Table of contents for April 2018 in Computer Arts

The concept for our cover – a virtual career ladder, mixing equal parts M.C. Escher and videogame Monument Valley – was a specific and challenging brief, which had us browsing the portfolios of some of our most experienced illustrators. However, it was our eagle-eyed operations editor, Rosie, who identified the perfect man for the job: Tishk Barzanji, a featured artist from last month’s Illustrator Hotlist. Tishk’s surreal architectural constructions and beautiful colours felt totally right, and what better way for us to endorse our own recommendation? From our (very) vague initial sketch, Tishk tirelessly built (and rebuilt) our fictional Upgrade City, gradually adding more hazards and details and testing colour palettes until he came up with a construction that worked perfectly with our coverlines. Our initial plan to emboss a…

NICK CARSON EDITOR This is Nick’s last issue of CA (his 72nd!), and he’s sad to leave such a great team behind. He’ll still be in the design industry though, as a content strategist and copywriter: find him at www.nickcarson.agency MARK WYNNE ART EDITOR Mark enjoyed the jewels of the indie mag scene (page 58), especially Hotdog, a poetry zine for ‘women and non-binary writers’. He was inspired to write a poem, and will send it in if he finds out what ‘non-binary’ is... ROSIE HILDER OPERATIONS EDITOR Rosie has given up trying to educate Mark on the ins and outs of gender politics, though she is looking forward to reading his latest poem. In other news, she went to Aardman Animations with Nick and Gareth. KEY CONTRIBUTORS GARETH JONES…

ANNE HENRY HEAD OF STRATEGIC DESIGN, CBA PARIS www.cba-design.com At CBA Paris, Anne ensures that the designs created and deployed by the creative teams are aligned with the strategic vision of each project. Anne began her career at Extreme agency, before joining Saguez & Partners in 2008, and CBA in 2011. ROSHNI GOYATE CO-FOUNDER THE OTHER BOX www.theotherbox.org Roshni is a freelance copywriter and consultant, and co-founder of The Other Box, which celebrates people of colour and other minorities in the creative industries. On page 23, she explains why diversity is not a problem with a quick fix. DESIGN MATTERS: What new skill are you planning to learn this year? – page 22 PLUS: We critique Pentagram’s rebrand of romance series Mills & Boon – page 24 Illustrations: Anna Higgie…

Back in 2014, I was overcome by a funny feeling that I couldn’t quite shake. I was working at an agency as their only copywriter. Like all other agencies I had worked at, I was the only brown person on the creative team. And, like most other agencies, the one other woman of colour in the office was the one making the teas and answering the phone. That funny feeling was a crisis of confidence in my abilities as a writer; it was the growing sense that the industry in which I was carving a career had no interest in keeping me. I couldn’t see others like me in creative leadership positions. Was I stepping out of line, daring to be a creative? Was I meant to be the one…

Anyone can fall into a skills gap. Sure, it’s an issue often faced by new graduates or older workers facing redundancy – but even if you’ve dedicated a decade to following your design passion, the technology, techniques and thinking driving a field can evolve dramatically (Flash, anyone?). And that’s before we throw in the seismic shift currently being delivered by AI and machine learning. Across the creative industries, changing skill requirements are already creating major pinch points – both in traditional areas, such as art direction, and newer areas like motion capture. In a 2017 report by the Creative Industries Federation, nearly 60 per cent of those surveyed said they were facing skills shortages when employing new people. So how can you make sure you’re investing in the right skills…

01 UDEMY Online learning and teaching marketplace Udemy hosts over 65,000 courses, covering everything from logo design to software, business and technical skills. Courses are affordable – some are free – and there are regular discounts. Expert tutors teach Udemy’s 15 million students, and it isn’t just for individuals – companies around the world use Udemy for employee development. www.udemy.com 02 SKILLSHARE A subscription-based online learning platform, Skillshare offers hundreds of design courses taught by industry professionals like Jessica Hische, Aaron Draplin and Gemma O’Brien. As well as promising to keep you ahead of the curve with classes on emerging trends and topics, Skillshare lets you sort classes by popularity – so you can see which skills are in demand now. From £7 a month. www.skillshare.com 03 LYNDA Online education…

Democratic senator and civil rights activist John Lewis has spent a lifetime extolling the virtues of “good trouble, necessary trouble”, and at the end of 2016, one-time Dazed & Confused editor Roderick Stanley took up the call by launching online activist platform Good Trouble. When he was asked to create a printed version to coincide with an event on protest art, he turned to superstar art director Richard Turley, and together the two of them produced issue 23 of Good Trouble, a 12-page, largeformat newspaper. Only 1,000 copies were printed, and readers were invited to pay what they wanted for the newspaper, which fizzes with Turley’s signature energy and humour. The art director is renowned for the work he did on Bloomberg Businessweek, and the sly playfulness he explored there…

ELEANOR SHAKESPEARE Illustrator and designer Eleanor is an illustrator and designer working in South London. She is best known for her photomontage style, which has featured in leading newspapers and magazines both in the UK and abroad, including the Guardian, The Pool and The Washington Post. She has also had three books published, and teaches part-time at a secondary school. www.eleanorshakespeare.com THE STARTING POINT Eleanor Shakespeare I’ve been working as a freelance illustrator for nearly five years. At university I flapped around, unsure of my visual language and how to adopt a style that suited me and what I wanted to say. I discovered collage at the end of my second year of study, after realising that my love of film photography and the aesthetic of the prints could be…

In some ways, the core skills required to be a great designer haven’t changed. You still need to think creatively to solve problems – but the tools required to do so are constantly evolving, whether it’s an incremental tweak to the software you use, or a sea change such as the rise of desktop publishing, or developments in AR or AI. Great designers weather it all, and adapt to survive. But to do that, it may be necessary to be honest about where your skills fall short. This month’s cover feature explores various methods for doing something about it, whether you’re adding totally new strings to your creative bow, or just ‘levelling up’ your proficiency. Skills are a particularly hot topic at Here Design, the subject of this issue’s video…

ANGUS HYLAND Partner, Pentagram www.pentagram.com “The new identity takes emphasis away from the supersized ampersand that had previously dominated, reducing its scale and shifting the focus to the whole Mills & Boon name, which is where the brand equity lies according to a consumer insights study. The ampersand’s rose has been replaced with subtle heart-shaped geometry, a more universal signifier of romance. Pentagram has devised a graphic system that can deliver cover artwork for the high turnover of titles – which rely on stock imagery – yet focused enough to ensure the brand communicates its core proposition to consumers. The system and resulting style guide use a combination of tight crops and filters for the imagery, alongside considered typography and flexible colour palettes. This removes unnecessary and trite elements from…

MAX OTTIGNON Max is co-founder and creative director of London-based studio Ragged Edge. He has over 14 years’ experience working in design and branding. www.raggededge.com ADRIAN SHAUGHNESSY Adrian is a graphic designer and writer. In 1989, he co-founded design company Intro. Today, he runs Shaughessy Works and is founding partner of Unit Editions. www.uniteditions.com ANTHONY WOOD Anthony is managing director of Shillington. With 15 years’ experience in design, he relished the challenge of joining the design school in New York. www.shillingtoneducation.com BONNIE SIEGLER Bonnie is the founder of multi-disciplinary design studio Eight and a Half, whose clients include HBO, The New Yorker and Criterion Collection. www.8point5.com ROBYN DOOLEY Robyn founded Liverpool education company OH in 2015, in order to connect emerging talent with opportunities within the creative industries. www.ohthisway.co.uk…

When did realise you needed to up-skill to progress in the creative industry? Before joining SB Studio, I worked in-house at a charity. I quickly realised my skills were becoming very brand specific and lacking variation. Not feeling confident, I started looking for alternatives and that’s when Robyn’s invite to Catalyst landed in my inbox. It was just the push I needed to leave the charity and start something new. What did you learn through doing Catalyst’s 10-day programme? It’s really impressive how much [founder] Robyn managed to squeeze into Catalyst. One of my favourite workshops was about our own ‘why’. Everyone realised they are able to spend every day doing something they love and enjoy. The course helped develop my skills in so many areas, from on-the-spot idea thinking…

One of the most exciting things about independent magazines today is the speed and energy with which rules are being broken, as people who have no background as editors or art directors stumble across this newly democratised form of print. Companies such as Apple, Adobe and Google have radically simplified the process of going from files to printed pages, and today people all around the world are following their passions and a never-ending supply of free YouTube tutorials, and finding their way into print. Megan Conery and Molly Taylor are two such magazine makers, and it has been brilliant to watch the rapid evolution of hotdog, the poetry magazine they launched at the start of 2016. That first issue was published in newsprint (the cheapest, simplest way of putting ink…

MOLD is a relatively new magazine investigating the future of food, and I was pleased to deliver it to Stack subscribers in December in the run up to the seasonal indulgence of Christmas. Whereas food magazines normally focus on the beauty, seduction and fetishisation of the things we eat, as well as telling as what we should be eating, MOLD prefers to ask why we eat those things, how they affect our lives, and whether those habits will be sustainable as we face challenges like climate change and global population growth. The first issue was titled Designing for the Human Microbiome and focused on the opportunities presented by microbes in areas such as fermentation, digestion and decomposition. And the second took a close look at the objects we use to…

More often than not I start with typography before anything else. Type can say a huge amount about a brand, the personality of the typeface and the sizes, weights, capitalisation can all create a solid foundation for an ‘on brand’ design. I’ll begin with a type scale (www.type-scale.com) to establish my type sizes. I’ll modify these in the early stages if necessary, but otherwise stick to them throughout. A type scale will create a harmonious visual hierarchy that will give your page rhythm and make it really easy for your viewer to find what they’re looking for. As a rule of thumb, I’ll use the line height of the body copy to establish the baseline grid for the page, then use this throughout the design as a baseline measurement. Most…

1. Use your own client-side experience If you’ve ever worked client-side, draw on that. Writer Philip Cowell was originally a client of Here’s: “It helps with empathy,” he says. “You can understand some of the pressures, and the things that drive them.” “Our business is all about empathy,” agrees strategy partner Tess Wicksteed. “It’s that artificial thing: ‘Clients versus us.’ We’re all on the same side.” Cowell agrees: “It works better when I’m literally on the side of the client: a faceto- face meeting,” he adds. “It’s great to chat about what drives them.” 2. Get inside their heads “It’s a form of acting, putting yourself in those people’s heads,” explains Wicksteed. “I genuinely think that when Phil’s writing as, say, a 55-year-old Scottish brewery man, he can really understand…

One route that we considered was based around the distinctive serif ‘O’ from the Oxford logo – using it in various expressive ways as a way of discovering the world of education. We experimented with the ‘O’ as a magnifying graphic to highlight certain messages along with different illustrations. While it provided playful juxtapositions or reveals, there were a few reasons it didn’t work out. The flexibility in the style and variety of content actually worked against it, and examples lacked unity. You could only use it to juxtapose two things at a time, and it wasn’t right for such a wide-ranging visual identity.…

Louise Kyme is a brand consultant specialising in the charity sector, and working with various brand agencies. Here, she describes how her Telecaster inspires her music – even if she doesn’t play it. Yet. and beautiful sound. Right now, it’s perfect. I’ll keep progressing, inspired by the warmth and encouragement of this beautiful guitar. But one day, I’ll graduate to that Tele, sitting in the corner of my room: heavy, black and demanding. And when I do, I’ll own that sound, that stage, that audience. I’ll growl with that guitar. And I’ll know I’ve earned it. I’ve always thought the Telecaster an odd guitar design. When I was a kid, I didn’t think it was that beautiful, unlike a Gibson Les Paul or Gretsch Anniversary. I wasn’t that impressed. But…

ROSHNI GOYATE Roshni is a copywriter and consultant, and co-founder of The Other Box, which celebrates diversity in the creative industries. On page 23, she explains why inclusivity needs long-term action. www.roshnigoyate.com JONATHAN ZAWADA A cross-disciplinary artist, Jonathan weaves together analogue and digital processes. On page 50, we chatted to him about why he refuses to compromise his creative vision for a client. www.zawada.art STEVE WATSON Steven Watson is the founder of Stack, the subscription service that delivers a different independent magazine every month. On page 58, he reveals his top 10 indie magazines for 2018. www.stackmagazines.com KATE MARLOW Kate is one of three co-founders of Here Design. As part of our Video Insight on page 78, she explains how Here has built its reputation for creating stunning work across…

Annie Atkins specialises in graphics for filmmaking, creating graphic pieces outlined by a period film script, such as prison escape maps to help create Wes Anderson’s fictional State of Zubrowka, or neon shopfront signs and fake passports for Steven Spielberg. Her Instagram account showcases pictures of these props, and life behind the scenes on a movie set. “It’s an area of film people don’t get to see much of really, so the little details can be quite interesting,” says Atkins. “I also like photographing my workshop students as they work on their graphic props. Some of their work is really beautiful!” Atkins says she “immediately took to Instagram.” She loves simple editing software and being able to publish images without fuss, to a “really great interactive community”. She describes her…

CHLOE HOLDEN Junior designer, Conran Design Group www.conrandesigngroup.com “As a junior designer, this year will be all about growing and developing my skill set and moving up the career ladder. One of my key goals is to build my confidence with the ‘designer’s toolkit’, taking my understanding of programmes like After Effects and Animate to the next level, so when I have an idea I can quickly mock it up. I will also be working on my verbal presentation skills. You can be a great designer, but if you can’t articulate your idea in front of a team it cripples your confidence. So I am giving a speech about my career to date at my former university. I am nervous, but learning how to speak in front of and engage…

Traditional graphic design techniques built around communicating a message are slowly being replaced by skills that shape how consumers will use a product. 01 3D AND PRODUCT DESIGN As demand rises for product designers – with responsibility for everything from aesthetics and design to the overall user experience and development of a product – 3D skills, which have long been sought after, are gaining new importance. Cinema 4D offers a relatively easy-to-learn toolset for product visualisation and graphic design, but new, simplified software programs like Adobe Dimension CC and Maxon’s free Cineware for Illustrator plugin make it easier than ever for 2D designers to operate and innovate inside a 3D workflow. 02 STORYTELLING WITH MOTION GRAPHICS Motion design and animation are firmly entrenched as a major part of how brands…

JONATHAN ZAWADA A uniquely cross-disciplinary artist, Australian Jonathan Zawada weaves together both analogue and digital processes. With early roots in web design, coding and animation, he moved into graphic design, illustration and art direction for clients such as Nike, Bloomberg and BMW, and now works across object design, sculpture, video, installation and painting. www.zawada.art Like a creative chameleon, Jonathan Zawada totally defies categorisation in terms of either style or discipline. In order to express himself visually, he’s proven equally happy sculpting chunks of marble, applying oils to canvas or tweaking digital nodes – and plenty in between. Following his inspiring talk at Antwerp’s Us By Night festival, we chatted to the visionary – and highly introverted – artist and designer about what makes him tick... In your Us By Night…

The winner of Magazine of the Year at the Stack Awards 2017, Buffalo Zine is a fashion title that satirises the world it celebrates. Each issue takes a completely different format – for example, one was in the shape of a hardback Victorian children’s book, and the current issue was released as a series of pastiches on interiors magazines. The issue that won at the awards was a relatively large format publication, and all of it was produced in and around the team’s office in Hackney. That meant persuading cover star Pamela Anderson to pose in the alleyway behind the office, and also gave the team licence to explore the place from every conceivable perspective, for example drafting in Iain Sinclair to write an essay on the history and psychogeography…

Pronounced ‘nexus’, NXS launched last year as a meeting place for different perspectives arranged around a single theme. The launch issue investigated the sexy meeting place of people and machines with its theme of Cyber Sensuality, expressed on the cover with a collection of glistening and rumpled CG textures. Meanwhile, the current issue is themed around Synthetic Selves, digging down into the competing ideas of self in the 21st century and represented on the cover with a Rorschach test inviting the reader to see what they will. Tall and thin, it stands out above other titles on the newsstand, and is intended to replicate the long screens we spend so much time scrolling through online. The two issues so far have switched up everything from the mastheads to the fonts…

1 BUILD IN FLEXIBILITY “The biggest mistake you can make is to imagine static typographic compositions as written in stone,” says Massimiliano Frangi, senior design director at CBA Italy. “Flexibility, readability and personality: these are the three fundamental characteristics when we speak of web typography.” 2 LIMIT TYPEFACES “It’s important to not choose too many typefaces, because this will crowd your design,” says Martha Lisboa, digital designer at CBA Paris. “A maximum of two or three will suffice, and this will allow for a lighter app that can be loaded in a few seconds.” 3 TEST YOUR TYPE “The most important thing is to test your designs on different device sizes,” adds Lisboa. “The more devices you try your text styles on, the better idea you will get about how…

1. Forge relationships with craftspeople “We’ve built up a good bank of specialists that we know we can trust, and even just consult on something,” explains production manager Nikki Stuart. “Every week there’ll be someone coming in to show what they’ve been working on, or show a new technique.” Collaboration is at the core of the studio, adds designer Harry Bingham: “There are many different specialisms in the building. We’re always thinking about collaboration: who can do this, who can help with that.” 2. Convince clients of the value “If you’ve got this idea for a 3D product that you think a client should commission, you can make it as beautiful and as useful as you like, but convincing them to invest in it is half the battle,” says Bingham.…

We’d long been dreaming about working with a dating app, so when OkCupid came to us we felt like we were in heaven. We shot in the most beautiful country in the world, Italy, using incredible golden lenses that we had built specifically for this project. For the casting, we had the models fly first class from all over the world, including people who flew from Australia, South Africa, Anatartica and Hawaii. As our team is so terrific, nothing is impossible when we’re on set. Our secret is to be very playful and have fun, and that means the result is always good. We love all the pieces in this campaign, they are all challenging, provocative and very exciting to deal with. But if I had to choose one, it’s…