science. It was during my undergrad that I kind of got back into drawing and making art. I was reading a lot of webcomics at the time and became aware of a community of artists who were making autobio comics on LiveJournal. I decided to make some of my own and to my surprise people quite liked them. I eventually ended up getting a Wacom tablet for myself as a graduation present (before this I was just drawing the comics in a sketchbook and then scanning them in). I don't think I was even colouring my comics at this stage I had very little idea of how I would go about doing that. I remember sending an email to James Kochalka (best known for his long running daily diary comic series American Elf) asking him if he used different colour inks for his lines because I didn't realise that you could change the colour of your inks after you'd scanned them in. So, I got myself a Wacom tablet and set about teaching myself how to use graphic design software. At the time I was using a program called PaintTool SAI, which is a cheap lightweight painting program. It's actually still quite popular among young artists, and people are still making incredible work with it. I used Manga Studio for a little while afterwards, but now I use Adobe Photoshop for pretty much everything. I was really intimidated by Photoshop and avoided trying to learn how to use it for quite some time, but the shortcuts are quite similar to Manga Studio so it wasn't as scary to learn as I thought it would be. I did do a diploma course in graphic design to get some formal adobe suite training and I did a fine art course for all of about 3 months, but besides that I’m more or less entirely self taught.

What kind of influence does your location have on your career?

Since I'm not formally trained in art or design I don't feel like I have a lot of connections in the Irish design community. Most of my friends and peers live overseas. I know only a handful of Irish artists personally. There are good and bad aspects to this. I feel richer for having access to people of a wide variety of backgrounds and I feel like this has made me a better artist, and a more thoughtful person. But also, I definitely feel very disconnected from the local arts scene.

What is your process like when combining traditional and digital methods?

I generally use my sketchbook to figure out what I want to communicate first before I go into Photoshop. For whatever reason, it feels more natural for me to iterate through different ideas and concepts on paper. But recently, I’ve been experimenting with colouring sketches digitally that feels like a good mix of both methods. I will sketch something out then take a picture of it with my phone then bring it into Photoshop. I usually mess with the levels a bit to make it a bit brighter. Then I’ll just paint on top of it and mess with layer blending modes and adjustment masks until I have something that I’m happy with.

Could you pick one piece of art that has made a lasting influence on you, and if so why?

Probably the aforementioned American Elf by James Kochalka . He would sit down every day and make a comic about what happened that day, and he did that every day for 14 years. Often his comics were about very mundane things, but they would still be really funny and beautiful. It made the act of making comics very approachable. As far as other artists that influence me, I’m a big fan of Pseudonym Jones , Laura Knetzger, Tom Eccles , Maris Wicks , Sarah Sobole , kittenpillar , Allie Mehner, weja , Sam Davies, Lottie Pencheon, titas antanas vilkaitis, Anna Syvertsson... I love artists that make very bold, clean, and chunky art with interesting shapes and textures.

What skills or techniques are you working to try improve at the moment?

I spent a long time thinking that my art needed to be more figurative to be better (I guess because of insecurity over being self taught), and it was making art really unenjoyable, time consuming, and stressful to make and there would be long periods of time where I just wasn’t able to make anything. So, what I’ve been working on is changing how I approach my work and making it more enjoyable, because it wasn’t for the longest time. So, I’ve been making fan art, doodles, and other really goofy self indulgent things. I’ve also changed up my process a lot, I’m trying to be much looser and more experimental in how I do things and I’ve found that’s helped as well.

Can you give our readers a tip or trick you have come across that has made your work a lot easier?

I’d say not to be afraid of experimenting and playing around. Half of my favourite pieces come from just messing around and not worrying about the subject matter or the final image/product. You can always use those techniques you learn on weird experimental doodles later in bigger pieces. No time is wasted if you’re learning something. If I wanted to give some practical advice I would say use adjustment layers and always keep backups of your files. Also, if you use Photoshop I'd highly recommend Lazy Nezumi's brush smoothing plug in. As well as, any set from Kyle Webster's brush shop.

How can people who are interested in discovering more of your work find it?

My Tumblr is where I post my finished pieces, but I post most of my doodles to Instagram and Twitter and they are both more regularly updated.

Scriba is a revolutionary digital stylus that is ergonomically designed to comfortably fit your hand and uses unique Squeeze-Motion technology. Order here.

Artist Spotlight: Joel Zain Rivers

website@sitemodify.com (Website Editor) — Wed, 26 Feb 2020 10:14:07 GMT

Everyone’s work is deeply idiosyncratic: in our regular Spotlight segment we explore artists’ experiences and inspiration to understand what defines and inspires their unique styles.

Can you give us a brief background on yourself?

I have been drawing cartoons, comics, and monsters since I can remember. I attended a arts magnet high school in San Francisco in the 80’s called, Ruth Asawa San Francisco School of the Arts, (SOTA). I received a Bachelors of Fine Art from Humboldt State University, graduating in 1992. After being disenchanted with the idea of being an artist for a while, I worked on a short film/children’s book for a friend. Around that time I re-discovered comics, notably Allen Moore’s books. After trying and failing, I got a grant to self-publish my first series of comics. Lots of things happened after that, like partnering in a concept art company with 2 other artists while in Maine. Lately, I have worked as a web-comic artist for Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc. and have done some recent storyboard projects.

What kind of influence does your location have on your career?

I now live in the desert southwest in the United States. There are not many opportunities for commercial artists here, so I rely on my network, clients, and contacts from elsewhere. This has made me more introspective, and I think more and more seriously about independent ventures and projects. It is less expensive to live here, and the cultures and landscapes are part of what drew me here and continue to inspire me. Also my roots are out here, so I feel at home.

What is your process like when combining traditional and digital methods?

I’m in my 40’s so traditional media is part of my ritual when creating art, sketching, or coming up with ideas or visual approaches. I love the ease and quickness of using Painter, ArtRage, or Sketchbook Pro, but the experiential and tactile reality of paper, pencil, ink, etc, and the randomness of mistakes, reactions to mistakes, and making them “work” is part of my process. When you can’t “undo” you make different choices.

Could you pick one piece of art that has made a lasting influence on you, and if so why?

Well, I can say that the first time I saw a comic drawn by Joe Kubert, a Tarzan comic that was fighting a Pterodactyl, that moment crystallized. I loved dinosaurs and I loved comics as a kid, but in that moment I saw you could combine things. You could make a surreal world where there were no rules limiting you. That has stayed with me. Also the work of Moebius - the great Jean Giraud.

What skills or techniques are you working to try improve at the moment?

I am always working on anatomy and composition, those are always challenges. I find just drawing every morning to get the bad drawings out, so to speak, is mostly the key. Also good reference material is absolutely crucial.

Can you give our readers a tip or trick you have come across that has made your work a lot easier?

Use as many layers of preliminary drawing as you need. Draw a layer, then bring it to 30% visible and draw another layer on top. Just keep going until it clicks. I recently added, using values, a flat gray for shadows BEFORE I do final lines in a digital comic page. This really helps with proportion, composition, and clothing.

How can people who are interested in discovering more of your work find it?

Joel's website can be found here . He can also be found on Twitter and Facebook .

Scriba is a revolutionary digital stylus that is ergonomically designed to comfortably fit your hand and uses unique Squeeze-Motion technology. Order here.

4 key exercises when learning to draw

website@sitemodify.com (Website Editor) — Wed, 26 Feb 2020 10:14:05 GMT

Drawing sounds simple in theory - creating something from in front of you or from your imagination using 2D lines on a piece of paper. But anyone who is new to art can tell you it’s not as simple as it sounds. There are some physics and fundamental ideas you need to practice and understand before you can become a master artist. They are perspective, proportion, lighting and shading, and shapes and forms. All of these things together result in realistic artwork. Once you understand these rules, you can break them to create surreal imagery, cartoons, and more.

Perspective

It’s important to understand perspective if you want to create artwork that has a 3D effect. It’s a way to communicate the relationship between objects spatially. For instance, showing that an apple sits in front of an orange or communicating the length of a long hallway. Depth is important for realism. Objects change size and sometimes shape depending on how far they are away from the viewer. When you understand this relationship, you can create realistic looking artwork.

You can practice perspective by drawing objects on, beyond and in front of a horizon line. You can also practice drawing perspective lines and vanishing points to get used to the idea of objects shrinking and getting closer together as they get farther away.

Proportion

The idea of proportion is one of the hardest for many artists to grasp. Have you ever tried to draw something and it just seemed off or wrong and you couldn’t decide why? Have you ever tried drawing a portrait and found it looked silly and cartoonish no matter how hard you tried? It was very likely that the proportions were off. Proportion has a lot to do with mathematics, balance and the Golden Ratio. But it also a learned skill that requires a good eye and practice.

Lighting/Shading

When attempting a lifelike drawing, you need to be able to achieve shading, which imitates the effect of light on objects. In order for an object to be seen, there has to be light hitting it. Light will affect colour and shade on various sides of a 3D object.

When drawing, you first have to establish a light source or where the light is coming from. A realistic object not only has shading, but will have a bright spot where the light is most concentrated and a shadow where the object blocks light. You can study this in real life with almost any object.

Shapes and Forms

When drawing real objects, you may be surprised to find that all things are made up of a few very basic shapes at their core. These are:

Circles
Squares
Triangles

In 3D or realistic drawings, these shapes become spheres, cubes, pyramids, cones and cylinders. When drawing something, you first want to find each of these shapes in each piece of the subject. For example, an ice cream cone is nothing but a sphere on top of an upside down cone. The human form is made up of a few spheres for a head and mostly cylinders for the torso and limbs. If you can sketch these simple shapes in the correct proportion first, you can then fill in all the details to finish the sketch.

18 of The Most Famous Examples of Product Design

website@sitemodify.com (Website Editor) — Wed, 26 Feb 2020 10:13:59 GMT

Everyone’s work is deeply idiosyncratic: in our regular Spotlight segment we explore artists’ experiences and inspiration to understand what defines and inspires their unique styles.

1. Anglepoise Lamp

Thanks to the creation of a new type of spring in 1932, the angelpoise lamp design first name onto the scene, created by engineer George Carwardine. It’s revered for it’s ability to be moved and hold position in any direction.

2. Automatic Transmission

One of the most important, yet least appreciated designs. The design of the automatic transmission revolutionized fuel economy and established the foundation from which future automatic transmissions would be designed and built.

3. Ball Point Pen

When faced in 1938 with fountain pens that would bleed ink or dry out, László Jozsef Bíró invented the ballpoint pen. With thicker ink and the tiny ball bearing controlling the flow, the ballpoint pen became one of the most innovative and most purchased products in history.

4. Bendy Straw

Humans have used drinking straws in some form or another for hundreds of years. The bendy straw was patented in 1937, after Joseph B. Friedman noticed his young daughter trying to drink out of a tall glass through a straight straw.

5. Fitbit

One of the newer items on this list, the Fitbit, revolutionized the industry of wearable health tech. With a sleek design that fits comfortably and functionally around the wrist, it acts as a pedometer, altimeter, and sleep tracker all in one.

6. Fender Stratocaster Electric Guitar

Now one of the most recognized shapes in the musical world, the Stratocaster , has been adored for decades by guitarists worldwide. Launched in 1954 by Leo Gender, it features a highly contoured body shape, an innovative tremolo system, and two-tone sunburst finish.

7. Hula Hoop

The modern hula hoop was born in the 1950s. It was one of the simplest, yet most popular toy designs ever. During the height of the fad in 1958, over 100 million hoops were sold.

8. Coca Cola Bottle

Now considered one of the most popular and well-known shapes in the world, the Coca-Cola curvy glass bottle was invented in 1915. In an effort to design a “bottle so distinct that you would recognize it by feel in the dark or lying broken on the ground.”

9. Mascara Wand

T he modern mascara wand was invented in 1958 by Revlon. Before this, mascara was applied with small brushes. The modern wand allows for easy application, lifting, and separating strands to achieve the best look.

10. Oreo Cookie

The Oreo has been the number 1 best selling cookie in America since 1912. The Oreo is an innovation, by simply sandwiching creme filling between two chocolate cookies. The design has been replicated often in the past 100 years, but the Oreo is a classic.

11. Polaroid Camera

Polaroid recently celebrated 75 years of history. First presented in 1947, the Polaroid was the first instant camera in the world. It’s shoot, pull, and shake design is known around the world.

12. PEZ Dispenser

PEZ candies are much older, but the dispenser we know today was designed in 1948. The ability to offer out one piece of candy at a time was revolutionary and familiar to everyone who grew up in the USA starting in 1952.

13. iPhone

Since 2007, we’ve kept iPhones in our pockets and the design has grown and evolved over time. The iphone, has kept the signature clean, minimal, and glossy feel that Apple imbues into all its’ products.

14. Post-it Notes

This design came into being by accident! While trying to create a high strength adhesive for planes in 1968, Spencer Silver accidentally created an adhesive that was pressure sensitive and perfect to peel away without leaving residue.

15. Tupperware

One of the most overlooked yet common items in your home, the Tupperware container, was revolutionary for housewives in the 1950s. The airtight seal was one of the most intelligent American designs.

16. VW Beetles

Between 1945, Volkswagen sold 40 million models of these unique vehicles. It’s not accredited to be the most-produced car in history.

17. Wurlitzer Jukebox

Wurlitzer introduced it’s classic jukebox in 1946. It was an immediate classic and even though jukeboxes in general have fallen out of fashion, the design is still an immediately recognizable icon of 1950's America.

18. Zippo Lighter

The best product designs are unmistakable and evoke a specific mood, when seen and used. Wrapping up this list is the zippo lighter, designed to combat awkward, wind-susceptible lighters, and matches. The Zippo has always been the definition of cool.

Scriba is a revolutionary digital stylus that is ergonomically designed to comfortably fit your hand and uses unique Squeeze-Motion technology. Order here .

Feature Creep: How to avoid overextending your resources

website@sitemodify.com (Website Editor) — Wed, 26 Feb 2020 10:13:58 GMT

The sinkhole of capital: How to avoid overextending your resources, by understanding the difference between adding value, and a value adding activity.

Starting an enterprise can be a deeply personal experience. Whether you do it alone, or as part of a team, the process is the same; it begins with an idea, that becomes (hopefully) a successful company.

This involves undergoing an arduous journey of developing and protecting the concept. Investors and new team members come on board and slowly, the concept evolves and changes, until finally it comes to put let out on the market. However, after all the work that has gone into bringing the concept to this stage, the team begins to add more features, looking to launch the best possible version of the product. This is feature creep, and it’s the vehicle that will indulge the entrepreneur's worst fears and ultimately damage any hope of success.

For anybody familiar with the lean start-up (most of you probably are, and we would encourage anyone who is not to read it here , there is a particular emphasis placed on market validation. Think of it like the golden rule; your idea must be grounded in customer need. Feature creep is like a road block that prevents this from happening. We have summarized the issues below;

1) Get it out fast, and get it back even faster.

a. Feature creep involves continually adding new features to the product pre-launch. The reasons for it are largely quite logical; we want to put out a strong product to get strong early customer acquisition, we want our product to feature strongly on any comparative list, etc. This is all nonsense. The number one concern for the enterprise should be to get market feedback as soon as possible. This is where the concept of the minimum viable product comes into play. The product that goes to launch should be able to work, just about. When it’s launched, the market reaction will outline the faults, and identify the core areas where the product needs to improve.

The difficult part is to keep pace with these criticisms. As the negative reviews come through, address them and keep driving forward. So long as you are gaining more customers than you lose, you will succeed, and more importantly you gain invaluable market feedback.

2) Where is the value?

a. One of the most difficult things that the enterprise has to recognize is the opportunity for a pivot. If the feedback coming from the market pre-launch is that the product requires a number of additional features to provide a viable value proposition, then it’s highly probable that the initial idea is lacking. Don’t confuse adding value, with a value added activity. If the basic value proposition isn’t enough, more features won’t fill the gap, they will only pull limited capital into never ending R&D.

3) Follow the market, don’t guess it

a. The basic principle behind feature creep, is that the entrepreneur is trying to anticipate what features the market will most appreciate. This is a dangerous precedent and the longer it goes on the more difficult it becomes to actually launch. The enterprise ends up striving for the best version of the product, and nothing else will suffice.

The Google example describes this really well. When they were launching GoogleNews, they had the opportunity to implement another feature, either “sort by date” or “sort by location”. There was disagreement among the team of programmers over which was more suitable. In the end they did neither, and shortly after the release they got flooded with emails and requests to add a “sort by date” feature. Your customers are best placed to tell you what they want, don’t try and anticipate it.

Ultimately, it’s a very uncomfortable process as you are expected to launch, knowing that your product is lacking in some way. Our advice is to let the customer tell you what that it is. Below, we outline the benefits and methods of avoiding feature creep;

1) BadCop Brainstorming

a. Here at Scriba, we’re not entirely convinced of the merits of brainstorming, but it undoubtedly has some value. The best way to avoid feature creep, is to appoint somebody the role of bad cop from the beginning. Give somebody the role of calling out any suggestions for additional features and testing them strongly on their merits. This can help to counteract the logical arguments that are inherent with feature creep, and acts as a slap in the face to the whole team. It really helped us focus on our core value proposition.

2) Launch way too early

a. As stated above, it is important to launch early and get market feedback. This iteration loop is one of the strongest tools that the enterprise has at its disposal. We advise launching really early. People will buy your product, use your product, and try to return your product. Subscriptions will be cancelled, refunds will be sought, but the benefit will far outweigh any negative. The feedback you get at this stage is incalculable and it will focus your attention on what matters most. As long as you gain customers at a higher rate than you’re losing them, you’re onto a winner.

3) Proof of Concept

a. Another major benefit of getting that feedback is that you have market validation. You know people are willing to buy what you’re selling, if only in some form not yet fully realized. This is crucial when it comes time to look for investment. Check out our article on proof of concept for more information on how to use proof of concept as a means for investment.

Ultimately, feature creep although seemingly innocuous, can have devastating results for the company. It can delay launches and pull resources to R&D that might not be completely necessary. Avoid it at all costs.

5 Superb Ways to Market your Product without the Massive Budget

website@sitemodify.com (Website Editor) — Wed, 26 Feb 2020 10:13:54 GMT

Trying to sell a product in today’s market can be difficult. It seems like everyone has a product or idea they are trying to sell. In order to break through the noise, you may think that you have to spend a ton of money on advertising and fancy strategists. That’s simply not true. You can cut your budget and even market for free in many ways.

Social Media

Probably the most popular way to market your product, social media allows you to have complete control over:

How your product is represented
When your product is shown
Who sees your product
How you respond to feedback and questions about your product

You can have a Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, Twitter or all four for your product. You can upload photos, testimonials, videos and more all showcasing your product. If you keep at it, you can build a following of people who are more likely to buy from you as they can passively learn about your project in their leisure time.

Website

It’s essential to have a website for your business these days and if you sell a product, it’s doubly important. Social media is great but your website allows for a central hub for all your information as well as a place to make a purchase. You can use your social media to direct traffic to the website and provide detailed information about what the product is, how it works, why it’s important, what it’s made of, and more.

Events

Trade shows, craft fairs, flea markets, fairs, festivals, conventions are all places you can go to market your product face to face. For a small fee you can buy a table and set up a booth where you have have your product on display. People come all over, usually with the sole purpose of interacting with vendors like you. People can buy right away instead of having to wait for the product to ship. If you really like this idea, you can look into pop-up stores. Instead of opening up a permanent location you can rent a storefront for a limited time to sell your product.

Online Ads

If you’re already on social media and have a good website, you should allocate some of your budget to online ads. For less than $100 you can reach thousands and thousands of people with ads about your product. You can design the ad yourself or hire someone to do it for you. You can choose the exact audience you want to market to, narrowing it down to location, age, gender, occupation and previous interests. Once clicked, an ad can direct your potential customer to whatever web page you choose. Online ads are great because they allow you to reach your ideal audience for a minimal cost-per-click. Consider not only social media ads, but AdWords and Google Ads.

Retarget Existing Customers

So many marketers forget to market toward people who have already bought from them. Think of it this way - if someone has bought your product already and are happy with it, they may buy again or refer you to a friend who has a similar need. You can re-market to existing customers via free email marketing tools like Mailchimp or you can mail deals and offers to them in the mail. By sending them exclusive deals, you make them feel special and important. If you start a referral program, you can not only drum up new business but reward loyal customers.

Do one thing really well: finding the core value proposition of your business and sticking to it

website@sitemodify.com (Website Editor) — Wed, 26 Feb 2020 10:13:52 GMT

Finding the core value proposition of your business and sticking to it. In this article we highlighted the benefits of focusing time on your main business activities, and how it guarantees the success of your venture.

Or as Google said in their ten commandments for all hopeful start-ups, “It’s best to do one thing and do it well”.

Ask yourself, what does my product do? If the answer can’t be summed up in one line, then you’re overstretched. Speed and dynamism are the hallmarks of all great unicorn enterprises and by extending the features of a product, you only slow the process and dramatically increase the risk of failure.

Resources

As any entrepreneur will say, bringing an idea to market involves a mountain of work and requires unabashed devotion and dedication. However, that’s only in terms of bringing one idea to market. It’s insane to consider spreading- what are already pretty thin resources- across development of multiple functionalities etc. Define the scope of the product, keep it simple and stick to it.

Economies of scale

Traditionally, economies of scale are a privilege reserved for larger firms that can leverage unit costs over a sizeable production output. However, the basic principle applies to all enterprises; the more you do something, the better you become at it. By limiting what that thing is, you increase the speed at which you can do it and thus increase the speed at which you improve at it. The benefits of scaling cannot be overstated for a start-up.

Lessening the risk of failure

9/10 start-ups fail. That’s a scarily high failure rate and there are a multitude of reasons why, but largely it’s because the idea or opportunity isn’t grounded in a market need. Enterprises spend massive amounts of R&D funding developing products that quite simply aren’t sufficiently attractive. If you need to add multiple features to a product to make it attractive, it’s highly likely that the basic concept is faulty. Start-ups need to be confident that their minimum viable product has value. Increasing the amount of features only deepens the chasm of wasted capital.

How to do it?

It can be a tough process to narrow down what you considered to be a sophisticated and valuable proposition to the bare essentials. We advise that the enterprise sit down, and write out a list of their unique core competencies, and then another based on the fundamental characteristics of the market demand. The one thing that the company should focus on is what exists as an overlap between these two list; the core concept. By approaching it this way, the enterprise can minimise the risk of specialising on the wrong thing.

Plan B with a small b: The art of rethinking the business but maintaining the vision.

website@sitemodify.com (Website Editor) — Wed, 26 Feb 2020 10:13:51 GMT

The art of rethinking the business but maintaining the vision.

Bringing a concept to profit as a start-up is very similar to driving a speed boat through a storm. Things happen fast in an inherently chaotic environment, and the only rudder that the enterprise has is its dynamism. Be flexible and welcome change… cautiously.

The Pivot

Characterizing start-ups in one line is difficult, but essentially they are organisation designed to search for repeatable and scalable business models. The business plan, by its very nature requires flexibility. The initial business plan targets a particular customer segment based on market research and gut feeling. The next step should always be consumer validation.

On our list of commandments, hanging in the office is “Customer validation is not customer acquisition”. We advise start-ups to get validation of their minimum product before starting a process of customer acquisition in earnest. However entrepreneurs often get spooked with itchy feet and begin the process of customer acquisition too early, resulting in an early and damaging plateau. The golden rule is that the business must be based in customer need. Customer and market validation is important proof to the organisation that the idea has strong potential, and it enables the enterprise to identify and tweak the product accordingly.

What happens if these small changes amount to altering the product or business plan in a new direction?

Don’t be defeated by dogma. Your initial perception of what you believed to be your market/product/company will change throughout the process. Your business plan is only an educated guess as to what path your enterprise will take. If the market environment points you to a different path, change. Follow market demand. Paypal began as an encryption platform and adapted to become the world’s leading online payment service.

This is commonly referred to as the Pivot, and regularly evokes shivers down the spines of investors. In their eyes, they have invested in the vision that that the entrepreneur sold them. When that changes, the deal changes and it can cause seriously distressing tensions between the relevant parties. Be bullish and persistently flexible. If I can borrow the boat analogy again; the investors are the fuel, it’s the entrepreneurs who are the captains and it’s up to them to steer the company through to profitability.

However, this advice comes with one important caveat; keep focus of the core vision or mission of the enterprise. All the examples of the most successful pivots –flickr and paypal- illustrate that no matter what change in direction the enterprise takes, there remains a clear link with its foundation. That’s why we advise to have a Plan b, but with a small b. be open to flexibility, but not at the expense of changing the character of the organisation’s vision.

Innovation: What People Need and How To Find It

website@sitemodify.com (Website Editor) — Wed, 26 Feb 2020 10:13:49 GMT

As a marketer, business person, or artist you need to be innovative in order to stand out from the crowd, get new customers, and convince those customers to return in the future. But, what actually is innovation? It’s a word tossed around a lot but not defined very much.

What is Innovation?

In simple terms, it’s the ability to see, understand, and act on what others miss. Nick Skillicorn believes that innovation is, “turning an idea into a solution that adds value from a customer’s perspective.” Gijs Van Wulfen will tell you that innovation is, “a feasible relevant offering such as a product, service, process, or experience with a viable business model that is perceived as new, and is adopted by customers.” From these definitions we can see that innovation is something new and useful that sets you apart. Bringing it with you wherever you go means you can sketch whenever you want. This record of your work is a good motivator as you assess how your skills develop over time. So how do you become innovative? How can you find solutions for your customers that they will adopt quickly, and love you for? The key step is figuring out what your customers need and are searching for, then all you have to do is service that need.

How Do You Figure Out What People Need?

Figuring out what your customers need could be something they are already asking for or something they didn’t know they needed. It’s easier said than done. So, how do you go about doing this?

1. Talk to your customers. You can use comment cards or email follow ups to ask your customers what problems they are having that you can solve. If you run a face-to-face business, ask them directly. Develop reward systems for their feedback.

2. Get technical. You can use Google Analytics in conjunction with your website to see what search terms bring your customers to your site. You can then use those popular terms to research what else those kinds of people are searching for. Drawing conclusions based on these search terms can help you anticipate your consumers needs.

3. Observe feedback. Read comments on your website, social media, and review sites. Your customers may love you, but a few may state what would really set you apart from the competition in their eyes. Maybe many people complain about the same little things. How can you overcome those flaws in a creative way that will stay with your customers long after the interaction is over?

4. Consider other companies. Look at what the competition is doing. Perhaps there is a business or company that does the same thing you do, but they give customers a free gift when they purchase a specific product or spend a certain amount of money. Maybe they have a popular rewards program or some other value-adding customer interaction tool. Adopt a similar idea but try to find ways to increase the value. Look at the customers you deal with as a consumer. What do you really appreciate, and what do you value about working with them?

5. Know who your customers are. There are probably things you can offer your customers that they don’t even know they need. You can discover these needs by studying the people who are most likely to work with you. For example, if most of your clientele are small business owners who are just starting out, it may be a good idea to offer them resources they could find useful like an ebook or webinar.

Scriba is a revolutionary digital stylus that is ergonomically designed to comfortably fit your hand and uses unique Squeeze-Motion technology. Order here.

Hacking investment with a proof of concept

website@sitemodify.com (Website Editor) — Wed, 26 Feb 2020 10:13:44 GMT

Follow market demand, based your concept in customer need, develop a strong proof of concept, and investment will come.

Looking for investment, look for proof of concept.

The road to success for the start-up is littered with daunting challenges, the greatest being finding investment. The most common reason why start-ups fail is that they are starved of capital. They don’t have the necessary resources to continue to develop or expand, and slowly they end up either in voluntary liquidation or bankrupt. The golden rule for the wary entrepreneur; when looking for investment, show a clear proof of concept.

What is it?

POC has come to represent different things, depending on the industry. In a business and startup context, it means demonstrating to investors and the market that the concept is financially viable and that the market economics are sufficiently attractive to warrant further investment. The guidelines would be for the enterprise to clearly demonstrate that their projected revenue model, cash flows, customer acquisition and growth strategies are reasonably attainable. If they can satisfy these KPI’s, it can prove that there is actual market value.

Why is it so important?

Traditionally, start-ups share a similar journey regardless of the substance of the enterprise. They happen upon an opportunity which excites them to action. They find initial triple F investment (friends, fools, family), and they begin product development. This systematizes a cycle of inherent problems for the enterprise. Without budgeting for POC, the enterprise sinks its resources into R&D and product development, and when it comes time to look for venture capital they have no solid proof of concept.

Instead of exhausting resources on R&D and product development, all seed stage enterprises must set aside a budget for POC. Without doing this, the enterprise will struggle to build an appropriately sized following, that will sufficiently convince VC to invest.

How ?

Here a couple of guidelines for any seed stage enterprise, looking to provide a proof-of-concept;

Plan; because of the limited resources start-ups possess, they must plan ahead. Be aware of what specific metrics investors are seeking and allocate a portion of the budget accordingly. If this isn’t done on day one, the chances are the enterprise won’t have another funding opportunity to make it happen.

Growth; all the key performance indicators for proof-of-concept are based on the one fundamental metric, customer acquisition. VC’s are always looking for companies that show characteristics of exponential, viral growth. This of course is not always possible, however all start-ups must show that they have strong growth capabilities. Show that the enterprise has increased its user base monthly, and you’re on the right track.

Cost; customer acquisition can be an expensive process if the product has no in-built viral growth capabilities. Therefore, enterprises should base its marketing strategy and budget around the cost of acquisition per user. The enterprises that are most successful in getting VC backing, have low user acquisition costs and high growth characteristics.

Finding investment is a difficult process for any start-up. The chasm between proper investment and product development usually strains the enterprise to breaking point as resources and will slowly erode. Having a pre-allocated budget for proof-of-concept is fundamentally important for gaining investment. Our advice is to do it early, and align it with metrics that investors will later judge the value of your enterprise on.

They Draw and Travel

website@sitemodify.com (Website Editor) — Mon, 24 Feb 2020 17:39:15 GMT

From the team that brought you They Draw and Cook — the world’s largest online collection of illustrated recipe cards — comes They Draw and Travel an equally funky collection of maps.

The passion for food so colourfully and beautifully demonstrated by artists in TDAC prompted sibling founders Nate Padavick and Salli Swindell to initiate the TDAT project when they realised that “artists have similar passion for their favourite places to live and visit”.

If Google maps shows you the way, TDAT shows you the experience. Crowd sourced from travellers, this collection of maps-as-postcards offers a unique and personal view of locations all around the world. What inspires the traveller goes on to inspire visitors to the website.

All of the maps — of which there are currently 650 — can be purchased as prints with 50% of net royalties going to the artist … so you can help support their next journey!

They Draw and Cook

website@sitemodify.com (Website Editor) — Mon, 24 Feb 2020 17:39:02 GMT

The website that's a feast for the eyes, as well as the belly.

Featuring an eye-popping, mouth-watering smorgasbord of tastefully-illustrated recipe cards They Draw and Cook is the illustration equivalent of TV’s cooking-as-entertainment phenomenon.

This is a fun website crowdsourced with wonderfully eclectic imagery from all over the world that will inspire you to draw as much as to cook … and if you are not so skilled in either then it will at least give you an (animate your) appetite.

TDAC was created by sibling illustrator-designers Nate Padavick and Salli Swindell around an idea to create a recipe book for friends, family and clients of their design business. Six years later it is is the world’s largest collection of illustrated recipes.

With consistent promotion through blogging and social media to an ever-expanding audience, and publication of many of the recipes in hard copy (for which royalties are paid to the artists) TDAC offers a unique online exhibition space for professional or hobbyist illustrators.

New Paragraph

Six Lessons From Top Designers

david@dublindesignstudio.com (David Craig) — Wed, 19 Feb 2020 16:40:51 GMT

Tips & Tricks from designers in some of the worlds established studios.

IMAGE BY BRAYDEN WARD | EMMA SLAVIN-HALL

Learning from the experience of top designers offers insights and advice for the design world and hopefully helps improve our process and learn from their mistakes. Have you ever wondered who designed your favourite advert? Who designed that inspiring building that you walk past every day? Or why your computer or phone looks and operates the way it does?

While the aesthetics and functionality of digital content, manufactured objects or our built environment may seem somewhat simple and perhaps obvious, the process is not that simple. Behind every design is a team of designers, engineers, and creatives working hard to make it all seem effortless.

Teams of designers vary in type and size, from corporate size to startups, however in most successful projects there tends to be a lead designer or visionary who ‘owns the baby’ and drives the process forward. The lead designer role is one that requires experience, both domain and design experience with the ability to assimilate the contributions of others to realise a project and importantly the ability to say “no” as much as “yes”. Check out our article on Feature-Creep to see what we mean.

Where does that experience come from? First let's start from the beginning, where fresh-faced designers set out on their careers.

Lesson 1: Creativity is a process, it’s a journey - just don’t focus on the destination.

Many young designers are taught the traditional meaning of design - often taught at degree level within a particular creative field. However, during and after studying many students work as interns in studio environments. Working upwards from intern to; junior, mid-weight, to senior designer.

“Don’t assume other people are thinking deeply about your career, your contributions, or your role on a project. It’s great to have mentors, collaborative colleagues, and an awesome boss, but even if you have those things you need to take charge of your work, your day and your career” (Dan Viens, Creative Director @ Wieden + Kennedy).

Lesson 2: Feedback and collaboration are key to success, always be learning - but don’t try to make it

on your own.

Highlight, learn and find collaboration within your project. This is a lesson all designers discover from a working environment, either within a studio or freelance. Collaboration requires the connection and action of working with someone/a group to complete a task, project or job. By using research and applying it elsewhere, designers outline the appropriate collaborators to work, taking into consideration the working brief. There is no intention of leaning towards a particular field or designer, without research, as both parties can learn from one another. Merging thinking and workflow, collaboration across disciplines can explore unknown territories. Nobody in design can pilot and judge their work successfully, for this reason, designers often participate in critiques about their work. Critiques offer valuable insights and interact with other designers delivering feedback.

“…either you get off the high horse or you are thrown off the horse” (Jerry Lorenzo, Founder @ Fear of God). Acknowledge the acceptance of change, permitted by specialists, feedback provides information that simply can't be seen from one’s view.

Collaboration for sure encompasses the idea of the unknown. How will you know it will work? Who to collaborate with? When to contribute to the workload? These are some questions designers ask before collaborating with someone. There is no control where your creativity will take you, but partnerships should agree to (some) terms and conditions before any work takes place. Make it clear what you expect or what you can contribute.

Lesson 3: Making a process that fits you, this takes time.

Read our previous post on The Creative Process, this explains why developing a process matters in design. There is an underlying process at all levels in design and all of these adhere to a process that adapts to them. Within a studio, there are many jobs, roles, and opportunities happening at any one stage. Staying on top of all these tasks and deadlines, whilst developing a process, will give you the framework to better understand your strengths and weaknesses.

Design can at times be broad, narrow and wild. “Designers are not limited to problems but find and formulate problems within the broader context of the brief” (Nigel Cross, Design researcher, and educator).

Lesson 4: Seek inspiration from unexpected places.

Designers are go-getters; thinkers, educators, inventors, creators - the possibilities are endless. Anything can be possible with the right intentions. Explore innovative solutions, experiment with wild ideas and infiltrate knowledge across disciplines. If an idea involves fashion and you’re educated as an architect, take the dive and see what happens. Make it possible, see what can happen. See lesson 2 (above), feedback and collaboration are key to success.

For example, collaborate with a fashion designer on your idea, seek and find an expert/specialist, become familiar with the tools, cycle, and nature of a fashion designers process (start to finish). A place of unfamiliar territory, the unknown. This can infuse and push ideas on a scale intensively, seek inspiration and develop your skills.

IMAGE BY BRAYDEN WARD | EMMA SLAVIN-HALL

Lesson 5: Master your tasks as a multidisciplinary .

Multiple jobs, ideas or project life cycles, being a master of your tasks can improve the effectiveness of your time management. From the designer, infiltrator to collaborator, work can dawn on us. Keeping track of your tasks can find space and time for your intriguing ideas. Being a ‘multidisciplinarian’ isn’t just having the ability to keep on top of jobs and tasks, it’s also translating judgment into a physical and psychical sense of experimentation. Making room for what could happen.

Research suggests that practitioners follow set rules from models in their assessments; whereas established designers find room and time to infiltrate ideas across disciplines within their own process (lesson 3). Emerging that designer is bigger than the latter elements of the very process. Design to your intentions and become multidisciplinary (research).

It’s common practice that design projects start with a brief. This brief outlines problems within areas of interest, clients’ requirements, budget, and timeframe. For any designer, it is hard to step away from thinking of solutions, at first. Research initially becomes the first job of any designer, understanding issues that the client may be facing. This research is key and can create excitement for the possibilities ahead, while fully investing and justify problems that are presented to you. Although it’s best to practice to step away from the assumptions and interpretations letting research guide you.

Lesson 6: Love the problem not the solution.

From client-to-brief and brief-to-designer, all parties look for something to develop upon. Designers understand this repetitive cycle of the working brief, the pinnacle starting point. Designers start from scratch in terms of thinking for each brief. Although creative behaviour learns to love the problem and find applicable solutions later, it applies applicable thoughts for the client’s intentions. Take the necessary risks to further your learning.

Written BRAYDEN WARD

Illustrated by BRAYDEN WARD | EMMA SLAVIN-HALL

Edited EMMA SLAVIN-HALL | DAVID CRAIG

A Basic Formula for Design

Wed, 19 Feb 2020 16:33:24 GMT

Understanding The Creative Process

IMAGE BY BRAYDEN WARD

Have you ever attempted to follow a set of assembly instructions, but find yourself throwing them to the floor before continuing anyway, fumbling along with a frustrating sense of purpose? Although the assembly continues, those who do so, are intrigued, interested, non-conforming, courageous, independent, or self-centered. Fear not, designers do this too, advocating around personality. This helps drive ideas and opinions, just like human behaviour affects the way you read boring instructions.

If that is the case, can logic and thinking give us a greater purpose than following set instructions? Activists, street performers, designers all face the same kind of challenges, prompting human behaviour. However, we need to ask the question, does behaviour happen when designing within a business? Do studios adhere to theological models? And if this is the case, what does the process look like?

First, let's start from the beginning, understanding the designer’s role. Design umbrellas many disciplines. Its true designers juggle with many roles on top of creativity, some include taking on research, reporter, creator, inventor, entrepreneur, etc.

These roles help shape and determine the very nature of the designer we become. While on the surface most studios and agencies seem to focus on some roles more than others, don't be fooled, in some way or another they will experience these duties.

For instance, architects will draw, plan and review designs for the construction of buildings, while during the process of the project a designer may be tasked with the research of new building requirements, plan site reviews, assist with engineering challenges, employ suitable services, source information for prototypes, etc.

Now that the role of a designer is clear, let's now take a look at the process of design. Out of all the models available, we have chosen the Double Diamond. Developed by the British Design Council, it has been educated from twenty-five different processes. The diagram is shaped to indicate the confirmation of a problem (brief) to define the solution.

Image British Design Council

These hold four core values - Discover, Define, Develop, and Deliver. The tool can market a designer, but understanding the main feature is paramount. Divergent and convergent thinking. Regardless of how the process plays out in the workplace, it helps investigate projects further and of course, attracts systematic methods. For agencies, marketing your process is a no brainer for more clients.

Even though this systematic approach seems rigid, it is not. Creatives manipulate the model to better suit their workflow or the studio’s workflow. Something that is structured but still works well when adapted and changed. Beauty in change.

Whether a junior, senior or established designer, it is clear that the roles and stages of design can simultaneously change subject to the requirements of the brief. These insightful selectiveness, through structure playing in the designers’ favour. Of course, this is for the better. As a pick and mix, designers unconsciously choose stages of the process.

In fact, it seems like for any individual, team, project, company or problem - the process holds immense value and is ever important for developing forward. This is why we have developed A Basic Formula For Design. We’ve injected a sense of self-belief, a design that designers can make their own.

Process is important, but sometimes it gets in the way without you knowing it. One way to recognise this is simply designing around problems the easier way. Designers need to make the problem more personal and contextual.

Renown designer Wim Crowel said that “of course design is about problem-solving, but I cannot resist adding something personal”.

Just as a building design starts with a foundation, all designers start with a brief. This brief identifies one common stage in the process - creatives stick to parts of the brief (following the double diamond) but later deviate from other parts.

IMAGE BY BRAYDEN WARD | EMMA SLAVIN-HALL

A Basic Formula For Design: regard it as the holy grail or not, this process fits across all disciplines and opens up space in life. Why? Because designers almost always take what they do at work, home with them either physically or mentally. Realising the potential of life experience, activities and hobbies outside of work.

This process is traditionally taught in schools across the globe, embracing a force of habit to the designer’s workflow. The ‘formula’ at its core underpins a project from onset-to-output. For better or for worse, creatives have to question the requirements of the working brief; What is possible? Are there any boundaries? What is the budget? It’s like a mathematical equation, but resolve the main points and you have the foundation of your project.

Yet, designers don't fully adhere to a creative process. Today many designers, if not all, integrate research before any creativity takes place. In due course, reflecting the formula, designers can change the process to fit beneficially for the brief.

During the process of design, it can seem uncertain. Influencing the framework of a designer. These affect internal and external sources, in work and in life. However, A Basic Formula For Design ensures that all aspects of design are included, whether things are subject to change. This could be any number of things; The client requests a change, the timeframe pushes the initial research forward, budget limits the number of prototypes, etc.

This offers up evidence of what is missing from previous models in design. While reasoning why you (designers) might deviate from stages of the process for other projects. The pinnacle for understanding life and real-life scenarios and how it can affect the process.

Don't be put off by the reductions in choice, we see this as adding value rather than taking away. The Formula works hand-in-hand with the designer leaning towards change, offering more possibilities. A space to do more, a space to learn and a space to match real-life complexities.

Zig against the zag, design to the problem and away from ambiguity. List, tick and specify what seems correct for the working brief. Let the unknown intrigue you, just like you did when reading those boring instructions. Question everything. The journey between the client-and-brief to brief-and-designer surrounds an entire atmosphere of information (make it easier and use a formula that works for you). We hope this strikes a level of nostalgia and understanding for why you work the way you do, or why the studio operates the way it does.

Written BRAYDEN WARD

Illustrated by BRAYDEN WARD | EMMA SLAVIN-HALL

Edited EMMA SLAVIN-HALL | DAVID CRAIG

Four Tools To Make You A Better Product Designer

website@sitemodify.com (Website Editor) — Wed, 19 Feb 2020 13:17:51 GMT

Everyone’s work is deeply idiosyncratic: in our regular Spotlight segment we explore artists’ experiences and inspiration to understand what defines and inspires their unique styles.

FormBox

The FormBox is an innovative product that allows you to create 3D items instantly. It is incredibly simple, allowing you to focus on product design and not product production. The steps are simple. You choose a material to build with it and place it into the FormBox unit. Once the material is warmed up, you can cover the object in the material and turn the vacuum on. The vacuum will suck out the air, molding your material to the shape you want. This amazing product helps you create designs or molds as you like. It fits on your desktop and uses your own personal vacuum. If you can think of it you can copy it, mold it, and print it. The Mayku Library allows you to show off your designs online and get inspiration from other FormBox users.

Autodesk Fusion 360

The Fusion 360 is the first tool of its kind. It allows you to connect your product development prices over a single, easy to use cloud-based platform. You can design, test, and build your product with a single artistic design tool. The cloud allows you to collaborate and work from anywhere you like, and on almost any device Mac or PC. Create organic shapes and direct solid, mesh, and parametric modeling. This 3D CAD, CAM, and CAE platform let’s you seamlessly bring together industrial and mechanical designing, testing, collaborating, and producing all in one.

GlowForge

This innovating laser printer allows you to design and print materials for minimal cost, at the push of a button. Create hardwood skins for your Macbook, dual gatling drones, a custom leather satchel, artwork, engraved jars etc. if you can imagine it, you can print it with Glowforge. The Glowforge cuts, engraves, and shapes whatever you like out of a wide array of materials using a single beam of light as thin as a human hair. Become a better product designer knowing there are almost no limitations to what you can create. You can cut and engrave directly on your prototype, use the camera to align and view the product before you hit print, and use the 3D autofocus feature. You don’t have to learn to use new software or tools because the Glowforge works with Photoshop, any camera JPG, Illustrator, or CA softwares.

Arduino

Arduino is a prototyping platform that works with simple and intuitive hardware and software. The Arduino boards were built to interpret an input and turn it into an output. Examples include:

- Turning light on a sensor to activating a motor

- Turning pushing a button into turning on an LED

- Turning a Twitter message into publishing something online

You can program the board to accept instructions and react accordingly. It acts as the brain to your product, allowing you to streamline your creative product design process. It was meant as a easy-to-use prototyping school for students who are stronger in design than they are in electronics and programming. Since then it has evolved to be a sophisticated tool for designers of all skill levels.

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Edward DeBono’s “Six Thinking Hats”

website@sitemodify.com (Website Editor) — Wed, 19 Feb 2020 13:17:38 GMT

Edward DeBono’s “Six Thinking Hats” offers a framework for exploring new ideas, developing existing ideas or finding solutions to a problem.

The framework is based on the premise:

that we think in a variety of ways and
that by thinking in different ways about a topic we can explore multiple aspects of it and
potentially become better informed about that topic.

With greater perspective, we should be able to make better, more informed decisions and draw more informed conclusions.

A 6 Hats Thinking session is normally run as a facilitated group exercise in a relaxed environment with a goal of developing an idea or making a decision.

Thinking is isolated into six modes and each mode is attributed a colour—or coloured hat as a metaphor as follows:

Blue hat thinking represents organisation and goal setting.
Green hat thinking represents curiosity and creative thinking.
Red hat thinking represents feelings, instincts and emotional thinking.
Yellow hat thinking represents optimistic and positive thinking and is about identifying benefits
White hat thinking refers to clear information and facts.
Black hat thinking represents discerning, logical or critical thinking.

During a session, a limited time is allocated to exploring and discussing a topic or idea under each of the modes of thinking. Actual hats, or other appropriately coloured props if available are often used as a visual cue.

Hats may be used in a variety of sequences depending on the goals of the session. Blue is often used first in order to organise the session, establish the goals, set out the ground rules and determine the sequence.

All participants must ‘wear’ the same coloured hat at the same time i.e. during the time allocated to ‘red-hat thinking’ participants may only discuss the topic in relation to how they feel about it and how it affects them emotionally.

During ‘yellow hat thinking’, participants may only talk about how an idea or project can be moved forward and progressed, and may not talk about any negatives or pitfalls until the black hat is produced.

The facts-based, critical or negative thinking hats are reserved for the end of the session

(i) so that there is the greatest opportunity to express and explore ideas positively beforehand and (ii) in order to focus on converging, reining in ideas and narrow them down so the goals of the

meeting can be achieved.

Benefits of the Six Thinking Hats Process

Everyone is encouraged to participate.
It provides a goal-based, progressive structure for brainstorming.
It challenges participants to think from a variety of perspectives and to identify ‘all angles’ of an issue.
The structure and ground-rules help reduce some of the psychological constraints and hang-ups people have about ideating in a group—especially in relation to emotional thinking.
It encourages people to think constructively rather than critically when constructive thinking is required. ...to defer judgement until a later stage...
The goal with this process is to be constantly productive, to be constantly adding information.
It can be lots of fun—especially if these and other props are introduced helps keep an atmosphere relaxed. A relaxed atmosphere in turn promotes creative thinking.

As with many group related events, a session will work best with a good facilitator who makes all participants feel comfortable.

Brainstorming: The Benefits and Drawbacks

website@sitemodify.com (Website Editor) — Wed, 19 Feb 2020 13:17:22 GMT

An examination of the benefits and drawbacks of brainstorming as a means of idea generation.

New, innovative, and constructive ideas are important for the success of every organisation. A mong the numerous exercises for generating ideas is, most notably, brainstorming. Typically, brainstorming is a facilitated group exercise that focuses on coming up with ideas, selecting what are perceived to be the best of those ideas, and then developing the ideas into a concept, campaign, event, or product. In bringing together a diverse group of people with a variety of experiences and a common goal, brainstorming might seem like a productive operation. However, evidence of its success in producing quality ideas suggests otherwise, because what is required from brainstorming is at odds with many of the dynamics that govern the behaviour of a group. Bringing a group together, regardless of its intention, is far more likely to encourage, first and foremost, group behaviours. These include conformity, social loafing, and competition. Conditions that have the potential to result in paranoia, shyness, and fear of being evaluated rather than promoting the relaxed informal environment necessary for encouraging creativity and innovative thinking. Consensus becomes a favoured outcome, and the larger the group the greater the propensity for groupthink.

Brainstorming can be productive when the exercise or desired outcomes are, in effect, constrained:

- When goals are few and very clear, when groups are smaller and more intimate, when individuals are more comfortable with each other, and are not striving for consensus.

- When ideas that have already been chosen for development through a more creative process, possibly in a series of one-to-one scenarios, are to be explored in a specific, expert, or technical way.

- When tactics for manufacturing dissent are employed by the facilitator to break groupthink in a case where key decisions are to be made.

- When people who may have been inspired during a session, but are unwilling to share their thoughts, can be de-briefed post hoc by a facilitator.

- When the session is treated primarily as a motivational exercise, so that any innovative ideas that emerge are a bonus.

Tapping into the rich resources and capabilities of the individuals in an organisation is crucial for motivating and getting the most out of people, as well as for the success of a smart organisation. An organisational structure with clearly open lines of communication that encourages people to express themselves, while also incorporating a means for seeking out, encouraging, and acting on feedback goes a long way to achieving this. While brainstorming sessions are no longer in the greatest favour, they are still a valuable vehicle for bringing people together and that has many benefits for any organisation. Our advice is to complement any brainstorming sessions with defined structures and processes in order to maximise effectiveness and efficiency.

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Artist Spotlight: Burton Durand

website@sitemodify.com (Website Editor) — Sun, 17 Nov 2019 22:23:16 GMT

Everyone’s work is deeply idiosyncratic: in our regular Spotlight segment we explore artists’ experiences and inspiration to understand what defines and inspires their unique styles.

Can you give us a brief background on yourself?

I distinctly remember that the start of my artistic path was when, in Elementary School, a friend showed me how to draw Sonic the Hedgehog during class. From then I branched out to Mario, GI Joe, Ninja Turtles and all the other characters kids in the 90s were obsessed with. Then I took that artistic passion and channeled it into Graphic Design in college. I earned a BFA degree in Visual Communication / Graphic Design at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, but I went above and beyond by taking additional drawing and animation classes. Since graduation, I’ve worked in Lafayette as a designer and art director at a couple of nice ad agencies. I’ve been with BBR Creative for seven years now as Senior Art Director and do a lot of freelance illustration on the side. I’ve done illustration work for Time Out New York, Dirty Coast Press, Dollar Shave Club, Cane River Pecans and a slew of other clients, both near and far. I also did a silly webcomic for three years called Horse_eComics, which were strips based on the now-defunct Twitter

spambot Horse_eBook’s tweets.

What kind of influence does your location have on your career?

Lafayette has a good crew of artists who collaborate and hang out often, sharing ideas and inspiration. I’ve been part of a local Drink & Draw group for over 12 years now. We meet every Wednesday to sketch and joke around. There’s always some fun illustration project that comes my way locally. While they may not always be big budget, they do allow for quite a bit of creativity.

What is your process like when combining traditional and digital methods?

These days my process for illustration is usually a sketch on paper (for more elaborate works) and then scanning and inking/coloring digitally. It’s good to think out the composition and elements before jumping onto the computer. Ideally, I have 90% of the piece figured out before scanning the art. Then I fire up the stylus. If the project is a quick one, however, I usually do a digital sketch and then work over that layer directly. I’ve gotten more and more used to working that way, as it does save the time of starting on paper and converting to digital.

Could you pick one piece of art that has made a lasting influence on you, and if so why?

I’m going to zag a little on this question and consider the one piece of art the entire Calvin and Hobbes comic collection. I’ve read and reread all of the comics since I was young and they’re just so amazingly creative, thoughtful and powerful. I always try to instill some clever elements or a bit of humor into all of my illustrations. I figure where I lack in technical ability maybe I can make up a little of that slack with a cool idea or creative solution.

What skills or techniques are you working to try and improve at the moment?

I’m comfortable adapting to several different art styles, but my goal is to keep expanding my arsenal of looks and techniques. As an art director I need to adapt to any number of clients and brands, different moods and palettes, so it’s good to be flexible. I plan to keep exploring different media, be it digital brushes or combinations of traditional and non-traditional art.

Can you give our readers a tip or trick you have come across that has made your work a lot easier?

Definitely explore digital brush packs. There are plenty online for free and for sale, and they’ll greatly expand your capabilities. My digital art game changed forever when I discovered Kyle Webster’s brush packs a few years ago. I’ve bought just about every set he’s put out since then!

How can people who are interested in discovering more of your work find it?

I’m always posting fun stuff on Instagram and have made so many good friends through Twitter over the years. My goal is to soon make www.burtondurand.com an illustration portfolio site instead of just linking to my Tumblr page.

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Thinking inside the lines: creating a simple masterpiece

website@sitemodify.com (Website Editor) — Sun, 17 Nov 2019 22:23:14 GMT

It’s a myth that beautiful art has to be complicated or complex. You don’t need to spend weeks or months on a piece for it to be a masterpiece. In fact, some of the most creative and amazing pieces of art ever created were simple. They did not use innovative or out-of-the-ordinary techniques, but followed the rules of art and were simply beautiful. They evoke thoughts and feelings that go beyond the canvas and draw the attention and eyes of the viewer. All the following paintings are more than the sum of their parts and do not rely on complexity or innovation to make them unique and beloved.

The Mona Lisa

Widely considered the most famous and beloved painting of all time, this painting is incredibly simple, yet a complete masterpiece. It depicts a woman sitting and smiling softly. It was painted by Leonardo Da Vinci in the early 1500s. It is not done in a wildly experimental style and doesn’t tell a complex story.

Girl With a Pearl Earring

This painting by Johannes Vermeer is similar to the Mona Lisa in that it is a simply painted portrait of a young woman. At first glance there is little extraordinary about it. But it is hard to deny it’s a masterpiece. The colours and command of shadow and texture are masterful and only enhance the beauty of the subject.

American Gothic

This iconic piece of American art shows a farmer and his daughter standing in front of their home. It is a simple painting, many people even think it’s dull. However, it is a masterpiece as it plainly and calmly symbolizes The Great Depression in America in the early 1900s.

Royal Red and Blue

This painting by Mark Rothko is simply made up of red and blue squares painted on a canvas. It is abstract art that seems painfully simple at first, with no apparent subject or meaning but this abstract expressionist painting sold for over $75 million in 2012. It is absolute proof that a masterpiece can be simple.

Composition With Grid 8

This painting by Piet Mondrian follows in line with most of his work. He often paints with geometric shapes, neatly tessellated or aligned, and bright blocks of solid colour. His paintings are definition of “painting inside the lines” as they maintain rigid order throughout. Despite, or maybe because of this rigidity, his paintings are some of the most loved contemporary abstract art in the world.

All of these masterpieces have become historically significant and beloved works of art. In addition to the place they hold in our hearts, they follow the simple rules of art involving lines, shapes, colours, textures, and shadow. If you learn these techniques, practice and use them, you can create your own simple masterpieces as well. Masterpieces are not forced and overly planned in most instances. The creativity should flow from unique inspiration and love of the art. If you can balance artistic appreciation and creative expression, you don’t need to find a way to be shocking or complex to create a masterpiece.

Stress release: how drawing can calm nerves

website@sitemodify.com (Website Editor) — Sun, 17 Nov 2019 22:23:12 GMT

It seems as though no matter what we do, stress is a part of our everyday lives. While juggling all the different areas of our day to day existence - family, work, friends, relationships, money - we find ourselves stressed out, so we snap at people, overeat, oversleep and do lots of other things that are just plain bad for us. But there is something simple and inexpensive you can do for 30 minutes every day to help minimize your stress levels and that is… to draw! Don’t believe us? Let’s go over some of the ways drawing and sketching can work for stress relief.

A Matter of the Heart

Studies have proven that the repetitive motions that come with sketching can help soothe and synchronize various parts of your body, like your hands and eyes. This synchronicity leads to what is called the relaxation response, which can cause:

Decreased blood pressure
Slower heart rate
Lower pulse rate

If you’ve ever been extremely stressed, you remember the rushing thoughts, pounding heartbeat, sweaty palms, and the feeling like you can hardly breathe. The relaxation response addresses all of these stress related symptoms, almost like hypnosis.

The Gift of the Present

Being stressed out usually comes from worrying about things we can’t control; either things that have passed or things that lie ahead. We worry so much about these things we feel trapped by the inability to do something to change the things we want to change. A lot of what calms stress is the ability to be in the present and not let the past or the future infringe too much upon your life.

With drawing, you remain focused on the task at hand. We connect with our sense of sight heavily, blocking almost everything else out. We are hyper focused on shading, texture, shape, colour and are able to let go of the things we are worrying about.

Solving a New Problem

When we stress and worry about things beyond our control, we consistently feel like we are failing to solve a problem. With drawing, you have a singular picture in mind that you are working to create. As that picture comes together, you feel accomplishment. This sense of worth and productivity can help soothe the potential feeling that you are not accomplishing the things you desire.

Not only that, but much of drawing is about perspective. How can you look at the subject to achieve the desired look? How can you shade it to achieve the desired tone? What colour schemes should you use to achieve the desired mood? These problem solving challenges can transfer to other areas of your life. “Translating a problem into visual form or creating a visual analogue is a powerful way to reframe it and to see it in a new light. Creating an analogue can also help us visualize solutions.”

Work at Playing

We learn to draw from when we are very young. Most of kindergarten is spent drawing and colouring after all. Our culture associates drawing with a youthful time of expressing oneself through art. Kids use drawing to understand their world, to learn about shapes and colours and to filter everyday stimuli into images they can understand, not to mention working on fine motor skills.

By reconnecting with this youthful activity, you may be able to reconnect with your inner child. You relax your mind and let your imagination run wild while drawing, which can help relieve stress in ways you never thought possible.

Artist Spotlight: Jeremy Fenske

website@sitemodify.com (Website Editor) — Sun, 17 Nov 2019 22:23:11 GMT

Everyone’s work is deeply idiosyncratic: in our regular Spotlight segment we explore artists’ experiences and inspiration to understand what defines and inspires their unique styles.

Can you give us a brief background on yourself?

I'm originally from Cleveland Ohio and for as long as I can remember I've always been drawing, painting, and creating art. In 2009, I graduated from Columbus College of Art and Design as a Fine Arts major. It was during my senior year in college when I started to create my concept art portfolio and landed my first job with Zenimax/Bethesda a month after graduation. There I worked on the 'Elder Scrolls Online' for 6 years throughout its production. In 2015, I left Zenimax to go work with High Moon Studios in San Diego on 'Destiny' and that is where I am today.

What kind of influence does your location have on your career?

As a professional working in the gaming industry a lot of industry gatherings and studios are located in Southern California. Being closer to these events and studios brings me closer to my industry, and keeps me involved in it, while also opening up new opportunities that distance has kept me from. But, with the way the internet has changed things it is less important to live in the bigger cities to gain clients and work. Now you don't have to leave home to make people aware of who you are.

What is your greatest source of inspiration?

For me the real world is far more inspirational than anything else. There is nothing more beautiful, more strange, and more well designed than what occurs in nature. Every great visual design, original creature, and invented world ever created was in some way inspired by our own world.

Could you pick one piece of art that has made a lasting influence on you, and if so why?

There is a piece by Peder Mønsted called "Sleigh ride on a sunny winter day" that has been a great source of inspiration. Nothing sentimental, but rather an embodiment of what it means to be a great landscape painter. The understanding of how light reflects off the snow and trees shows a perfect balance of how physical light behaves and can convey an emotional image.

What skills or techniques do you find most useful in your line of work? Do you use primarily traditional or digital methods to create your artwork?

For me the most important skills to understand are the basic fundamentals such as; light, color, design, composition, anatomy, etc. As a concept artist it is important to be able to make an image that shows what the final product should look like and help sell interesting new ideas in a fully realized manner. I need to be able to make something imaginary look and feel real to people who don't understand the process or to inspire a development team to make something amazing. I mainly use digital media for creating work especially for my day job. At home I use both digital and traditional, I enjoy working with oil, gouache, and watercolor for painting plain air outside. Digital media cannot replace the feeling of a brush on canvas and its a feeling I need to have from time to time.

How can people who are interested in discovering more of your work find it?

I'm on all the social medias!

Blog: jairworks.blogspot.com

instagram, twitter and tumblr

email: jeremyfenskeart@gmail.com

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Artist Spotlight: David Airey

website@sitemodify.com (Website Editor) — Sun, 17 Nov 2019 22:23:10 GMT

Everyone’s work is deeply idiosyncratic: in our regular Spotlight segment we explore artists’ experiences and inspiration to understand what defines and inspires their unique styles.

Can you give us a brief background on yourself?

I was always fond of art classes in school. That led me to spending four years at college studying art and design before moving from Bangor, Northern Ireland, to Edinburgh, Scotland, where I got my degree in graphic communications management. Following an internship in the States, a post-grad diploma in Belfast, and some work experience as a designer for an Edinburgh-based cancer charity, I decided to take up self-employment specialising in brand identity work (what I most enjoyed). That was back in 2005, and since then things have gone very well. I still have a lot to learn, though.

What kind of influence does your location have on your career?

Working from home, as I have done since 2005, means my commute is a few seconds rather than an hour or so each day. Add it up and that’s about 20 hours extra every month to spend with family, to spend outdoors, reading, relaxing, but also extra time to focus on doing the work I’m paid to do. So you could say my life’s more balanced, and clients benefit, too.

What is your greatest source of inspiration?

Reminding myself of how fortunate I’ve been growing up in a settled, loving family, always sheltered, fed, and clothed. I’ve seen a lot of people living on the streets or in tents, through no fault of their own — people who’d give almost anything to be in my situation. I hope I never take for granted that I spend a lot of my time in a job I love.

Could you pick one piece of art that has made a lasting influence on you, and if so why?

I can’t. Art has an influence on me, but it’s more of a continual appreciation when I see something new rather than remembering just one piece above the rest.

What skills or techniques do you find most useful in your line of work? Do you use primarily traditional or digital methods to create your artwork?

Curiosity — the ability to get interested in the work I’m doing, and to retain that interest throughout the course of a project, is the biggest factor in the success of my designs. I’ll always have a pen and paper at hand, and I’ll use them before a computer. I just find it easier to record ideas when sketching. But when it comes to a polished presentation using a computer obviously makes all the difference.

Can you give our readers a tip or trick you have come across that you have come across that has made your work a lot easier?

Let your clients do the talking. If you ask the right questions and if you listen for long enough they’ll tell you everything you need to know to get the job done.

How can people who are interested in discovering more of your work find it?

www.davidairey.co.uk

www.logodesignlove.com

www.identitydesigned.com

David’s branding book, Logo Design Love , is also available on Amazon.

Scriba is a revolutionary digital stylus that is ergonomically designed to comfortably fit your hand and uses unique Squeeze-Motion technology. Order here.

From Past to Present: 30 Fashion Trends that have Survived the Past 50 Years

Sun, 17 Nov 2019 22:23:04 GMT

One of the main aspects of fashion design is that trends and fads come and go. Decades can be represented visually by clothing alone and they play a huge role in what society is thinking and feeling. But there are certain design trends that have stood the test of time and remained staples of fashion.

1. Mens wear

Brought onto the scene by actresses like Katherine Hepburn; sleek pants and masculine shirts were approved by Hollywood, allowing women to finally be comfy and stylish.

2. Diamonds

While always popular, diamond earrings surged in popularity in the 1920s - influenced by art deco. Women wore a variety of styles - from studs to chandeliers that still prevail today.

3. Little Black Dress

The LBD was an instant hit when Coco Chanel first debuted it in 1926. Up until then black was reserved for mourners. But with the Depression women found it was easy and cheap to make.

4. Pencil Skirts

Developed by Dior and brought to our televisions by Jackie Kennedy, the pencil skirt flatters all body shapes.

5. Lace

A timeless touch. Once seen as old fashioned but can be sexy or sweet.

6. Trench Coat

Lightweight but waterproof, the trench coat makes the perfect outerwear.

7. Platform shoes

Developed in the 40s, they were given a boost in the 70s with extreme heights. We have lowered them since, but still use them to achieve sexy new heights.

8. Mini skirt

A British trend from Mary Quant; minis reflect the rebellious and sexy spirit of the 60s.

9. White sneakers

They aren’t just for running, but perfect for everyday. They go with cropped slacks, mini skirts, almost anything you can think of.

10. Silk scarves

Fashionable since the 1800s and a staple of 70s fashion. Silk scarves of varying colours and patterns can be worn a multitude of ways that evoke a modern or retro look.

11.Jeans

Calvin Klein and other designers transformed jeans from work-wear to perhaps everyone’s favourite chic wardrobe staple.

12. Minimalism

This trend came about in the early 90s as next step from the neon and lycra in the 80s and insane patterns of the 60s and 70s.

13. Turtleneck

Slimming black ones were popularized by Marilyn Monroe, Audrey Hepburn and other starlets of the time, creating a chic and bohemian feel.

14. Pearl Earrings

Pearls have always been coveted and a simple pearl earring is perhaps the most timeless jewellery look.

15. Fashion sunglasses

They were hugely popular in the 40s and the right pair made you look like a glamorous movie star with something to hide. We still love them today.

16. Bateau shirt

Popular with intellectuals, actors and artists of the 20th century, they are nautically inspired and provide a sense of timelessness and modernity to any outfit.

17. Red lipstick

There’s nothing like set of bold red lips to add sex appeal and femininity. Nudes, berries and bright colours go in and out of vogue but a red lip will always be fashionable.

18. Mods

This smooth sophisticated trend involves streamlined suits, solid colours and was popularized by Brit pop icons like The Jam.

19. Punk

In the 70s the scruffy, dirty reckless, anarchistic look was inspired by economic, social and political conflict. It’s not as popular today, but elements from the style still prevail.

20. Denim jacket

A good denim jacket can be dressed up or down, is extremely functional and is a standard of daywear looks.

21. Animal Prints

Tacky if overdone, animal print patterns are neutral and seasonless but add edge. They’re best for accessories so they don’t swallow you.

22. Leather jacket

From bikers to greasers to grunge, the leather jacket has been adopted by numerous fashion sub cultures due to its edge and versatility.

23. Florals

Flowers have always been a symbol of women and femininity. Thankfully it never goes out of style due to the infinite number of interpretations and styles.

24. Military

Starting with WW2, wearing military inspired garb can be a symbol of protest or support. The US-issue green and boxy shapes can be functional and androgynous.

25. Pointy toe heels

One of the most classic heel styles, they are more sophisticated and eye grabbing than rounder toes.

26. Leather (or faux) pants

Leather pants add texture, sex appeal and edge. They are versatile in that they can be casual or dressed up.

27. Chambray button downs

A classic piece that’s extremely popular right now, the chambray top is perfect for casual wear - it layers easily and is a staple menswear item.

28. Moto details

Adding an extra zipper, some leather or parallel seams add an element of biker chick without overdoing it.

29. Chiffon Blouse

Timeless, functional, breezy and easy to wear with anything.

30. Clutch Purse

Popular as long as purses are, a clutch is small and unassuming, held in the hands so you always know where it is.

4 Ways to Improve Your Creative Inspiration

Sun, 17 Nov 2019 22:23:02 GMT

Creativity can be evasive and hard to find in the best of times. However, despite this we all have the ability to be creative, sometimes it just takes some coaxing out. Below are 4 tips to releasing your creativity and improving your inspiration.

1. Find your muse

A muse can be anything you draw inspiration from. In order to be reliably creative, you need to have a clear idea of what your muse is. This can be nature, a person, music, a memory, anything that inspires you. As long as you know what it is, you can draw from it on demand. Be aware of what gives you an idea or that push into being creative.

2. Surround yourself with greatness

Excellence observes excellence. Many of the most celebrated artists have taken inspiration and guidance from people they would have considered to be one of the greats. For instance, Claude Monet’s Le déjeuner sur l’herbe was heavily inspired by Édouard Manet’s Le déjeuner sur l’herbe. By surrounding yourself with amazing art, music, novels, and people you give yourself something to aspire to and take inspiration from. Don’t be afraid to “copy” another artist's work, this is how you improve.

3. Use your creativity

If you do not create, you will not create. Just be creative, whether that be writing, drawing, painting, singing, playing an instrument etc. You don’t always have to create a masterpiece or write the best story of your life. If you want to improve and gain inspiration you need to constantly create and not be afraid of deviation or failure.

4. Ignore the haters

It is natural to feel vulnerable and uneasy about showing people your creations. However, people who knock you down are only doing so in order to build themselves up. Perhaps they are jealous of your creativity, perhaps they are intimidated by the message in your art, whatever the reason it is irrelevant to you. Do not let it get to you and if anything, use it as motivation to push yourself further. There are too many encouraging and wonderful people out there to spend your energy on the nay-sayers .

We hope these tips help you to live up to your creative potential. After all, you could be the next Michelangelo!

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5 things to surround yourself with when beginning a project

website@sitemodify.com (Website Editor) — Sun, 17 Nov 2019 22:23:01 GMT

Let’s face it, productivity is hard. When sitting down to start a new project or assignment of any kind there is a lot that goes into making sure your environment is ideal. This includes keeping the light, sound, and temperature of the room are exactly how you like it. If that’s not enough then there are things you can surround yourself with in order to maximize your efficiency, creativity, and overall workflow.

1. Surround Yourself with Reminders of Your Goals

When you are working, there is always something tangible you can be working toward. Maybe you are saving up for a big vacation to a new place or for a brand new car. Maybe you are aspiring to have your art appear in a famous museum one day. In your workplace you can pin up photographs of your vacation destination or the new car to keep you going. Make them your computer or phone wallpaper. Have a poster of the museum where you work and surround yourself with works that appear in that gallery. Every time you lose motivation or focus this will serve as a constant reminder to keep pushing towards your particular goal.

2. Surround Yourself with Things That Inspire You to be Great

Usually, people have other pieces of work related to what they do that inspires them to achieve great things. If you’re an artist, hang your favourite artists work near where you create. If you’re a writer, keep your favourite author's books close by to read whenever you get stuck. Maybe there was one piece that inspired you to do the work you do. Make sure it’s somewhere that is always visible. We find inspiration, hope, and joy in looking at work we admire. Use this to your advantage by surrounding yourself with inspirational material.

3. All the Tools You Need to Get Down To It

Once you’re motivated and inspired, it’s important to minimize distraction and make sure you have absolutely everything you need close at hand. If you have to get up and go to another room to find materials, resources, tools, or anything else you need, you may lose your train of thought or disrupt your workflow. Make sure everything is organized and within reach.

4. Your Favourite Fuel

If you’re the kind of person who likes to sit and work for long intervals, it’s a good idea to include nourishment within your immediate work space. Surround yourself with water, tea, and healthy snacks to keep you going strong. Again, having to take a break when you get hungry or thirsty can really mess up your workflow.

5. Barriers Between You and Distractions

We have become so accustomed to having our phones on all the time, it’s difficult to ignore them while we work. Distractions like social media can really impede your workflow. Restrain yourself from distraction by creating barriers between you and those pesky notifications. Turn your phone off or leave it in another room. You’ll find you are much more present and able to focus on your work.

Scriba is a revolutionary digital stylus that is ergonomically designed to comfortably fit your hand and uses unique Squeeze-Motion technology. Order here.

9 Apps for Creative Focus

website@sitemodify.com (Website Editor) — Sun, 17 Nov 2019 22:22:58 GMT

Here are some apps that can help you claim back your time, get more productive and possibly become happier after all, a wandering mind is an unhappy mind.

Freedom (iPhone, iPad, Mac)

While it may be an intentional oxymoron, Freedom completely locks you out of any sites, particularly social media sites, that may distract you from your work across all devices. You can schedule sessions and choose any particular websites you wish to add to the blacklist. With locked mode, there’s also no way to turn it off before your session is up (if you REALLY don’t trust your own willpower). You can even block the entire Internet, if you need complete isolation.

FocusLock (Android)

I f you work with social media, completely blocking out these sites might hinder rather than help you. Perhaps your issue is just with distractions on your phone. This app lets you choose work times and break times, then locks you out of your blacklisted sites. This can also help if you’re addicted to checking out social media first thing in the morning or browsing before bed.

F.lux (desktop) and Twilight (mobile)

Speaking of sleeping, looking at screens before bed has long been proven to negatively affect your sleep cycle, eating into your productivity the next day. F.lux , for your laptop, changes your backlight to a more yellow hue which is easier on the eyes. It gets more dramatically orange over time, also warning you when it’s probably too late to be looking at your screen. If you don’t have an iPhone with iOS 9 or above, which offers this feature, the app Twilight also offers a similar service for your phone.

Moment (iOS)

How much time do you really spend on your phone? Probably a lot more than you think. Moment tracks exactly how much time you spend on your phone and lets you set a limit. The app will warn you if you go over the limit and you can choose to be forced off if necessary. There’s also an option to track your family’s usage, so you can try in vain to get your kids to put away their phones at dinner time.

RescueTime (Desktop)

This is a fantastic app for freelancers, RescueTime comprehensively tracks how you spend your time and sends you a detailed report of your day. You can also set alarms for timed tasks, block unwanted websites, and log highlights from your day.

Focus (Mac)

Another app whose main function is to block out distracting websites is Focus . The beauty of this app is that it displays motivational quotes instead of your blocked page to remind you why you’ve blocked it in the first place.

Focus Booster (desktop)

The pomodoro technique gets a lot of praise in the productivity world. It’s a particularly useful technique for the easily distracted. Work is broken down into small segments, typically 25 minutes or longer, followed by a 2-5 minute break. After 4 sessions, or “pomodoros” you take a longer break. Focus Booster manages this for you and also reports in detail how you spend your time. If you’re better suited to spurts of productivity, this is for you.

OFFTIME (Android)

If your work can be taken offline entirely, OFFTIME is a great app for blocking out all potential distractions. You set a creativity (or quality time) period during which calls and notifications will be blocked to allow you to focus. Texts will also be auto answered saying when you’ll next be available, and the app will give you a breakdown of what you missed at the end of your OFFTIME.

Now that you’re all set to be a productivity machine and claim back all that time you’ve spent mindlessly scrolling, how will you spend it? With family, on leisure time, or on a new project? It’s your choice, enjoy it.

Scriba is a revolutionary digital stylus that is ergonomically designed to comfortably fit your hand and uses unique Squeeze-Motion technology. Order here.

Do Good Fine Motor Skills In Young Children Mean They Will Do Better At School?

Sat, 16 Nov 2019 14:24:33 GMT

The advances in mobile devices and the increasing access to these devices by young children has led to the appearance of a new phenomenon.

Every year teachers are noticing that more and more children have trouble holding a pen or pencil in their hands. While this is a simple operation, it is closely connected with the fine motor skills children learn in the early stages of their development. Many children have recently had difficulty performing this task correctly. However, do these skills have anything to do with children's performance at school? Let us take a look at what specialists have to say about this.

Over the past few years, specialists have tried to see if there is any connection between the fine motor skills developed in the first years of childhood and the later performances of children at school. Apparently, there is a definite connection. They found that the fine motor skills developed in the early years of a child's life has a correlation between the performance of the child's success during their school years. This type of association first emerged back in 2010, when it was believed that these skills could forecast the performance of a child in math and reading.

Why are fine motor skills such a good predictor when it comes to doing well in school? It appears that the way the neurons are connected, learning processes based on personal experiences, and experiences gained inside the classroom all play a part. From a neurological point of view, the pre-frontal cortex controls both cognitive and fine motor-skills development. This is why children who have more developed fine motor skills in their pre-school years will end up having better performances in school. Children who develop these skills, with by drawing and attempting to write in their early years, will be able to focus better during classes. This is because children with better fine motor skills are more comfortable with the task of writing, for example, and are more capable of investing their resources into paying attention to what is happening around them. Therefore, they will absorb more of the information provided by the teacher and have better results in learning. After all, a child who already knows how to write down numbers will be able to learn how to count faster than a child who has to invest all of their energy and attention into learning how to write the numbers first.

So, if you are the parent of a young child or preparing to become a parent, do bear in mind that fine motor skills are more important than you may think. To develop your child's fine motor skills you should really encourage them to learn to use their hands with play-dough and other toys, as well as encouraging them to learn how to draw and write during the early years of childhood. Don’t let the child use mobile devices too much, and if a child does use these devices, offer them apps specifically created to develop these skills. Using mobile devices too much, even if it is for innocent games, can seriously impair a child’s fine motor skills. Which can translate into poor school performances later on.

The importance of penmanship for children

Sat, 16 Nov 2019 14:24:27 GMT

It is no secret that technology has invaded our lives. All the technological breakthroughs have improved our lifestyle, but they have also drastically changed the way we live and behave.

Probably the worst part of having technological devices so ever-present in our lives is that it is affecting the childhood and development of our children. It is enough to see how a child behaves these days to realize just how different things are now compared to when we were children. As a result of too much exposure to technology, children nowadays have weight-related issues, problems when it comes to interacting with peers, communication difficulties, and many more.

Another important difficulties is the inability for children to hold a pen in their hands. Every year more and more pre-school children have very poor skills when holding pencils and pens in their hands. When they first arrive in the classroom and are given a pencil, they barely know what they have to do with it or how to use it correctly. How did this happen? Compared to a few decades ago, when the colouring books and pencils were among the favourite toys of children. Children these days learn first to use a tablet or a smart phone, instead of learning how to draw or play games. Senior paediatric doctors came to this conclusion, realizing what had driven so many children to lack the dexterity and strength to hold onto a pencil. Their hands seem much more used to using a touch- screen than a traditional pencil. Just how bad is it to allow young children to use mobile devices? According to doctors, when a child uses a touch-screen too much, his or her fingers are unable to develop their muscular tissue sufficiently. Therefore holding a pencil becomes a challenge instead of being something easy and natural. In comparison with the pre-school children of past decades, today’s pre-school children lack the same dexterity. This is one of the depressing conclusions drawn by doctors after monitoring this phenomenon. As they now lack fundamental skills when it comes to moving and utilizing their fingers and hands, today’s children are showing an inability to use pens and pencils. And their number is growing by the year. Fingers have fine muscles, but one must have a good control of these muscles in order to be able to use a pencil.

This type of news should be an alarm-bell for all the parents out there. Penmanship is vital for children and it is not an obsolete technique. Yes, we can do a lot of things with the help of mobile devices, but we should not forget that learning to hold a pen and writing is still a very important skill. Each of us should develop in a way that will enable us to be prepared for and cope with any kind of situation. So make sure you offer your child pencils from a very early age and help them develop these important skills.

Computers are unable to give us the emotions that are stirred by having a face-to-face conversation with another person. The debates that take place in a classroom, when students are discussing a subject with the teacher, are incredibly important for the development of emotional, linguistic and social skills. We need these skills in order to be able to interact with the people around us. Machines can’t show us how to do this properly as they are impersonal. This is why the presence of a teacher in the life of a person and in his or her learning process is of paramount importance.

Despite the fact that technology has changed the learning process and brought it to a different level, we still need the experience, training, and expertise of teachers. Their education and years spent teaching others are extremely valuable resources for each student. We are all different, having different interests, talents, and skills. A teacher is capable of seeing and recognising our talents and directing us on the right path that will turn us into successful professionals. This is why the best teaching methods at the moment is an intertwining between technology and face-to-face teaching. In other words, we need a teacher in order to make the most of digital learning and of everything technology has to offer in this sector. Only in this way will we manage to find the right path in life and enjoy successful careers.

Life Drawing is Good for the Soul

website@sitemodify.com (Website Editor) — Tue, 17 Sep 2019 17:36:02 GMT

If you’ve been to art school or took a higher level art class, chances are you learned about life drawing. Also called figure drawing, life drawing is when you draw a live person who is sitting right in front of you as opposed to a person from a photo or existing drawing. Often this person is nude or draped in loose fitting fabric. But most often, they will be nude.

Why is Life Drawing Important?

This may make you uncomfortable. Why do they have to be nude? The answer: clothes are not alive. The nude living form of a real person has it is own energy. A good artist can capture the life of a model and the easiest way to do that is to remove all of the distraction of clothing which covers up the true form of the subject.

Also, we are not clothes. We are human beings with unique and intricate bodies. When you look at another nude form, you can recognize your own body with similar features, shapes, and elements. Since bodies are usually covered, it is rare we can sit and appreciate the way our bodies are formed in a non-sexual way.

What are the Benefits of Life Drawing?

While there are benefits to drawing other types of subjects (folds in clothing are amazing to draw, as well as objects in motion and objects with varying colors and sharp edges) life drawing can improve your artistic talent as well. Overall, life drawing can touch your soul and help you connect in a deeper way with your art.

You learn to capture a real three dimension living creature.
You can observe how your subject breathes and capture their liveliness, which is harder when drawing two dimensional model.
When drawing a 2D subject, you are limited by the original artists interpretation of the subject.
You can see up close how our skin and muscles react to different positions, sagging or being pulled taut depending on the pose.
It is easier to capture emotion from a living person than a 2D model.

Drawing a living person out in the real world can be difficult as they might keep moving, move away, or become uncomfortable if they notice you watching them. With a live model you can focus on your art and not worry about your surroundings.

With a live nude model, you have the added benefit of that person’s trust. In our society, being nude in front of strangers is something that rarely happens and is extremely taboo. In a life drawing classroom, this taboo is removed for the sake of art education. The model must not only be comfortable with their body, but how a group of strangers will interpret their body. Any insecurities they may have do not matter. It is both a highly objective and highly subjective environment. Life drawing is good for the soul because it allows you to connect with another human being beyond their body, but through trust and a mutual love of art.

Napping at school and the science of chronobiology

Tue, 17 Sep 2019 17:18:35 GMT

Do you ever feel that you are not as productive as you used to be?

Everybody feels this way at some point, as our brains need periods of rest in order to work at their full capacity. Even if you have had several days in which your performances were outstanding, there comes a time when you won’t feel capable of delivering at the same level. Thus, understanding the concept of chronobiology, the natural cycles of the body, can mean being able to recognize when your brain needs to rest itself so that you can continue to work at high levels and deliver the best possible results.

It can be quite frustrating to look for new ideas and have the feeling that you can’t reach them. It’s like your brain refuses to co-operate and come up to expectation. Well, if you didn’t know, our bodies have an internal clock. This internal clock determines when the body and brain need some time to rest in order to function at its full potential. So, according to scientists, if we could synchronize our work with our internal clock, then our work would always be at its best, as we would be more than capable of using our brain effectively and creatively. In other words, chronobiology is the science that teaches us about the cycles our body goes through and the ebbs and flows of these cycles.

Of course, things are more complicated than they seem, as we all tend to work on different schedules. So, it is worth taking a closer look at how our mind works day after day, recognizing when we are most productive. Specialists state that our brain works best at midday. Of course “midday” is not the same for everyone. Commonly you can feel most productive between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m., with a fatigue gap until 4 p.m., from where your productivity may get back on track until 10 p.m.. Therefore it seems that a nice nap between 2 p.m. and 4 p.m. may be necessary in order to maximize your potential throughout the day. Known as the “post-lunch dip”, this is a period in which our brain slows down significantly. You have probably experienced this, when your mind wants to take a break after lunch instead of keeping up the same pace.

What about those who seem to be better at studying at night? Not all people are effective during the day, there are quite a few who believe studying until late at night is better in their case. The thing is that the later you get up from bed during the day, the later you should start your study and work hours. However, it is worth mentioning that sacrificing hours of your sleep night after night is not a good idea in the long-term, as this will take a significant toll on your health. If you do go through such a period, you should try, as soon as possible, to get back to a normal schedule of sleeping 7 to 8 hours per night and not studying too late. No matter how much you like to study in the peace of night-time, our bodies were not made to work like this for too long.

Interactive Learning and Why We Will Always Need Teachers

Thu, 05 Sep 2019 21:50:55 GMT

Modern technology has made learning easier and more accessible than ever before.

It doesn’t matter where you live and what you would like to study because courses are now available online. This gives people the power to acquire all the knowledge and skills they think they are missing and to develop themselves in their desired direction. However, no matter how convenient online teaching is, teachers still have a very important role to play in the learning process. Even with a large amount of information within reach, it is more than useful to have someone with the adequate level of training to guide us along the way. In the world we live in today, the volume of information is incredibly large and this can become overwhelming. This is why society will always need teachers to help us learn how to manage information and extract what is most valuable.

While computers make the learning process extremely comfortable and convenient, they will never be able to replace the role of a teacher. Technology is a good source of information, but we should not forget that we are emotional beings, who have conflicts and issues that need to be addressed. A computer will never be able to intervene in cases of bullying, for example, or to provide emotional support for those that need it. We still need to have a human being who knows how to interpret emotions and feelings and who gives us a helping hand when we need one. Computers are unable to give us the emotions that are stirred by having a face-to-face conversation with another person. The debates that take place in a classroom when students are discussing a subject with the teacher, are incredibly important for the development of emotional, linguistic, and social skills. We need these skills in order to be able to interact with the people around us. Machines can’t show us how to do this properly as they are impersonal. This is why the presence of a teacher in the life of a person and in their learning process is of paramount importance.

Despite the fact that technology has changed the learning process and brought it to a different level. We still need the experience, training, and expertise of teachers. Their education and years spent teaching others are extremely valuable resources for each student. We are all different, having different interests, talents, and skills. A teacher is capable of seeing and recognizing our talents and directing us on the right path that will turn us into successful professionals. This is why the best teaching methods at the moment is an intertwining between technology and face-to-face teaching. In other words, we need a teacher in order to make the most of digital learning and of everything technology has to offer in this sector. Only in this way will we manage to find the right path in life and enjoy successful careers.

Best Podcasts for Creative Inspiration

Thu, 05 Sep 2019 21:50:29 GMT

Podcasts, as an entertainment medium, have exploded in popularity over the past few years due to their ability to be listened to almost anywhere. They fit seamlessly into our lives, filling dead space like commuting and chores with informative and entertaining shows that cater to almost any taste and they are free! There really is an overwhelming number of podcasts out there: how do you know what to look for? For the busy creative, these podcasts will serve to inspire and inform you.

The Unmistakable Creative

In The Unmistakable Creative , host Srinivas Rao interviews creatives from a variety of fields. Including big names like Tim Ferriss and Seth Godin. Each conversation is radically different, and with a brightly optimistic tone this podcast is sure to inspire you in whatever your next project might be.

TED Radio Hour

While TED talks aren’t quite as prolific and revered as they used to be, it remains an amazing platform for innovative thinkers and creatives. The TED Radio Hour by NPR takes a general topic, like generosity, democracy, or lying, and collects the best talks on that topic and interviews the speakers involved. Clips from the original talks are also interspersed, allowing you a deeper dive into the subject matter. The topics are varied and fascinating, and will keep you entertained while stoking your curiosity.

99% Invisible

This podcast is laser focused on the minutiae of architecture and design, taking its name from the quote "Ninety-nine percent of who you are is invisible and untouchable." Each episode does a deep dive into an obscure topic, like the cultural symbolism of a cul-de-sac or why Fur Elise plays on the streets of Taiwan in the middle of the day. You’ll learn some interesting design factoids and you might be inspired to improve your observation skills.

This American Life

Perhaps one of the most famous podcasts out there, having been around in one form or another since 1995 (it also spawned Serial, the show that arguably started the current podcasting craze). The show’s longevity is thanks, in part, to its broad subject matter: “American Life” can encompass almost any domain it likes. The show’s deep sense of empathy and the fascinating stories it compiles week in and week out, means it should already be on your radar. It’s said that podcasting is one of the most intimate forms of media , connecting the listener directly to the subject. This American Life is one of the most compelling examples of this.

The Great Discontent

The eponymous discontent here broadly covers frustrations, failures, and creative block. Through interviews with a wide array of creatives in multiple different industries: designers, illustrators, singers, actors, writers, directors, architects etc. This podcast explores what it means to successfully overcome obstacles. This one’s for when you’re feeling low from creative blues and need a pick-me-up through remembering you’re not alone. The Great Discontent is originally a print magazine, and the website also publishes written interviews if you’re interested.

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Artist Spotlight: Lucie Ebrey

website@sitemodify.com (Website Editor) — Thu, 05 Sep 2019 11:58:43 GMT

Everyone’s work is deeply idiosyncratic: in our regular Spotlight segment we explore artists’ experiences and inspiration to understand what defines and inspires their unique styles.

Can you give us a brief background on yourself?

It's a really stock answer, but like most people working in the arts, it was really just a case of never stopping drawing. I devoured so many cartoons and comics as a kid, and was still really interested in them through my teen years. I knew it was something I wanted to pursue, but I was so weighed down with GCSE's and A Levels that it wasn't until I'd finally finished my foundation course that I was actively drawing cartoons regularly again. I started drawing a comic diary every day. I went to Falmouth University, after literally years of setting my sights on it, and graduated in 2015.

Now I'm working freelance and juggling as much as I can without collapsing in a pile of bristol board and tears! It's really scary and I'm always having to learn something new, but I'm already surprised with what I've ended up creating.

What kind of influence does your location have on your career?

Currently, I'm working from home in Birmingham. I've lived in this city my whole life and as much as I am fond of it, I admit I'm frustrated with the lack of any real art scene that I'd want to be a part of. It's all very experimental fine art and there's no real opportunities that I could apply my skills to here either (something that became depressingly clear in the post-uni-CV-emailing flurry). I'm lucky that my career allows me to accept work from clients who aren't even in the same country as I am! As long as I have working internet and a decent scanner, then I'm pretty much good to go. I'd love to move to somewhere with a more thriving art scene sometime in the future, but I think every 20-something ex-art student is looking for that haha. I feel like my location is pretty incidental when it comes to how it directly influences my work, although it probably comes out strongest in my comic diaries. Especially towards the end of my stay down in Cornwall when I had strips dedicated to the coastline and sentimental memories of 3 life-changing years.

What is your greatest source of inspiration?

I often find my greatest inspiration comes from the mundane everyday of human behaviours, and those little moments that might mean something but probably mean nothing. It comes with the territory when you have to draw a comic strip about that sort of thing every day. On the other hand, I love cooking up bombastic and ridiculous tales from the more fantastical ideas in my head that come from watching a lot of movies or playing too many video games. I try to avoid being boxed into any specific genre or type of work, especially this early on in my career, and tend to just lean into whatever feels right in the moment. In terms of other artists who have influenced me, I have so many in so many different mediums that it's hard to narrow the list down to only a few core people, but a couple of names do stand out to me. The most obvious one, I suppose, would be James Kochalka - a cartoonist from Vermont. For 14 years he drew a daily diary comic called American Elf, and after coming across it when I was around 18, I instantly wanted to see if I could do it too! I began my own in May 2012 and I'm still going to this day. I owe Kochalka a lot. In terms of other creators whose work I know for sure changed my view and approach of cartooning, the list includes folks like Matt Groening, Art Spiegelman, Craig Thompson, Marjane Satrapi, Chuck Jones, Hayao Miyazaki, Luke Pearson, Jack Teagle, Will Eisner, and honestly too many to list here without it dragging on and on.

Could you pick one piece of art that has made a lasting influence on you, and if so why?

Again, there's so many that struck a chord with me for some specific reason or another that elevating one to becoming the most significant is very hard. But the one that's jumping out to me right now would be Maus by Art Spiegelman.

I first encountered it when I was 13 at my local library, and it was the first ever graphic novel I ever read that was about more than superheroes. To be honest, I found it incredibly shocking at that age, since it's about Spiegelman's father struggling as a Polish Jew during WWII and certainly doesn't shy away from the most harrowing aspects of the Holocaust. Even though it was profoundly upsetting to me at the time, I was also incredibly excited by it. I was floored at how not only was it using comics as a way of telling a mature story, but it was also using animals in such a symbolic way. The idea of making the Jews mice, the Germans cats, and the Poles pigs seems almost reductive at a first glance, but is actually a brilliant way of illustrating the lack of humanity shown within the pages. I'd never encountered a piece of media that was so layered and well executed at that point, and I still hold it in high regard to this day. It was the gateway graphic novel that nudged me towards where I am today.

What skills or techniques do you find most useful in your line of work? Do you use primarily traditional or digital methods to create your artwork?

The most useful skill is simply to be efficient and work to a schedule. The second I slack off and don't adhere to it is when things become instantly more stressful, and I'm getting better at it as time goes on. It's especially important with regards to keeping up with my daily comic diaries, as a single day where I decide I can't be bothered to ink the strip can cause a serious pileup later on down the road. As for how I approach my work, I'm a mix of both traditional and digital. I ink almost exclusively with a brush pen of some kind on to paper, which I then scan in and colour digitally in Photoshop. I love the tactile sensation of dragging a brush across paper and the infinite possibilities when colouring in a digital space, so it's the ideal set-up for me! I will also dabble in water colours and pottery ever so often to have a rest, and also to try something new. It's a good way to get the artistic juices flowing if ink or Photoshop is getting stale. Plus I end up with stuff that I can give to friends or put a new plant in, and that's just great.

How can people who are interested in discovering more of your work find it?

My website is at www.lucieebrey.com, or you can follow my Tumblr where my almost-5 year long daily diary comic gets added to regularly at www.muggyebes.tumblr.com. Then there's my Twitter @LucieEbrey and my Instagram @lucie_ebrey.

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6 Tips to Achieve Creative Flow

Thu, 05 Sep 2019 11:58:30 GMT

You know that feeling when you're completely one with an activity and lose all sense of time? The world seeps away and there's nothing left between you and what you're doing. That's called flow.

Flow is a psychological state, the term being coined by psychologist Mihály Csíkszentmihályi presented in his TED talk. If you've ever experienced it, you probably remember it. It can be achieved in a wide range of activities, mostly notably in creative and sporting activities. Csíkszentmihályi set a few guidelines for a flow state: the challenge should slightly exceed your skill level to ensure you're out of your comfort zone, while still being achievable to give you a sense of control. The activity needs to be intrinsically enjoyable for you, you're doing it for the joy of the experience not as a means to an end. In doing this, you lose awareness of physical needs and worries and achieve a feeling of serenity.

Not only is a flow state a highly rewarding experience, but also you will likely produce your best work during it. Undoubtedly, that’s where you want to be. Here, we lay out 6 tips to help you get to that elusive state.

1 . Develop the skills necessary to meet the challenge

If you're not skilled enough to meet the challenge set in front of you, you'll experience a state of anxiety rather than a state of flow. Take the time to hone and develop your technical skills.

2 . Set aside sufficient time

Make sure you have enough time to really get into your work. If you allocate too little time, you'll find yourself spending more time trying to empty your mind than actually working. Find a balance between your commitments and private time.

3. Meditate

Five minutes beforehand is enough time to practise some mindfulness. Focus your awareness on your surroundings and try to quiet your mind of outside distractions.

4. Take a quick walk

This is particularly helpful if you live close to nature or a park. Many people find getting some fresh air in the outdoors to be a great means of calming their mind.

5. Cut distractions out of your workspace

Choose a quiet workspace clear of clutter, and silence all technological distractions too. They can wait an hour.

6. Enjoy what you're doing

The most important part of a flow state is the intrinsic enjoyment of the activity. Remember your love of creation and don't stress about the end results. You will probably come to find that you created something better than you initially intended to.

Try these tips out for yourself, and let us know what activity you achieve flow in. Happy creating!

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Top Design Trends of 2018

website@sitemodify.com (Website Editor) — Tue, 25 Jun 2019 12:35:02 GMT

Summary of the top design trends in 2018

So far, 2018 has not disappointed when it comes to design. Although the year is not over, it has been rich in new and returning trends, there are almost too many to pick from. With that being said, we will give you a summary of what the year has been like, in terms of graphic design.

1. 2018 is the year that has seen ‘millennial pink’ flourish. Although it goes by many names, this shade of dusty pink has taken over the internet. This specific shade of pink has been on so many advertising campaigns and product packagings there are too many to count. You have probably seen it all over the place and let’s be real you might not be a millennial but you probably have an item of two of this color at home! Although it might disappear soon, it is certainly anchored in the year 2018.

2. Another major design trend this year has been the ‘glitch effect’. It seems that what came to life out of a malfunction is now used as a stylish effect. As one of the major trends of 2018, the glitch effect was seen almost everywhere and this retro vibe became a common theme in 2018.

3. As mentioned earlier, this retro aesthetic is coming back in full force today. Along with the glitch effect, the 80s and 90s are making their comeback. Like fashion, design is made of cycles, we recycle old ideas thinking we just thought of them. This is exactly what’s happening in 2018.

4. Another trend that we have loved this year is the duo tones and double exposure wave. This clash of color catches the eye and feels so different, although still in alignment with the glitch effect and other trends seen before. Using duo tone allows a designer to transform a very plain image to something truly modern, vibrant, and full of depth. Similarly, the use of double exposure allows a message to come through in a much clearer way than traditional methods. The combination of these techniques needs to be done with care and attention to detail. A poor execution of this concept can turn out to be overwhelming. However, a tasteful blend of the two will result in a splendid piece.

5. A smaller, but just as important, trend this year was the use of creative typography. With typography being more creative than ever, it has been used in so many different ways that the choice of typography is what has made or destroyed a campaign. To maximize the impact the artistic choice must resonate with the message behind it. So that the idea comes across immediately, only by looking at the writing. This was done brilliantly by many companies as we can see here below.

6. Last but not least, we have seen a dramatic increase in the use of bold colors. Very modern and almost provocative bold colors will make you look twice at a design. Which is ultimately the goal of any project.

18 best places to sketch from around the world

website@sitemodify.com (Website Editor) — Tue, 25 Jun 2019 12:34:56 GMT

Working away from the desk; 18 best places to sketch around the world

Most artists can sketch and draw from anywhere, but almost all artists will tell you that the right environment produces the most inspired work. Here is a list of gardens, coffee shops and views around the world that have been heralded for the artistic inspiration they imbue.

1. Chateau de Versailles (Versailles, France)

An important global historical landmark, the gardens display the finest examples of Garden a la francaise in French garden design.

2. Dumbarton Oaks (Georgetown, Washington DC)

This residence contains the gardens of Robert Woods Bliss. The Federal architecture and lush gardens include endless things to look at and sketch.

3. Central Park (Manhattan, New York City)

One of the most famous parks in the country, Central Park is nestled in the center of Manhattan and is a mecca for artists.

4. The Field Museum in Chicago (Chicago, Illinois)

This natural history museum is one of the largest in the world. They offer free admission on certain days so you’re welcome to bring your sketchbook and find inspiration in the exhibitions and events.

5. Gardens of the Villa Ephrussi de Rothschild (Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat, France)

This amazing 20th century villa has 9 different themed gardens for you to explore that all overlook the grand Mediterranean Sea.

6. Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew (Surrey, United Kingdom)

These gardens were established for botanical research and education, so the variation of plants to see are remarkable.

7. Washington Square Park (Manhattan, New York City)

Located in Greenwich Village, the park is almost 10 acres of greenery and architecture. You’ll find it a great place for people watching and street performances.

8. Powerscourt Gardens (Enniskerry, County Wicklow, Ireland)

This enormous estate has lush themed landscaped gardens and waterfalls, perfect for sitting in isolation to draw.

9. The Master of Nets Garden (Suzhou, China)

The gardens contain classical gardens and is one of the smallest but most impressive ones in China. You will find amazing views in the day and folk music at night.

10. Butchart Gardens (Brentwood Bay, BC, Canada)

Receiving almost one million visitors each year, the gardens spread over 22 hectares. You will find seasonal entertainment and food in addition to a great place to be inspired by nature.

11. Griffith Park (Los Angeles, California)

This expansive park includes hiking trails and a museum on the top of a hill overlooking the city of Los Angeles. Countless artists flock to it as a place for reflecting and drawing.

12. Lincoln Park Zoo (Chicago, Illinois)

If you’re interested in sketching animals and wildlife, this zoo is perfect. It is one of the oldest and most respected zoos in the United States with large and interactive exhibits.

13. Villa d’Este (Tivoli, Italy)

This garden displays impressive and historic Renaissance architecture and the style of Italian Renaissance gardens.

14. Baratti & Milano Caffe (Torino, Italy)

This coffee bar was founded in 1858. It has a rich historical history that you can feel just sitting in it. The some of the original architecture and designs remain.

15. Caffe Florian (Venice, Italy)

This cafe is the oldest one in the world and is situated in the heart of Italy. If you love sitting, sketching, people watching and drinking exquisite coffee in historical buildings, this cafe is for you.

16. Pedrocchi Cafe (Padova PD, Italy)

The Pedrocchi was founded in the 18th century. Each room is decorated in different styles in a beautiful and eclectic architectural ensemble, giving you so much to look at in one sitting.

17. Caffe Greco (San Francisco, California)

This beautiful cafe has both indoor and outdoor seating, perfect for people watching.

18. The Elephant House (Edinburgh, Scotland)

This write/reader-friendly cafe is famous for creative inspiration striking, as it’s where JK Rowling wrote many of the Harry Potter books.

Artist Spotlight: Chris Parks

Mon, 17 Jun 2019 20:17:50 GMT

Everyone’s work is deeply idiosyncratic: in our regular Spotlight segment we explore artists’ experiences and inspiration to understand what defines and inspires their unique styles.

Can you give us a brief background on yourself?

To start at the beginning, I was blessed with being born with a rare joint condition called congenital hip dysplasia that had me in and out of hospitals and surgical procedures throughout my early years, leading up to a total hip replacement procedure a few years back. Without this challenge, I would have likely followed the path of those before me, winding up in some sort of manual labor or construction job after school. Because of this, I remember always thinking about alternative ways to survive that didn’t involve strenuous, physical work. This lead me to discovering the realm of graphic design way back in a time when neither I, nor my friends, even had computers in our homes. I saw this as my best shot at a career where I could earn a living while sitting at a desk and not want to kill myself from the boredom of a desk job. I plunged into the Adobe software, learning it in and out during high school and eventually enrolling at the Ringling College of Art to earn my degree. After graduation I was hired at a product design agency where I learned the ropes professionally, while creating artwork for bands, surf/skate companies, and street wear brands during my nights and weekends.

What kind of influence does your location have on your career?

My studio has made it’s home in downtown St. Petersburg, Florida going on twelve years now. While I’ve always earned much of my income working with clients and commissions outside of my hometown, this area has always had a uniquely bohemian, creative, and bubbling art and music scene that has certainly influenced my career. Over time, I found myself making the transition from graphic designer into professional illustrator. After being invited to create work for various pop-up group exhibitions, where I challenged myself to find interesting ways to transform my digital creations into large format gallery works, using whatever production technologies I could get my hands on at the moment. I also started hosting gallery exhibitions at my first studio space that I shared with my business partner at the time, who was a tattoo artist. This was a highly inspirational time in my career where I absorbed a lot of influence from all of the gallery work and tattooing going on around me and applying it to my digital illustration process. I’ve also had the opportunity to curate and host 3 international mural festivals here in St. Petersburg. During these festivals, we’ve worked with the best local talent and flown in top traveling artists from around the globe to paint more than 50 murals right here in the heart of downtown since 2015. This project has put our city on the map as a renown destination for art and culture and has me moving into the next phase of my career as a mural artist.

What is your greatest source of inspiration?

Inspiration has always come to me most intensely when traveling. There is something magical that happens when I find myself in a strange new environment where everything feels fresh, electric, and full of novelty. I also have a daily meditation practice where I purposefully train my mind to receive creative insights from the unseen forces that are constantly flowing through everything in the universe. It removes lot of pressure when I can trust the inspiration to visit me when I need it.

Could you pick one piece of art that has made a lasting influence on you, and if so why?

Over 15 years ago I took my first trip to Bangkok, Thailand where I visited its sacred temples with guardian Yaksha demons standing at the entrances, enormous Buddha statues, and insanely detailed mural paintings found within. The murals depicted scenes from the original Hindu epic, known in Thailand as the Ramakien, where Hanuman and his army of courageous monkeys battle against the forces of evil lead by the demon king, Ravana. The beauty and power that emanated from these temples has never left me and has lead me to an ever-growing interest to practice and explore the deeper truths contained within the beauty of the artwork and it’s esoteric mythology. The artistic depictions of gods and demons that I absorbed during those trips so long ago are now the main drive for my current creative explorations.

What skills or techniques do you find most useful in your line of work? Do you use primarily traditional or digital methods to create your artwork?

I primarily work digitally, creating my illustrations with a 24HD Wacom Cintiq tablet in Adobe Photoshop. I also create typography and graphic work in Adobe Illustrator and I use my iPad Pro for concept sketching. My work is often produced as screen-printed posters, skateboards, laser engravings, T-shirts, artist products, packaging, and digital output for web and animation. I utilize a range of techniques for each. I’ve also begun to dabble in painting wall murals and experimenting with hand-drawn calligraphy lettering.

How can people who are interested in discovering more of your work find it?

I post daily updates to my Instagram account: https://www.instagram.com/palehorsedesign/ . My portfolio site and online store can be found at: http://palehorsedesign.com/ . I also send out a monthly email packed with my favorite audiobooks, podcasts, and music that I am constantly digging up to listen to while I draw, https://tinyurl.com/y8egd9xr .

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The Benefits of On-Demand Learning

Wed, 12 Jun 2019 11:20:19 GMT

The benefits of on-demand learning and the disaggregation of the classroom of the future

In most cases, classes today are still taking place in the classroom. However, online classes and on-demand learning are starting to gain more and more ground, especially among people who would like to access education to improve themselves but who are too busy to follow the schedules set by traditional education. For example, you could easily follow the courses of a foreign academy, as long as you can handle the language, without ever having to leave home. Given that most online courses are in English and are available to anyone with a computer and internet connection, education has become more versatile and convenient than ever before.

Even if today's online on-demand learning is mostly used by adults, it is very likely that this trend may change the way children will attend school in the future. Technology will continue to advance and it will become an even larger part of people's everyday life. Considering that digital technology will bring education to wherever the students may be, one may wonder if the classic classroom will cease to exist at some point in the future. Soon, children won’t have to be in the same room as teachers, and will be able to take classes from the comfort of their own home. They won’t have to wake up early in the morning to go to school or miss class when they are sick, given that education will be readily available at any time of the day.

How will this affect the quality of education? Would it be easier for children to procrastinate during classes if no-one was supervising them? While a parent or tutor will have to step in when it comes to putting together a learning schedule for the students. With the help of technology, classes have started to evolve and turn into something that can now grab the attention of children more effectively, making digital learning fun and interesting. Images, photos, videos, sound, interactive learning, they are all available already and change the way children are learning at the moment. Digital learning, if well-managed, has what it takes to stimulate the creativity of children, provide useful information, and keep them engaged for extended periods of time.

The biggest advantage of on-demand learning is that it doesn’t matter what your age is, where you live, or what kind of knowledge and skills you are looking to acquire. On-demand learning opens doors that were closed a few decades ago. Now everybody has the chance to evolve on a professional level over their lifetime. There are no limits when it comes to this kind of learning. Do you have a current job that is not fulfilling you? Would you like to acquire new skills and gain access to a better job? Would you like to change the trajectory of your career? Now you can do this with online on-demand learning. Take the courses you like and study when your schedule allows it. The certificate you will receive at the end, upon graduation, will be recognized worldwide if you choose the courses of a reputable and reliable educational institution.

3D Printing: The New Exciting Form Of Interior Design

website@sitemodify.com (Website Editor) — Wed, 12 Jun 2019 10:43:33 GMT

When the first 3D printers came out, the entire world was astounded. It was an amazing breakthrough that had incredible potential for changing our lives in an innovative way. Since then, things evolved very rapidly and 3D printing proved to be not just a fun and intriguing way to manifest one’s creativity, but also a versatile solution for a number of situations and challenges. Currently the applications of 3D are countless, as people are able to design the items they need precisely according to their requirements and preferences.

Has it ever occurred to you that 3D printing can actually be used for interior design? If you can’t imagine how 3D printing can transform an entire room, then take a look at the Computational Architecture Exhibition organized by Michael Hansmeyer and Benjamin Dillenburger. This room was entirely created with the help of 3D printers, reaching the impressive weight of 11 tons. The details obtained with the help of technology are amazing, mind-blowing even, it's hard to believe that a computer was actually capable of such stunning details. But, the truth is that this room was not touched by human hand, as it was made by computers and 3D printers only. What does this mean? It means that this particular type of technology is opening new doors in interior design. If you encounter difficulties finding precisely the kind of items you need to create the interior space you desire and feel comfortable in, you may be able to make great use of 3D printing in the near future. As many of us notice, the market is flooded with mass-produced items that lack character and a distinct appearance. We, as individuals, are unique and we feel the need to personalize our interior space in accordance with our own preferences and desires. This is why people had started to direct their attention toward unique, handmade products in recent years. Now, with the help of 3D printing, creating unique interior spaces might not be an issue any longer. Computers are very precise and they are capable of creating the ideal item, respecting your size requirements and design preferences, for an interior space that is tailored to your lifestyle.

The best part about using 3D printing is that the resulting items won’t look like they are taken from Sci-Fi movies. In fact, the room created by Hansmeyer and Dillenburger actually used stone carving methods and details that were utilized centuries ago. Thus, the items they created look like intricate stone columns from an ancient temple. This is the beauty of using 3D printing, the fact that you are the one to shape and give character to the final result. Whether we are talking about ancient designs and details or ultra-modern objects, this particular technique is capable of answering to each and every need. How does the future look in this sector? We expect to see interior designers increasingly work with 3D printers so that they can provide interior decor that are moulded on the unique personalities of their clients.

5 Legends of Interior Design, and Their Lasting Effect on the Industry

website@sitemodify.com (Website Editor) — Tue, 11 Jun 2019 16:04:20 GMT

Interior design a true art form, consisting of mixing all the elements of a room together to create a perfectly styled space. Whether it be the combination of paint, texture and fabric or the tone, shapes and furniture used, a lot goes into mastering interior designs. Like any art form, there are legends who inspire us, who have set the bar for interior and whose influence 21st century designers follow today.

Dorothy Draper

Taking a fresh approach to interior design, Dorothy Draper believed that the craft should not be deep or complicated, but fun and instinctual. “Decorating is just sheer fun: a delight in colour, an awareness of balance, a feeling for lighting, a sense of style, a zest for life, and an amused enjoyment of the smart accessories of the moment.” She was known for “modern Baroque” styles, which touched some of the most famous buildings in America. Her versatile work varied between stark black and white palettes and fantastic arrays of colour.

Her effect on the industry:

She was the first to make interior design a business with her company, Dorothy Draper & Company.
She created “Modern Baroque”.
She pioneered brave technicolour colour patterns and combinations.

Elsie de Wolfe

Born in 1865 New York City, Elise de Wolfe was known as “America’s first decorator”(1). Initially using her eye for design in her fantastic Parisian inspired wardrobe, she had a gift for redecorating a space. She would embark upon large projects, moving away from the Victorian-style designs of the day toward a simple, warm, airy and refined tone that graced all of her designs.

Her effect on the industry:

Moved interior design away from drab Victorian styles to light fresh colours and delicate prints.
Textures and fabrics designed for comfort.
Faux finish treatments and animal prints.

Jean-Michel Frank

1930’s Paris inspired Jean-Michel Frank more than anything else. He enjoyed a minimalist tone, but also incorporated interesting and complicated features. The shapes he used were simple, but the materials, fabrics and textures were ornate, complex and textured. He would transform a soulless room into something spectacular by insisting the taste be immaculate and that the room feel lived in. He worked in France, South America and the United States.

His effect on the industry:

Understated luxurious finishes and spare details - the father of minimalism.
Used subtle yet rich materials.
“Blocky, rectangular club chairs and sodas”.

Albert Hadley

After working with esteemed clients like Rockefeller, Astor, Getty and Mellon, Albery Hadley was widely considered “the dean of American decorators”. He appreciated his art like no other. He was quoted as saying, “Design is about discipline and reality, not about fantasy beyond reality.” The focus was always on balance, modern mixes of design styles and opting for interesting over modern vs. traditional.

His effect on the industry:

Inspired the use and love of chintz.
Perfected the floor-plan and clean lines, then moved to colours, fabric, texture and paint.

Sister Parish

Sister Parish’s interior design shop in New Jersey boasted some of the most interesting pieces of the time and her designs are “credited with popularizing American country aesthetic in the 1960s.”(1) For her designs, she seamlessly married together design elements like stripes, chintz, hooked rugs, quilted textures and overstuffed armchairs.

Her effect on the industry:

Elaborately and creatively painted floors
Antique but comfortable Anglo-Saxon accents and furniture
The eclectic yet old-money combination of colour, chintz, crochet and needlepoint textures, rugs, floral prints, wicker and more.