<![CDATA[ Creative Bloq ]]>

<![CDATA[ Creative Bloq ]]> https://www.creativebloq.com Sat, 12 Sep 2026 11:00:00 +0000 en <![CDATA[ How I created a sense of scale, weight and halted motion in this epic serpent scene using Blender ]]> I was brought on to Paul Coulthard’s God of Bones project, currently being developed into a short film, to help develop this key vista shot of a serpent frozen mid-death, calcified as it collapses into stone. The idea was to capture scale, weight, and a sense of halted motion, which the initial compositions weren’t fully achieving.

Working closely with Paul, I refined the framing and atmosphere to push it to the final image seen here. The serpent design was supervised by Christian Bull and modelled by Laurens Rasti and Wilmar Ballespi of Shoot First.

How I created a large-scale serpent scene

01. Concept Sketch

The process began with a rough sketch by Paul. The goal was to establish mood, violence, and vast scale in a single moment, with the serpent caught mid death throes.

This drawing defined the initial composition, rhythm, and motion, giving me a clear direction for how the creature should move through space.

02. 3D layout in Blender

I began blocking the scene in Blender (see our guide to the best 3D modelling software). I built the environment and placing the serpent within a large-scale rocky formation. Paul and I worked together to balance readability, scale, and dynamism.

The focus was maintaining the serpent’s presence while keeping an intentionally unstable cinematic arrangement.

03. Rendering and final paintover

I rendered the scene and integrated photography and paint to add ocean spray, rock textures and atmospheric detail. I also refined the serpent’s head calcification, a challenging effect to communicate clearly.

At the end, we flipped the entire composition.

Gear up

If you need to build your own art setup, see our guides to the best drawing tablets and the best laptops for 3D modelling.

HUION

Kamvas 13

XPPen

Artist 15.6 Pro V2

XPPen

Updated Deco 01 V3

HUION

Inspiroy H640p

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]]> https://www.creativebloq.com/art/digital-art/how-to-create-scale-with-framing-in-an-epic-serpent-scene-using-blender 8WuapYYcgMfo3BWfb5u7W3 Sat, 12 Sep 2026 11:00:00 +0000 false false false <![CDATA[ I hate to say it, but the backlash to this beer company's rebrand is justified ]]> Over the last few years, it's started to feel like there's no such thing as a rebrand without a backlash. From Jaguar to Cracker Barrel, several brands have had to fight fire after launching contemporary new looks – particularly when their efforts have been perceived, whisper it, woke.

I've become pretty sceptical of these backlashes recently. It's hardly a secret that the internet feeds of controversy, and in most cases, people aren't reacting to the actual design logic behind a rebrand. But when it comes to British beer brand Timothy Taylor's new look, I'm sad to say I agree with the outcry.

Evolution of the Timothy Taylor's logo

The evolution of Timothy Taylor's branding (Image credit: Timothy Taylor's)

The Yorkshire brewery has unveiled its first major rebrand in more than a decade, with a new logo, new packaging, new pump clips and, most notably, a new man on the front of its signature beer, Landlord.

The brand is allegedly trying to appeal to Gen Z drinkers, who are developing a taste for cask ale. CEO Andrew Carter says the refresh is not about changing what the brewery makes, but about ensuring “the quality and care that go into every pint are reflected in how Timothy Taylor’s is presented today”. The brewery wants to remain “just as relevant to the next generation of drinkers as we’ve been to the last”.

But I can't help but look at the new Landlord character and think, why does he look like that? Why is he suddenly younger, fitter and more handsome? Why has he got a head (and chin) full of hair? The old bloke looked like a character, like your stereotypical idea of a pub landlord. This one looks like an actor you'd cast as the head of a fledgling microbrewery.

Burger King and Pepsi logo

Brands have been rediscovering the importance of heritage design in recent years (Image credit: Burger King/Pepsi)

I've no problem with a brand choosing to modernise its image, particularly when that brand is on the up. Timothy Taylor's Landlord is the UK’s best-selling cask ale by both value and volume. But I fear the brand has mistaken old-fashioned for unfashionable. Brand heritage is more important than ever in today's world of fleeting design fads and, yes, artificial content. The cultural currency of history is clear, with countless brands resurrecting old logos over the last few years.

It's the little peculiarities, unfashionable colours, old fashioned text and, yes, old-fashioned characters, that prevent brands slipping into homogeny in today's world of flat design and sans serif text. Timothy Taylor's had something that a lot of contemporary brands would pay agencies a lot of money for: genuine character.

I don't think this one ranks up there with Jaguar when it comes to branding misfires. And I don't think there's much ideology behind it – we don't need a bunch of thought pieces about "woke beer", or even responses, like The Spectator's calling the rebrand "a disgrace". It's just a UK beer brand updating its packaging. We'll all survive, and the beer will still taste the same.

But I do think there's a useful lesson here for brands and designers. Modernising a heritage brand doesn't have to mean making it look modern. After all, Timothy Taylor's is riding high, and already hugely popular among younger drinkers. The old landlord was clearly doing something right.

]]> https://www.creativebloq.com/design/branding/i-hate-to-say-it-but-the-backlash-to-this-beer-companys-rebrand-is-justified LMnJgfe7qFc5gfRnuLG8CV Sat, 12 Sep 2026 10:00:00 +0000 false false false <![CDATA[ Elon Musk's daughter's Tesla-trolling fashion advert is as cinematic as Star Wars ]]> Fashion brands love to present themselves as rebellious, celebrating self-expression, individuality and rule breaking. The Spanish brand Desigual has now found something to actually rebel against, and it's doing so with an ad campaign that's as layered as it is cinematic.

With opportune timing just as an Anthropic researcher warns that AI "could kill all humans" within 10 years, Desigual is joining the fight back. The centrepiece of its campaign is a film in which a model tries to break the circuitry of a robot based on the Tesla Optimus. And there's an immaculate real-world subtext: the model is Vivian Jenna Wilson, the estranged daughter of Tesla CEO Elon Musk.

Desigual's Born to Disobey campaign is the work of ProdCo, with the film being overseen by PSG (Yukihiro 'Sho' Shoda, Pau López and Gerardo del Hierro, formerly known as TURBO).

Throughout the short, Vivian deliberately pushes the programming of a robot named DESI 84 – a reference to the year that Barcelona-based Desigual was founded. She tees off on the robot's chest, walks it on a leash and tries to teach it how to perform in the bedroom. After the robot malfunctions and ends up banging its head against a wall, Vivian concludes "Some things aren't meant to be fixed").

There are some little Easter eggs. Vivian is shown reading R.U.R., Karel Čapek's 1920 sci-fi play, which gave us the word 'robot'. And this robot is, in fact, a human actor, an ironic twist when there are fears about robots and AI replacing human jobs. The actor studied videos of the Tesla Optimus in order to imitate its movements.

From a branding perspective, Born to Disobey continues a long-running theme in Desigual's marketing. The brand has historically positioned itself around nonconformity, eccentricity and colourful self-expression. Here, it updates that philosophy for 2026, highlighting the contrast between human intuition and machine logic.

The campaign takes the cold, aimless posturing and faux profundity of the visual language typically used in high-end fashion advertising and actually says something with it. Rather than celebrating rebellion for its own sake, the campaign suggests that, in a world shaped by technology, AI and social expectations, the most radical act is to be yourself.

According to Desigual, the message is that "The greatest rebellion is no longer about fighting against the system but about refusing to be part of it. When everything invites you to obey, the answer is attitude, irony and the freedom to be yourself."

PSG said Vivian's character in the piece developed naturally with little discussion because of her genuine skepticism toward what the robot represented. The model, who is transgender, has personally criticised AI over its impact on creative jobs and for stripping art of human intention, making her the perfect choice as the face of the campaign.

The robot becomes a symbol of the systems that encourage people to obey rules, optimise behaviour and fit predefined patterns, while Vivian represents spontaneity, creativity and self-expression. On another level, it's hard not to read between the lines that the ultimate enemy is the cold and callous father bent on interplanetary domination, giving the ad a Star Wars-like oedipal vibe.

]]> https://www.creativebloq.com/ai/elon-musks-daughters-tesla-trolling-fashion-advert-is-as-cinematic-as-star-wars zRcDsjhHBncZuMdVttW4L4 Sat, 12 Sep 2026 09:00:00 +0000 false false false <![CDATA[ This logo just turned 40, but it could have been made yesterday ]]> Let's be honest, 40 years is a long time for any piece of creative work to stay in circulation. Let alone a logo. Most of the time, you're pleased if it lasts four. Because even though the best logo designs are built to last, brands can change their ethos, companies can divide or merge, and when sales decline, even if that's not the fault of the logo, calls to rebrand can start stacking up.

But there are exceptions, and the Australian Made logo has spent 40 long years bucking the trend.

Launched in 1986 as part of prime minister Bob Hawke's Australian Made campaign, the green triangle with its stylised gold kangaroo has barely changed since the day it was made. And it hasn't lost any of its impact either.

In a recent survey 99% of Australians said they recognised it, and it holds a consumer net trust score of +82, putting it among the country's most trusted brands of any kind.

For designers, that raises two obvious questions: what did the original designers get so right, and how can I get some of that magic?

No brief, short deadline

Interestingly, right at the beginning, there wasn't a brief at all. The logo was drawn up by renowned Aussie designer Ken Cato, working to a deadline of less than a week after a call from the government.

It sounds like the stuff of nightmares, but ultimately the results speak for themselves. As Ken recently told Retail Magazine, "It taught me a powerful lesson as a designer – never ignore the obvious, just make the obvious visible.”

A glance at the logo today, and you'll spot exactly what he means. A kangaroo bounding across a green triangle isn't a clever metaphor that needs two pages of explanation, as many logo designs from global brands do these days (I'm not exaggerating; I've read them!). It's simply an easy way to visually convey 'Australia' in an instant, with a clean, recognisable shape.

Above all, it's that sense of restraint that's the logo has survived so many decades of rebrand fatigue across the world. It was never trying to be anything cool, clever or modern, so it never felt dated, and today it still feels like it could have been designed yesterday.

The only time the logo's survival seemed under question was when the Australian government launched a separate "Nation Brand" in 2020 that was widely, and perhaps unkindly, compared to a coronavirus particle. (It was actually meant to be a golden wattle, the small evergreen tree that serves as the country's official national floral emblem.)

It turned out that this new design had never actually meant to replace the Australian Made logo. But the fact that some people thought it had, and expressed so much anger over the fact, is a testament to a design that was already over three decades old.

My takeaway? Some ideas don't need reinvention. They need someone willing to trust that the obvious answer – drawn simply and then left to do its job – was the right answer all along.

]]> https://www.creativebloq.com/design/logos-icons/this-logo-just-turned-40-but-it-could-have-been-made-yesterday qcwxTQAX8dpC5xm7DPd46M Sat, 12 Sep 2026 08:00:00 +0000 false false false <![CDATA[ Geekom IT13 Max review: Max by name, but restricted by nature ]]> The mini PC is essentially a laptop with its battery and screen removed, and it has many advantages for a studio context. They’re small, so they don’t take up valuable desk space that could instead be filled with increasingly larger monitors, graphics tablets or 3D printers. They’re also energy efficient, and often reasonably priced, so you can pick up several if you’re kitting out a new workspace. What they tend to lack, however, is graphics processing power, preferring to use their CPUs’ integrated graphics cores rather than anything from Nvidia.

Geekom is a prolific mini PC maker, and its IT series are Intel-powered machines suited to office and light creative work. The lack of a graphics card and huge amounts of RAM may slow it down when it comes to high-res video or GPU effects, but for a little box it holds up reasonably well, and has a lot of USB ports to play with.

Key specifications

CPU:	Intel Core Ultra 9 185H
NPU:	Intel AI Boost
Graphics:	Intel Arc (integrated)
Memory:	24GB LPDDR5
Storage:	500GB SSD, second M2 slot available, SD Card slot
Ports:	2 x USB4, 5x USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-A, 1x USB 2.0, 2 x HDMI 2.0, 2x 2.5G Ethernet, 1x 3.5mm audio
Wireless connectivity:	Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 5.4
Dimensions:	132 x 132 x 50mm
Weight:	840g

Design, build and display

Geekom IT13 Max — (Image credit: Future / Ian Evenden)

• Small and unobtrusive
• Internal serial connections

Mini PCs like this tend to be rather functional in their design. When you don’t have much space to play with, yet still want to cram in a surprising number of ports and make it fit on desks, you’re going to build a rectangular box rather than something chapped like an aardvark. And that’s exactly what we have here, in a case that’s exactly the same shape as just about every other mini PC the Bloq has reviewed, though slightly larger than Geekom’s A5 Pro (and smaller than the Minisforum MS-01, which can take a small graphics card like the Nvidia RTX A1000).

Still, it’s a very friendly-looking little computer, with its rounded corners and easily accessible front USB ports. Unlike Apple’s Mac Mini, there's an on button in a sensible place too, while underneath there's a baseplate that can route cables to the internal four-pin RS‑232 and RS‑485 headers if you’re using it to control factory machines, run a building control network, or plug it directly into a CNC machine that connects that way. There's a VESA mount adapter in the box that allows you to give it a piggyback on the back of a monitor, for a really space-efficient setup.

It’s always tempting to label a PC like this as a Mac Mini alternative, and the current M4 Mini does have a model that’s about the same price as the IT13 Max. The Mini is ever so slightly smaller in both width and depth, though they’re both exactly the same height, and is lighter than the IT13 Max too, so if those dimensions really matter to you, Apple is the way to go.

Design score: 4/5

Features

• Lots of USB and other ports
• Expandable storage

Something that immediately strikes you about the IT13 Max when you take it out of the box is that it’s absolutely loaded with ports. You get two HDMI and two USB4 ports that can be connected to monitors (and the latter to a GPU dock, maybe), and it can drive four 4K displays or one 8K display. You also get dual 2.5GbE networking ports, the latest Wi-Fi 7, and a load of USB 3.2 sockets, one of which is an always-on charging port. Around the side there's an SD card slot, but if you want to add more storage, you’re going to need to get your screwdriver out. Users of docking stations or monitors with a laptop-charging USB-C port may be interested to know that one of the USB4 ports supports PD power input, so you can remove the power brick from behind your desk and run the PC that way. The power brick itself is actually quite small and inoffensive, but it’s great to see this functionality being implemented.

Being able to take the bottom off a mini PC and poke around in its guts is nothing new; Apple was doing it way back in 2005 with the G4 variant of its Mac Mini, into which you could stick a new hard drive or some new RAM. Whip the baseplate off the IT13 Max, and you can access the second M2 slot for adding an extra SSD, but the RAM is soldered to the mainboard and can’t be changed. The RAM is one of this PC’s main drawbacks, as it’s available in just two configurations: one with a 1TB SSD and 16GB RAM, the other, which we have here, with a 500GB SSD and 24GB RAM. That’s it, no more.

Curiously, Geekom plasters the IT13 Max with stickers telling you, in type almost too small to read, not to connect it to the internet during setup. This is very unusual for a Windows 11 machine, and means you set up a local account rather than signing straight into a Microsoft one. This may make it useful for anyone who wants a device they can air-gap from the internet and still use Windows on, but before it’s connected, the Start menu is a very blank and empty place, so you’ll need your offline software ready to install.

Feature score: 4/5

Benchmark scores

We test every one of our laptops using the same benchmarking software suite to give you a thorough overview of its suitability for creatives of all disciplines and levels. This includes:

• Geekbench: Tests the CPU for single-core and multi-core power, and the GPU for the system's potential for gaming, image processing, or video editing. Geekbench AI tests the CPU and GPU on a variety of AI-powered and AI-boosted tasks.
• Cinebench: Tests the CPU and GPU's ability to run Cinema 4D and Redshift.
• UL Procyon: Uses UL Solutions' Procyon software suite to test the system's ability for AI image generation in Stable Diffusion, its Microsoft Office performance and its battery life in a looping video test.
• Topaz Video AI: We use Topaz Video AI to test the system's ability to upscale video and convert video to slow-motion.
• PugetBench for Creators: We use the PugetBench for Creators benchmarking suite to test the system's ability to run several key tasks in Photoshop and Adobe Premiere Pro, as well as its performance when encoding/transcoding video.
• ON1 Resize AI: Tests the system's ability to resize 5 photos to 200% in a batch process. We take the total time taken to resize the images and divide by 5.

Performance

• Limited RAM options
• Older CPU, integrated graphics

The Core Ultra 9 185H is a chip we’ve seen a lot of in the PCs Creative Bloq reviews. It’s in Geekom’s own Geekbook X14 Pro, the Samsung Galaxy Book 4 Ultra and the 2024 edition of the ASUS Zenbook Duo. The year is the important part there: this is a first-gen Core Ultra processor, from the Meteor Lake days, that was released in the last quarter of 2023. It’s been overtaken by second- and third-generation chips since then, but with its 16 cores (capable of 22 simultaneous threads as Intel hung on to Hyper-Threading for its P cores back then) and 5.1GHz turbo frequency, it’s still got the goods for most office and light creative tasks. Its main drawback is its integrated GPU, which is only half as good as that in the third-gen chips, but which can still play Crysis.

You’ll wonder, in fact, what’s going to hold it back the most? The eight Arc graphics cores or that 24GB of RAM. Maybe the 35 total TOPS for AI applications?

In practice, it’s a decent little machine that actually beats the laptops equipped with the same processor in our tests, probably because it’s thicker and the fan can get a bit more air moving - it’s certainly well-equipped with vents around the sides, where the SD card slot is an island in a sea of grille.

It turns out to be a reasonably good machine for creative work, and especially image editing. In the PugetBench Photoshop benchmark, it sits between the HP Omen Max 16 and the ASUS ProArt P16, two much more expensive machines with dedicated GPUs. The fact that it manages to beat the ASUS PX13 GoPro Edition in this test is remarkable.

Likewise, in the Cinebench 2024 multi-core rendering test, it beats the MacBook Air M5 - this will be solely down to having more cores - and the Zenbook Duo with the same CPU, but comes in slightly lower than Geekom’s own IT15 mini PC, which uses a second-gen Ultra 9. It’s not a big gap though, unlike the chasm between the IT13 and Geekom’s A9 Max, with its thundering AMD Ryzen AI 9, in this test.

Overall, the more mature tech here acquits itself respectably, though video editing and AI apps certainly make it sweat - the restricted RAM pool may well be at fault here as much as the integrated GPU.

Performance score: 3/5

Price

The two versions of the IT13 Max are the same price, £999/$1,399, and with that extra M2 slot and the USB4 ports, the 24GB version might well be the best choice, as you can add extra storage but not RAM. The M4 Mac Mini with 24GB of RAM is almost exactly the same price, but only has 256GB of storage, so the IT13 Max is undercutting Apple a bit here.

Value score: 3/5

Who is it for?

• Office workers and students

The lack of graphics power is going to put off a lot of people with greater pixel-processing needs, but the IT 13 Max flies through office apps and can handle Photoshop and InDesign jobs well enough.

Geekom IT13 Max score card
Attributes	Notes	Rating
Design:	Small, black, and won't get in the way.	4/5
Features:	Lots of USB and a spare M2 inside.	4/5
Performance:	Held back by low RAM and last-gen chips.	3/5
Value:	Worth shopping around for cheaper alternatives.	3/5

Buy it if...

You’re doing image editing or graphic design
You’re limited for space
You have lots of USB peripherals

Don't buy it if...

You want to do video or AI
Or play the latest games
Or don’t want to be tied to a desk

Also consider

Geekom

A9 Max

Decked out in ports, offering great connectivity, and the CPU performance, thanks to 32GB of RAM, belies its sub-£1000 price point.

Z2 Mini G1a Workstation

This compact workstation does everything, and does it quickly, so you’ll happily swallow the asking price while thinking of all the money it can make you.

Apple

Mac mini (M4)

Apart from the lack of high-power discrete graphics, the Apple Mac mini (M4) might be as close to the perfect computer for most people as any computer can get.

]]> https://www.creativebloq.com/tech/laptops/geekom-it13-max-review-max-by-name-but-restricted-by-nature 3PKNYc5K8hD3VvBMHHS2bk Sat, 12 Sep 2026 07:00:00 +0000 false false false <![CDATA[ iPhone Duo is coming, but these rival tried-and-tested foldable phones have up to $500 off ]]> The world's gone foldable phone crazy with the announcement of the iPhone Duo, but Apple is (as usual) rather late to the market. The likes of Samsung, Motorola and Honor have been making foldable phones for years – as they've been keen to point out on social media this week (Samsung actually makes the display for the new iPhone Duo).

Apple's iPhone Duo will start at $1,999. That's $100 cheaper than Samsung's Galaxy Z Fold8 Ultra at its list price, but right now this flagship foldable is reduced by $300 to $1,799 at Amazon, making it actually $200 cheaper than Apple's effort, which is coming next month.

Meanwhile, readers in the UK can save a massive $500 off the impressive Honor Magic V6, which is reduced from £1,999 to £1,499 at the Honor website.

Here's a summary of all of the best foldable phone deals going right now. If you want less screen time rather than more, you might want to consider one of these dumb phones instead.

US Foldable Phone deals

Samsung

Z Fold8 Ultra

Samsung's latest flagship foldable phone is a joy for multitasking thanks to its app continuity from front to internal displays. We recently gave it a five-star review, praising the superb image quality, powerful AI performance and excellent design.

Samsung

Z Flip8

This refined clamshell-style phone is a super compact foldable with a thin 6.1mm profile and weighing just 0.39lb. It has a 6.9-inch internal display, and an improved 4.1-inch cover screen with a less noticeable crease than its predecessors.

Samsung

Z Fold8

Compared to the flagship Ultra above, the standard Galaxy Z Fold8 has a shorter, wider, passport-style shape. It has a 5.5-inch cover screen and a 7.6-inch inner display (4:3 aspect ratio). It's lighter and slightly thicker.

UK foldable phone deals

Honor

Magic V6

When we reviewed the Honor Magic V6 earlier this year, we said it would set a tough bar for Apple to reach. we were impressed by its performance, display, camera and the useful case-stand included.

Samsung

Galaxy Flip 8

This refined clamshell-style phone is a super compact foldable with a thin 6.1mm profile and weighing just 180g. It has a 6.9-inch internal display, and an improved 4.1-inch cover screen with a less noticeable crease than its predecessors.

Motorola

Razr 70 Ultra

The Razr 70 Ultra is an excellent flip-style foldable phone with a gorgeous design, including sleek options for the back finishes, It has a large, highly functional cover screen, and solid battery life.

What are the best foldable phones and iPhone Duo alternatives?

The foldable phone market in 2026 is already pretty mature. Samsung’s Galaxy Z Fold8 Ultra is the most polished all rounder, while Google’s Pixel 10 Pro Fold has the edge for software and AI, and challengers like Honor’s Magic V6 and Huawei’s Mate XT Ultimate are pushing design boundaries – the later being a tri‑fold spectacle (pictured).

The Galaxy Z Fold8 Ultra remains the benchmark with its wide book‑style design, refined hinge, deep ecosystem support and multi‑window multitasking. Google’s Pixel 10 Pro Fold undercuts Samsung slightly on price while offering the most advanced AI features and computational photography, though its hardware feels less premium.

The Honor Magic V6 is the thinnest foldable yet, with IP68/IP69 durability, but its $1,749 / £1,999 starting price and smaller ecosystem limit appeal. Huawei’s Mate XT Ultra opens to a massive 10.2‑inch screen, which looks impressive but isn't really the most practical design.

For clamshell fans, there's the Galaxy Z Flip8 and Motorola Razr Ultra. Samsung offers the most refined hinge, while Motorola packs standout battery life and charging. Xiaomi’s Mix Fold 4 and OnePlus’s Open 2 compete on price, with Xiaomi leaning on Leica‑tuned cameras.

]]> https://www.creativebloq.com/tech/phones-tablets/iphone-duo-is-coming-but-rival-tried-and-tested-foldable-phones-have-up-to-usd500-off cytxoE3VEtDMs6LW5Drhbc Fri, 11 Sep 2026 21:28:33 +0000 Sat, 12 Sep 2026 01:35:46 +0000 false false false <![CDATA[ Ad platform sparks brand romance with 100 love letter billboards ]]> In a world saturated with brands and advertisers, catching the attention of potential collaborators can be a tricky task. That's why self-service audio & outdoor media platform AdPower is shooting its shot in a big way.

Taking it old-school, the ad platform has composed 100 love letters to potential partners, launching its playful billboard ads nationwide in hopes of catching their attention. From Pilates studios to fashion brands, AdPower is spreading the love in an act of brand PDA, proving that grand gestures can have a big impact.

AdPower billboard campaign — (Image credit: AdPower)

Created in partnership with Stink Studios, the 'Love Letters' campaign features personalised billboards filled with cheeky references to the recipient. For example, footcare specialists Margaret Dabbs' custom ad reads, “I know this is a long shot. I don’t have any feet and that’s what you’re all about. But let me tell you, this relationship has legs,” while food brand SushiDog got the more playful "Wrap me in seaweed, and let’s spread the word.”

The billboards will be placed close to the brand’s offices or stores in order to grab the attention of the businesses. With a simple yet attention-grabbing design, each ad features a typewriter font for a romantic, handcrafted feel. Equal parts silly and attention-stealing, the campaign is a wonderful display of clever copy and design at play.

“We love the symmetry of one of the oldest media types (billboards) getting a modern revamp with a new platform, and using an old-school typewriter to craft messages to new brands," says Kat Thomas, creative director at Stink Studios. "With one hundred singular gestures, we’ve drawn on our out-of-home expertise and our history working with brands to understand what makes each business distinctive. We’ve then translated that insight into a personalised experience and a large-scale expression of love and respect for every brand that features in the campaign, built with craft and genuine human effort.”

For more branding inspiration, take a look at how The Economist shades AI in these sharp new billboard ads or check out Guinness' new ads that are lovely (literally).

]]> https://www.creativebloq.com/design/advertising/ad-platform-sparks-brand-romance-with-100-love-letter-billboards 954nDoy92bHtcf7mHmbbMS Fri, 11 Sep 2026 16:00:00 +0000 false false false <![CDATA[ Fans think Beyoncé’s $1000 empty wooden box is a sign ]]> For many Bey Hive members, the Queen B can do no wrong. The legendary singer has been on the scene for decades, releasing countless collabs, merchandise and even her own whisky – but could Bey's latest stunt be a step too far for fans?

Celebrating the 20th anniversary of her hit album B'Day, Beyoncé decided to bless her fans with a custom wooden box. Why? I'm not entirely sure. With a whopping $948.01 USD price tag, I'm sure you're asking, Bey, what's in the box? Surprise, it's nothing.

For the Hive. The BEY KEEPER Collector’s Box is available now on https://t.co/JHmytRIx2j pic.twitter.com/fjb6bARQqCSeptember 4, 2026

"Inspired by the beauty of traditional beekeeper crates," this unassuming box is supposedly a place to home all your Beyoncé vinyls. Made of solid pine wood and finished with beeswax oil, it's a well-crafted, unconventional piece of merch, but I'm left wondering how on earth the price is justified at over $1000 after taxes and shipping.

Idk bout y’all, but i’ma do WHAT I WANT! 🤑 pic.twitter.com/us4eNFNEF6September 4, 2026

Sure, there's a bee engraving and a Beyoncé logo slapped on for a bit of customisation, but the design doesn't feel on-brand for Miss Sascha Fierce at all. But lo and behold, fans were buying into it, with theories quickly blooming.

"It actually doesn’t say the boxes are empty… It says there are no vinyls in the box. That doesn’t mean there isn’t something else in the box," one fan suggested. "Beyoncé giving the hive a $948.01 Beyhive collector box we NEVER asked for means she wants us to have it, which means something is in that box," they claimed. "I just can’t prove it"

Me playing with my $950 Beyoncé box: pic.twitter.com/90XaUtFNJCSeptember 4, 2026

Do I think there's a hidden Easter egg in Beyoncé's mysterious box? Probably not, but I'm not one to mess with the theories of the Bey Hive. Merchandise is notoriously expensive, and I think Bey and her team are simply testing how much they can push it. I'm just astounded it worked.

For more entertainment insight, take a look at these 5 celebrity brands that are nailing it, and what we can learn from them or check out why ASAP Rocky dumped this designer over leaked DMs.

]]> https://www.creativebloq.com/entertainment/fans-think-beyonces-usd1000-empty-wooden-box-is-a-sign WFu8jsPW6heUFBVu5vZw3j Fri, 11 Sep 2026 13:02:20 +0000 Fri, 11 Sep 2026 13:03:01 +0000 false false false <![CDATA[ These are the only budget office chairs we can recommend after six years of testing, and three of them have big discounts today ]]> We've been testing chairs for over six years, and we've been through dozens. You can see our verdict on the ultimate winners in our guide to the best office chairs for back pain. But do you need to invest hundreds of dollars to get a chair that won't do your back in? Not necessarily.

It's true that most cheap office chairs don't provide real lumbar support or the kind of adjustability you need to ensure a chair that works for your body. They don't tend to be comfortable to sit in for very long either. But there are some exceptions. We're particularly big fans of the Sihoo M18, currently reduced from $170 to $147 at Amazon.

Two years after we first reviewed it, we still think this chair shines in all the important areas: style, comfort, adjustability – and value. Here's that chair, and five others that we can recommend in the sub-$600 price range.

Sihoo

M18 Ergonomic Office Chair

At under $200, the Sihoo 18 is the best value office chair we've tested by a long way. The W-shaped seat and responsive mesh back provide all-day support, and the chair has adjustable lumbar support, headrest and armrests. It even looks quite good. It's the only budget office chair that we gave a five-star review.

Sihoo

M57 Ergonomic Office Chair

The main difference between the M57 and the M18 is that this chair has 3D armrests that adjust in height, angle, and forward/backward position. Many people won't want to pay more for this, but if you have a wide or narrow body frame or suffer from shoulder strain, it could be worth it. The M57 also looks more premium, with more metal in its construction.

Branch

Ergonomic Chair Pro

This is not a cheap office chair by any means, but it's a lot more economical than many ergonomic options, and it's in a class of its own in its mid-range price bracket. It provides superior adjustability to suit all body types with 14 ergonomic adjustments, 5-way armrests, and a padded, two-way lumbar support. See our full review.

Autonomous

ErgoChair Ultra 2

This is another office chair that pushes the limits of budget, but it's less than half the price of the Herman Miller Embody, from which it borrows some inspiration. It looks striking, it's comfortable for long sessions, and Autonomous provides a lifetime guarantee. Read our full Autonomous ErgoChair Ultra 2 review.

Muista

Desk Chair

More office rocking stool than chair, the Muista is weird, but it looks beautiful, takes up little room, making it perfect for small offices, and it could be better for our health. Active sitting is known to be better for posture and back health, and this chair leaves no other option than to fidget as you gently sway on a single piece of press-formed beech plywood. See our full review.

Secretlab

Titan Evo Stealth

This is the only gaming chair we recommend as this genus of chairs doesn't tend to be strong in the ergonomics department. The Secretlab Titan Evo proved to be a very pleasant exception, impressing us with its relatively restrained design and simple 'lumbar position' and 'lumbar curvature' dials on each side of the chair.

]]> https://www.creativebloq.com/tech/phones-tablets/these-are-the-only-budget-office-chairs-we-can-recommend-after-six-years-of-testing XyRDZr7DWRNdTwzHKWSBJR Fri, 11 Sep 2026 12:00:00 +0000 Fri, 11 Sep 2026 13:03:01 +0000 false false false <![CDATA[ Discover Fall cosy craft DIY kits starting at $17 ]]> As the summer winds down and the nights draw in, autumn brings the perfect opportunity to pick up a cosy craft. With gifting season on the horizon, it's also a great opportunity to get ahead of the game with some DIY presents.

Welcoming in the changing of the seasons can feel a little blue sometimes, but picking up a crafting hobby can be a great opportunity to still your mind and reconnect with yourself. Whether you want to spice up your interior design with a DIY wreath or test your skills with a cute fall-themed cross-stitch kit, there are plenty of deals to be found.

POSCA

Acrylic Paint Markers

MiraclesAndMoments

DIY Wreath Kit

LaRibbons

Autumn Ribbon Set

VickiNStitches

Autumn Cottage Embroidery Kit

Print Works

Autumn Colour Cardstock

Nuanchu

Dried Craft Flowers

HandyPunchStore

Punch Needle Autumn Wall Hanging

UHAPEER

Macrame Kit

Sarahlwaller86

Pumpkin Goose Needle Felting Kit

FlameCozy

DIY Candle Making Kit

PearlPineHome

Beginner Crochet Kit Pumpkin Basket

Ziurtut

Pumpkin Latch Hook Pillow Kit

]]> https://www.creativebloq.com/art/art-supplies/discover-fall-cosy-craft-diy-kits-starting-at-usd17 YuyKJ2ZLKiQYYd4yHRmamG Fri, 11 Sep 2026 11:00:00 +0000 false false false <![CDATA[ Quote of the Day by Mary Cassatt: "I hated conventional art – I began to live." ]]> Source: Mary Cassatt, recalling her decision to exhibit with the Impressionists after Edgar Degas invited her to join them. Sotheby's cites Achille Segard's Un Peintre des Enfants et des Mères: Mary Cassatt (1913).

I hated conventional art – I began to live.
Mary Cassatt

Unlike some in our Quote of the Day series, Mary Cassatt didn't have the easiest route into the art world. She spent years trying to build a career in an art world with very clear ideas about what art should look like, who was allowed to make it and, as a woman, how far she could realistically expect to go. She studied in Paris, submitted work to the Salon and gradually became increasingly frustrated with the conventions she was expected to follow.

Then Edgar Degas invited her to exhibit with the Impressionists, and Cassatt later recalled: “I accepted with joy. At last I could work with absolute independence without considering the opinion of a jury. I had already recognised who my true masters were. I admired Manet, Courbet and Degas. I hated conventional art – I began to live.”

It's that last line I keep coming back to. “I hated conventional art – I began to live” as there’s a sense of release in it, as though Cassatt isn't simply saying that she preferred one way of painting to another, but that finding artists who opened up a different way of working changed what being an artist actually meant to her.

A watercolour self portrait of a woman — A self-portrait by Mary Cassatt, circa 1880. (Image credit: Getty Images / Picturenow)

That's where her quote becomes more relevant than simply ‘be original’. Cassatt wasn't working in some creative vacuum, and she wasn't pretending that everything that came before her was irrelevant. Instead, she admired Manet, Courbet, and Degas, and their work gave her somewhere to go, something to be different against, because conventions aren't necessarily the enemy.

You need to know what has come before, understand the rules before you start breaking them, and sometimes the restrictions of a particular job or project are exactly what make a piece of work interesting. The trouble starts when you stop noticing the difference between being influenced by something and simply reproducing it.

That’s relevant today, when you can see more art in a few minutes than Cassatt could have encountered in weeks – open Instagram, Pinterest, ArtStation or whatever your particular rabbit hole happens to be, and there is an endless stream of artists, colour palettes, compositions, brush styles, character designs and visual trends competing for your attention.

A painting of a couple and child in a rowing boat — The Boating Party (1893-94) pointed to a new direction – the geometric structure, and flattened, compressed sense of space broken with tradition. (Image credit: Getty Images / Art Images)

The problem with having so many influences is separating what excites you from what simply seems to be working for everyone else. You can absorb all of the art and styles available without really noticing – the right colours, references, texture, perhaps even the right amount of roughness to make it feel like your digital art is handmade, and yet something about it doesn't quite feel like yours.

Cassatt's breakthrough wasn't about ignoring everyone else, either. It was about finding the people who made her want to do something differently – Manet, Courbet and Degas weren't formulas for her to copy; they were artists who helped her see what could be done, what was possible, when the conventions everyone else is obeying are shut down. For Cassatt, that meant applying Japanese-inspired techniques – printmaking, flattened depth, almost geometric composition – to scenes of women and domestic life.

That's what makes “I began to live” such a good ending to think about, as it's not really a rejection of influence, but a recognition of the point at which influence becomes your own, and the things you've absorbed stop telling you what to make and start giving you the freedom to find out what else can be done.

Visit the the Mary Cassatt website for more art and inspiration.

Our pick of the best Mary Cassatt art books:

Abbeville Press

Mary Cassatt: Paintings and Prints

DelMonico Books

The Prints of Mary Cassatt

Children's Press

Mary Cassatt (getting to Know the World's Greatest Artists)

Chronicle Books

Cassatt: Mothers and Children

Yale University Press

Mary Cassatt at Work

Lucent Books

Mary Cassatt: Famous Female Impressionist (eye on Art)

]]> https://www.creativebloq.com/art/quote-of-the-day-by-mary-cassatt-i-hated-conventional-art-i-began-to-live dyYyCLjbvJCit9ZpneZS3X Fri, 11 Sep 2026 10:00:00 +0000 false false false <![CDATA[ Nightmare Operator is like Resident Evil 4 and Shin Megami Tensei had a PS1 baby, then taught it fighting-game mechanics ]]> Note: the images in this article are work-in-progress screens.

The rise of low-poly , PS1-inspired aesthetics in indie games isn't just about nostalgia. Its prominence in horror-themed games is especially fitting, not just because it evokes survival horror pioneers like Resident Evil and Silent Hill, but because in horror, less is more, while a more abstract image can also elicit more unease than a fixed camera obscuring what's around the corner.

For Nolan Joseph, president of indie studio DDDistortion, developing its debut game Nightmare Operator, a third-person action horror in the style of Resident Evil 4, these older visuals have another benefit.

"One of the things that I feel about modern games is they're beautiful, but there's so much density of visual information on the screen that it becomes hard to parse," he tells me following a hands-on I had of Nightmare Operator back at BitSummit this summer. "The original Resident Evil 4, you just knew what was interactable because you could look at it and tell just because there were only so many things from the environment, but the remake has to use arbitrary yellow paint, which ends up making it feel more like a gamified thing, whereas the original felt more like a realised world."

Screens from a stylised anime game made to look like they were rendered on PS1 — DDDistortion

Achieving a PS1 visual design

The irony then is that while modern games might have more photorealistic visuals, they also often end up feeling less real. That isn't to say Joseph rejects modern tools, since Nightmare Operator is being developed in Unity and uses its Universal Render Pipeline (URP), though the small team still uses custom-built shaders to create and maintain the game's low-poly, low-res look. "It has to look consistently downscaled, so if you're running it at 4K or 1080p, it still has to look like it's running at 480p," he explains. "There's all this math and behind-the-scenes rendering stuff you have to do to figure out the size of the monitor, convert it down to that size and then blow it back up."

Another key modern rendering technique the game uses to reproduce a PS1-style look is volumetric fog, even though it's a "super modern, expensive effect" compared to what the original console could do. "By specifically combining retro with new, you get these unique looks that just don't exist anywhere else," Joseph adds. "Because we're using volumetric fog everywhere, there's always this nice dithered gradient all over the place in the game, and I think it creates a really unique image that feels unfixed in any particular time period."

On the surface, Nightmare Operator's vision of Tokyo in a dystopian setting where nightmarish yokai roam its ruins is quite comparable to the hardcore apocalyptic JRPG series Shin Megami Tensei, although Joseph adds that there's also a sci-fi element to its setting of "oppressive monolithic governments" that was actually inspired by Half-Life 2's City 17 and Combine oppressors. But the Tokyo-based developer also wants to create a more authentic version of Japan's capital by reimagining the places less known by tourists, so the demo that I played was set in Nakano, which could be best described as the smaller, quieter version of Akihabara but for serious otakus in the know, while another level is set in Shimokitazawa, a hipster district better known by the locals.

Nightmare Operator has a cool retro aesthetic that complements its nightmarish creations and atmosphere, and it has much smoother combat than other horror games of the era it evokes, but the special sauce is that it also has a fighting-game design. That's down to the weapon your protagonist, Misha, has, which uses a Clutch system that allows you to change the module to turn it into another gun by performing motion inputs like those in Street Fighter, like the Hadouken's forward quarter-circle or the Shoryuken's forward-diagonal.

Incidentally, you can also use your modular weapon for melee combat, which then borrows a little from Super Smash Bros where a neutral input or holding the stick in a certain direction will result in different kinds of attacks. But the two styles synergise: shooting overheats your gun, while melee helps reduce the heat faster.

"This is like a Trojan horse to try and get people interested in fighting games," Joseph admits. "But we're taking those systems that are really hard and stressful in the context of a fighting game, and putting them into a context where a monster is coming at you. Even though it is high pressure, it's a completely different type of tension than a fighting game. And I think it's more conducive to helping people learn those initial unique quirks of the inputs."

My one gripe is that, as someone who mains Chun-Li in Street Fighter, the Clutch won't include charging inputs like holding down back then forward, since that would take too long when you're being pursued by tricky, fast-moving enemies. Even so, this indie action-horror has a distinct retro aesthetic and innovative design that's high on my radar.

Nightmare Operator is coming soon to PC, and you can wishlist on Steam.

]]> https://www.creativebloq.com/3d/video-game-design/nightmare-operator-is-like-resident-evil-4-and-shin-megami-tensei-had-a-ps1-baby-then-taught-it-fighting-game-mechanics No6NKRfaimvPPBbCJVfZ6m Fri, 11 Sep 2026 09:00:00 +0000 Fri, 11 Sep 2026 16:21:13 +0000 false false false <![CDATA[ Guinness's new billboard ads are lovely (literally) ]]> In the branding world, going logo-free has become the ultimate flex. Building an ad shaped by a logomark or typography alone can be a risky move, but when it lands, it's the ultimate power move, showcasing a brand's cultural influence and instant recognisability.

The latest to join the ranks is Guinness with its new 'LoVely' campaign. Drawing on its brand heritage and iconic logo, the simple yet charming ads are a prime example of how unfussy design can create timeless billboard ads.

Created in collaboration with advertising company AMV BBDO, the premise is wonderfully simple. Harking back to its 1930s tagline, 'Lovely Day for a Guinness', the new campaign expertly extracts this nostalgia, placing the word 'lovely' over slice-of-life moments made better with a Guinness in hand. The 'V' is cleverly replaced with the brand's iconic harp logomark, further reinforcing the brand's heritage, while the serif font gestures to the Guinness wordmark without feeling too dated.

“Sometimes the best ideas are right in front of you," says George Hackforth-Jones, Global Creative Director, AMV BBDO. "What we're most proud of with LoVely isn't just the beautiful simplicity of the design thinking or the photography. It's that the campaign captures the breadth, spirit and relatability of these moments, and with one simple word gives new depth and meaning to a brand platform that’s been around for nearly 100 years.”

For more creative inspiration, check out how The Economist shades AI in these sharp billboard ads, or take a look at these ingenious Lego billboards that demonstrate how sometimes less is more.

]]> https://www.creativebloq.com/design/advertising/guinnesss-new-billboard-ads-are-lovely-literally 798yFr9KYU8kohpN6NLs9J Fri, 11 Sep 2026 08:00:00 +0000 false false false <![CDATA[ This artist upcycles vintage artwork to give forgotten paintings a quirky modern twist ]]> The Canadian artist Heather Castles applies acrylic paints on vintage art surfaces to upcycle unloved or damaged old artworks. She often adds pop-culture fan art references in the original artist’s style. The results give forgotten paintings a fun second life with a quirky modern twist.

Below, Heather talks us through three examples of his work.

Harvest Moon

Upcycled art made by painting with acrylic paints on vintage art surfaces — (Image credit: Heather Castles)

“I painted the ‘moon’ in soft colours to balance the warm details. The glossy original painting and the more matte, textured acrylic that I added created a lovely effect of texture and light that cannot be captured in print.”

To Isengard

“I couldn’t resist adding in a portrait of the popular meme of a twiggy tree running to Isengard! I love that he’s so tiny yet leading the way – much like the hobbits were eager to help their friends in battle.”

As You Wish

“I chose to paint this tender moment from The Princess Bride before they kissed, because when I watched this epic film as a kid, I always had the same disgusted thought: ‘they’re kissing again!’

You can see more of Heather's work on her website.

Get the gear

Inspired to replenish your own art supplies? See below for deals on the gear you need for acrylic painting.

Winsor & Newton

Professional Acrylic Paint Starter Set

Nicpro

Bulk Acrylic Paint Set

Falling in Art

Wooden Tabletop Easel

Royal & Langnickel

Majestic Deluxe Brush Set

This article originally appeared in ImagineFX. Subscribe to ImagineFX to never miss an issue. Print and digital subscriptions are available.

Winsor & Newton

Winsor & Newton Professional Acrylic Paint Starter Set

Nicpro

Nicpro 14 Colors Large Bulk Acrylic Paint Set for Artist (16.9 Oz, 500 Ml)

]]> https://www.creativebloq.com/art/traditional-art/this-artist-upcycles-vintage-artwork-to-give-forgotten-paintings-quirky-modern-twists ba8NysXaVjU6pvQHEqrBHV Fri, 11 Sep 2026 07:00:00 +0000 false false false <![CDATA[ Eizo FlexScan EV3450XC review: a well‑rounded ultrawide with everyday smarts ]]> The EIZO FlexScan EV3450XC is designed to be the centrepiece of a modern hybrid workspace. It is a 34.1‑inch curved ultrawide with USB‑C docking, LAN, a built‑in webcam and microphone, and one of the best ergonomic stands you can get at this size. It is not aimed at colour‑critical creative professionals, but it does offer a reliable IPS panel with strong presets, excellent usability, and a long list of features that make everyday work easier.

If you are exploring your options, take a look at our guide to the best monitors with a webcam.

A black Eizo FlexScan EV3450XC monitor on a desk — (Image credit: Future / Erlingur Einarsson)

Key specifications

Feature	Details
Panel	34.1‑inch IPS, LED backlight
Resolution	3440 x 1440 (UWQHD), 21:9
Brightness (measured)	296 nits
Contrast	1000:1
Response time	5 ms GtG
Colour	sRGB coverage, 16.77 million colours
Inputs	USB‑C (94W PD), DisplayPort, 2× HDMI
USB Hub	2× USB‑A, 1× USB‑C
LAN	RJ‑45 (1000BASE‑T)
Webcam	5MP with Windows Hello
Speakers	2x 4W
Weight	12.1 kg with stand
Stand	Height, tilt, swivel, removable

Design and build

Excellent FlexStand ergonomics
Clever cable‑management system

The EV3450XC follows EIZO’s minimalist FlexScan design language. The bezels are slim, the lines are clean, and the cabinet is available in black or white with matching stands and cables. The FlexStand is one of the best ergonomic stands available, and offers smooth height, tilt, and swivel adjustments that make the heavy 12.1 kg unit feel surprisingly easy to position (once you've managed to lift it onto your desk, that is).

The cable‑tidy system on the rear, with a removable snap-on panel concealing the ports, is a standout feature. It keeps the monitor looking clean even when you are using it as a full docking hub. Build quality is strong overall, although there is more plastic on show than you might expect from a premium Eizo display. The webcam and microphone are integrated discreetly into the bezel, maintaining the clean aesthetic.

Design score: 4/5

Features

USB‑C docking with 94W power delivery
Built‑in webcam and microphone with Windows Hello

This is EIZO’s first monitor with an integrated webcam and microphone, and the implementation is thoughtful. The 5‑megapixel camera delivers a clear image and supports Windows Hello for quick, secure logins. The microphone uses noise‑cancellation and echo‑cancellation to keep your voice clear during calls, and the stereo speakers are neatly hidden in the bezel.

Connectivity is where the EV3450XC excels. USB‑C handles video, audio, data, and power delivery up to 94 watts, which means most laptops can run from a single cable. The built‑in LAN port is ideal for laptops without an Ethernet port, and the USB hub provides enough ports for everyday peripherals. Picture‑by‑Picture lets you run two systems side‑by‑side, and Screen InStyle software adds useful desktop‑organisation tools.

Features score: 4.5/5

Performance

Reliable IPS colour with useful presets
Comfortable curve for productivity

The 34.1‑inch IPS panel offers a wide, comfortable workspace with a gentle curve that suits productivity and general creative work. The UWQHD resolution keeps text sharp and gives you plenty of room to arrange multiple windows. Brightness is rated at 300 nits, and using my colorimeter, I measured it at 296 nits, which is close enough to call it an accurate claim. This brightness, in an era of OLEDs everywhere, feels adequate rather than impressive. Colour performance is reliable, and the preset profiles are genuinely helpful for creative tasks.

The curve is subtle enough for photo and design work, although you will still notice some distortion at the edges when working on precise layouts. The OSD is excellent, with clear menus and intuitive navigation. Eizo's eye‑care features, including Auto EcoView and Paper Mode, make long sessions more comfortable (especially the latter when I have been reading long texts).

Performance score: 4/5

Who's it for?

Hybrid workers who want a single‑cable ultrawide workstation

The Eizo FlexScan EV3450XC is perfect for users who want a monitor that simplifies their desk setup while offering strong ergonomics, reliable colour, and integrated communication tools. It is not a reference‑grade creative display, but it is an outstanding productivity monitor with enough colour accuracy for everyday creative tasks.

Eizo ColorEdge CG2700X scorecard
Section	Score	Summary
Design & build	4/5	Strong ergonomics and tidy design
Features	4.5/5	Excellent connectivity and integrated webcam
Performance	4/5	Reliable IPS panel with average brightness

Buy it if:

You want a single‑cable USB‑C workstation
You need a built‑in webcam and mic for hybrid work
You value ergonomics and long‑term reliability

Don't buy it if:

You need high brightness for a bright studio
You want top‑tier webcam quality
You prefer a flatter screen for precise design work

]]> https://www.creativebloq.com/tech/monitors/eizo-flexscan-ev3450xc-review-a-well-rounded-ultrawide-with-everyday-smarts wU6kdoFYMEHRobw3YWEArd Fri, 11 Sep 2026 06:00:00 +0000 false false false <![CDATA[ Forget the iPhone Duo, these super cheap dumb phones offer the digital detox you're probably craving ]]> So after months of rumours and speculation, Apple has finally revealed the iPhone Duo, its first foldable phone. It offers more multitasking, more selfie-taking and more screen gazing.

But many people have started to realise that more digital time isn't necessarily good for us. More people are trying to limit their time on social media or commit to digital detoxes. If you don't want to disconnect completely but want less temptation of getting sucked into doomscrolling, the best phone to opt for in 2026 might not be one of the best camera phones but a dumb phone that handles all the basics while letting you forget that it's there.

Happily most dumb phones are also a lot cheaper than Apple's $1,999 new foldable too. Here are six choice picks.

TCL

Flip 4

Who needs a fold when you can flip? If you only need a dumbphone for calls and texts , this retro flip design model from TCL is a great affordable choice. Like the iPhone Duo, it has a front and internal display. Unlike the Duo, you get satisfying large physical buttons, including shortcut keys. The camera offers 5MP video recording.

Nokia

106 Feature Phone

You can till get devices from the original king of Dumb phones, known for their durable design and reliability. Whether you plan on using it as a dumbphone or a spare burner phone for emergencies, it has a super robust build, dual sim capacity and space for up to 500 text messages.

Nokia

3210

For a slightly more luxury Nokia dumb phone, the 3210 is a classic design icon. Exclusively compatible with GSM carriers (no AT&T or Verizon), this will take you right back to 1999, which maybe isn't a bad place to be right now. Yes, it still comes with Snake along with new cloud apps.

Europe only

HMD

2660 Flip 4G

If you're in Europe, this is an option if you're looking for a sleek dumb phone that makes a statement. HMD is a Finnish company created by former Nokia exec. With a more modern aesthetic available in three colours, this social-media-free phone flips open to reveal a physical keypad with slim buttons and a large screen. You flip it open to answer calls and snap it shut to hang up. Nice.

Punkt

MP02 (4G)

The Punkt MP02 is one of the nicest-looking minimalist dumbphones you'll find, if not the cheapest. It's been around since late 2021, yet it still regularly goes out of stock on the manufacturer's own website. Our Design Editor loves it for the combination of sleek retro design and bare minimum necessities, perfect for anyone who wants to remain operational but go into stealth mode.

Mudita

Kompakt

The Mudita Kompakt is quite an unusual-looking dumb phone with its e-ink display. The paper-like, glare-free screen remains visible in harsh sunlight, making it an interesting option as a very mini ebook reader. It does have a camera, but the MuditaOS promises no ads or tracking, and when you need a full break, you can toggle on Offline+ Mode to disables GSM, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, camera, and microphones.

]]> https://www.creativebloq.com/tech/phones-tablets/forget-the-iphone-duo-these-super-cheap-dumb-phones-offer-the-digital-detox-youre-probably-craving EeGTLuM5sTVmmAXCHzjxBh Thu, 10 Sep 2026 19:19:19 +0000 Fri, 11 Sep 2026 12:18:09 +0000 false false false <![CDATA[ This teeny but powerful MacBook charger looks like it could be perfect for travel, and it costs under $90 ]]> Laptop chargers aren't the most exciting bit of tech for creatives, but they're pretty essential if you spend a lot of time on the road. For a long time, the problem was that a charger enough power to really charge a laptop would be a big brick of a thing, but that's changed with smaller, more efficient GaN chargers.

The SolidSafe Gansta Pixel 4-Port USB-C GaN Laptop Charger costs $89.99 at Amazon, delivers 140W of power and measures just 16 inches square. It even comes with UK, EU and Australia/Argentina adapters so you're ready to roll if you're travelling abroad (see our pick of the best power banks for more options).

Gangsta Pixel 140w 4-Port GAN Laptop Charger: $89.99
I'm a big fan of Sharge's 3-Port GAN which is currently reduced from $94 to $79 at Amazon. This Gangsta charger looks pretty similar but adds a USB-A port, which should be handy for anyone who still has older electronic devices they want to charge alongside their laptop. Plus you get those three plug adapters for travel.

The 140W USB-C Power Delivery makes it suitable for even a demanding laptop like a MacBook Pro, and the pixel display eliminates guess work by showing how much each device is charging.View Deal

]]> https://www.creativebloq.com/tech/accessories/this-teeny-but-powerful-macbook-charger-looks-like-it-could-be-perfect-for-travel-and-it-costs-under-usd90 BXsvGr84Mme6zxZCVLddA6 Thu, 10 Sep 2026 18:00:00 +0000 Fri, 11 Sep 2026 02:09:04 +0000 false false false <![CDATA[ The Metroid Dread sequel takes a surprising horror-esque direction with a shocking new mechanic ]]> It's been a busy week for Nintendo. After the announcements of the Zelda Ocarina of Time remake and Zelda edition Switch 2, yesterday's Nintendo Direct event revealed another biggie: Metroid Ravenous.

After the success of Metroid Dread, many players were hoping Nintendo and MercurySteam would continue the 2D storyline. This new mainline entry looks like it should deliver the goods – while adding a shocking new mechanic.

The Metroid Ravenous trailer (above) is giving Metroid Dread 2 energy, leading many to see it a direct continuation of the same design philosophy but created for the improved capabilities of the Switch 2.,

The big surprise is Samus's new "feeding" mechanic. She can seemingly consume enemies using her awakened Metroid abilities, further developing the Metroid DNA storyline established in Metroid Fusion and expanded at the end of Metroid Dread. It's a strange, dark and more horror-esque mechanic that I don't think anyone could have predicted.

The darker tone is apparent in the trailer's atmosphere too. With the "eat or be eaten" theme, it's intense, and one of the boldest directions the series has taken.

While fans are generally fascinated, not all of the reactions are positive. Some worry that the game may double down on the very demanding combat and precision boss fights seen in late-game sections of Metroid Dread.

There is also curiosity around how exactly the devouring mechanic will work in gameplay and whether it risks making Samus feel less like a traditional Metroid protagonist and more like a power-fantasy action character. There's some apprehension that balancing a "siphon gauge" or needing to constantly feed on enemies could disrupt the classic exploration flow.

Others are surprised by the more vocal (and furious) Samus. I wonder if the intention here is to give her a stronger, more consistent voice to pave the way for a film if The Legend of Zelda movie does well next year.

Metroid Ravenous will be released for the Switch 2 on 28 January, 2027. You can preorder the game from the Nintendo Store.

]]> https://www.creativebloq.com/entertainment/gaming/the-metroid-dread-sequel-takes-a-surprising-horror-esque-direction-with-a-shocking-new-mechanic NvTcVXthhFK6Eyv3mwbA63 Thu, 10 Sep 2026 16:00:00 +0000 Thu, 10 Sep 2026 23:52:10 +0000 false false false <![CDATA[ Final Fantasy VII Revelation hands-on: a beautiful game world now looks even more stunning ]]> Final Fantasy VII Revelation will have a built-in constituency of potential buyers when it's released on April 8 2027. It’s the third instalment in an epic project in which Square Enix took 1997’s Final Fantasy VII and expansively remade it, using modern technology, into a trilogy. So pretty much everyone who bought 2020’s Final Fantasy VII Remake and 2024’s Final Fantasy Rebirth will want to buy it.

In reality, it should be on the radar of anyone who has an interest in Japanese RPGs (JRPGs), and especially the long-running and genre-defining Final Fantasy series. At the recent Gamescom show, Revelation was playable for the first time and after about 50 minutes with it (which seemed to pass in a flash) it left me feeling that it easily passes muster when compared to the most recent and high-tech JRPGs – not bad for a reimagined version of a 1997 game.

Familiar but enhanced visuals

Aesthetically, Final Fantasy VII Revelation is easy to describe: it shares an art-style with the two previous games in the remade trilogy, as well as most recent iterations of the main Final Fantasy franchise. Namely colourful-looking 3D characters with a hint of anime-inspiration traversing lush-looking countryside environments and more industrial cities.

There was a clear progression in visuals between Final Fantasy VII Remake and Rebirth, and that continues with Revelation. While its environments are mostly the same as those seen in Rebirth, they are also a tiny bit more detailed, crisper and colourful.

Plus Revelation adds some new locales: most notably Wutai, the mythical republic over the sea from Midgar, from whence team-member Yuffie hails. At the end of my Gamescom play-through, I was able to wander around Wutai’s Capital City briefly and found a charming new environment, with plenty of verticality.

Capital City is situated in a picturesque bowl surrounded by rocky mountains, and features a mediaeval Japanese village style of architecture, with large pagoda-style buildings with pitched roofs and blossoming cherry trees everywhere. Along with cats, which the game encouraged me to photograph.

Revelation seemed to have ramped up the sense of being a safari-style tourist, as it also encouraged wildlife photography elsewhere. And it provided plenty of environments which were a joy to traverse. Visually, it conforms to the classic modern JRPG style, but is as fine-looking as any of its peers.

Traversing the skies

And in Revelation, it’s easy to get to any of those lovely environments, since it’s the first instalment of the trilogy to be truly open-world. This time around, you get to traverse the game-world in an airship called the High Wind (a fairly steampunk-style contraption, a visual genre which has featured in many past Final Fantasy games).

The Gamescom play-through started at the beginning of Chapter 4, marking the first time Revelation’s party encountered the High Wind. Accordingly, it offered a tutorial in how to pilot it, which I ignored, not wanting to waste time. Anyway, it was simple to operate, chugging around serenely above the clouds, with the game-worlds different areas clearly labelled.

I headed to the Grasslands, an area seen early on in Rebirth, keen to investigate how it had changed between the two games. Once I had positioned the High Wind satisfactorily, a simple button-press took me to its side where I jumped off to parachute to ground level, discovering I could glide around precisely before deploying my chute. Cutely, pressing R1 just before landing spawned a chocobo for me to ride.

FITS: outfits with benefits

A bit of random traversal provided some random creatures to battle, allowing me to assess Revelation’s battle-system. Rebirth added one layer to Remake’s battle-system in the form of Synergy, allowing two party members to combine to land powerful attacks, and Revelation adds another layer in the form of what the game calls FITS.

FITS are simply new outfits, but they add new abilities and attributes while battling, and essentially constitute a means of bringing new character classes to the game’s battle-party members. There are four FITS outfits: Warrior, Knight, Black Mage and Summoner.

Warrior is attack-focused and Knight defence-focused (so Knights-equipped party members will receive defence buffs and draw fire from the rest of the party). Black Mage is magic-focused, whereas Summoner allows suitably equipped characters to summon helpful creatures much earlier in battles than would previously have been the case.

In battle, the FITS system lets you pick from a whole new menu of FITS attacks, along with the abilities, spells and synergy attacks that could be triggered in Rebirth. I tried a few and they were helpfully powerful, and were accompanied by some really flashy visual effects.

But in truth, I didn’t have enough time to explore the full depths of the FITS system, deciding which outfit could best be assigned to which party member, and which worked best in which battle situation. Clearly, one of the joys of Revelation will derive from working out how best to benefit from FITS.

Finding one of the Synergy Upgrade machines at the chocobo farm in the Grasslands, I was able to determine that the FITS system is intertwined with the Synergy one: I could choose FITS upgrades which applied when particular characters were operating synergistically. That added a layer of complexity to a system which is already a tad opaque. But Synergy and FITS upgrades, at least, can be respecced easily enough.

Plenty to do

Exploration of maps already explored in Rebirth yielded plenty of new activities, side-quests and areas of interest. At one point I uncovered a parachute-landing target which promised rewards if I landed on it from the High Wind. Returning to the High Wind at any point was a breeze – a simple matter of a couple of button-presses.

The new side-quests, according to Square Enix, have a new twist, in that some of them will play out differently according to which party member you choose to undergo them. There are two new party members in Revelation: Cid, a familiar character from the franchise, who captains the High Wind, and Vincent Valentine, a vampiric type.

I also found a handy new piece of kit in the form of a grapple-gun which whizzed me to designated grapple-posts. It came in particularly handy in Wutai’s Capital City, which is more or less built on the side of a cliff. Unfortunately, I didn’t have time to investigate a new area called Rocket City, but shots of it – naturally featuring rockets – suggested a pretty industrial urban environment.

Nor, at a fairly early period in the game, did I encounter any of the Weapons, giant beasts that operate as guardians of the planet, which were seen in Rebirth but in Revelation operate as bosses which the battle-party will have to take on.

The biggest instalment yet?

I vastly enjoyed my short time in Revelation. Unsurprisingly, it had plenty about it which was familiar, but it took an already beautiful game-world, made it look even better, and added a whole new cornucopia of things to do in a world which had truly opened up for the first time (from the High Wind, I could have proceeded to Wutai for the next chunk of the main storyline, or could roam around the rest of the world to my heart’s content).

Its open-world nature surely means that Revelation will be the longest slice of the remade Final Fantasy VII trilogy – so it will be a very long game indeed, particularly for the sort of players who feel compelled to complete everything. It will surely be a must-buy for anyone who wants to discover the sort of heights that modern JRPGs are capable of hitting.

Final Fantasy VII Revelation will be released for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S Nintendo Switch and PC on 8 April 2027.

]]> https://www.creativebloq.com/entertainment/gaming/final-fantasy-vii-revelation-hands-on-a-beautiful-game-world-now-looks-even-more-stunning Vj8KRsBFZHr8dux2UvHv8L Thu, 10 Sep 2026 14:00:00 +0000 false false false <![CDATA[ Apple just revealed exactly which two products the iPhone Duo is designed to replace ]]> For a long time, it felt like everybody had given their two-cents on the folding iPhone except Apple itself. The device has been rumoured for so long that pretty much everyone has shared an opinion on what the device will look like, and who it'll be for. But now, at last, we know what what was going through Apple's mind.

Yes, the iPhone Duo has finally been unveiled. And the first surprise was the name. Long rumoured to be called the iPhone Ultra or iPhone Fold, Apple has opted to emphasise the, well, duality of the thing. The company isn't pushing the foldable as a single, 'ultra' iPhone. It's marketing it as a two-in-one.

The question is, what two existing products does the iPhone Fold represent? The obvious answer would be two iPhones – it's called the iPhone Duo after all, and the whopping starting price of $2000 is around that of two iPhones. But Apple's own marketing suggests that the company sees the Duo as a combination of two very specific products.

@apple
♬ original sound - apple

We've been somewhat taken aback by Apple's recent foray into zany TikTok content. The brand's fun, irreverent videos have felt somewhat out of character for the brand, and none more so than the latest, captioned, 'The making of iPhone Duo'. The video depicts an iPhone Air and iPad mini enjoying a romantic candlelit dinner. Yes, the suggestion seems to be that the two products enjoyed their dinner so much that they ended up conceiving the iPhone Duo. Okay, then.

As you might expect, Apple's suggestion that two of its products are, er, romantically involved, has been met with raised eyebrows. "I’d never thought Apple would make an advert like this," one user comments, while another adds, "Wait that means... Ohhh iPhone you dirty dawwwwggggggg."

Apple Pencil (USB-C) — The iPhone Duo will only support the Apple Pencil with USB-C (Image credit: Apple)

But the irreverent ad also serves to confirm that Apple sees the iPhone Duo as a combination of the iPhone Air and iPad mini. Which something of a dilemma for creatives. Does the Duo manage to serve the needs of those who use both devices? Sure, the 7.6-inch inner display is close to that of the iPad mini's 8.3 inches. But there are immediate trade-offs. For one thing, the iPhone Duo will only support the Apple Pencil with USB-C, as apposed to the Pro. For another, it's possible to get an iPhone plus iPad mini for under £1500. Is it worth an extra $500 for the convenience of having both as a single product?

Of course, we'll have to wait until we've got our hands on the iPhone Duo to offer our definitive take on whether it's up to scratch as either an iPhone, or an iPad. But one thing's for sure – it's definitely complicated things for creatives.

]]> https://www.creativebloq.com/design/advertising/apple-just-revealed-exactly-which-two-products-the-iphone-duo-is-designed-to-replace WCov5o3sFR27TeGYmx6wCN Thu, 10 Sep 2026 11:33:38 +0000 Thu, 10 Sep 2026 11:53:58 +0000 false false false <![CDATA[ The iPhone Duo is perfect for people with uncanny alien fingers ]]> Apple's first foldable, the iPhone Duo, is here, and it's already proving divisive. Whether it's the whopping $1,999 price tag or the controversial 'passport' design, Apple has its work cut out to convert the naysayers – especially after its latest stunt.

To show off the Duo's functional, ergonomic design, Apple has tried its best to convince us the phone will easily fit in one hand when unfolded. This would be somewhat believable if the marketing pictures didn't feature unnaturally long E.T-Esque fingers. My question is, did they think we wouldn't notice? We wouldn't have this issue with dumbphones, just saying.

Yeah I don't know if I buy this, Apple. https://t.co/F1y9tPbg6V pic.twitter.com/ScUSXiA4YaSeptember 9, 2026

As new CEO John Ternus sung the praises of the Duo at yesterday's 'Surprise and Shine' event, an image of a strange, alien-fingered hand loomed above him. It was almost unassuming enough that it could've gone unnoticed, but naturally some eagle-eyed viewers called Apple's bluff, claiming it was a botched Photoshop job.

"Apple: 'The phone fits perfectly. Please update your fingers,'" one X user teased. "Oh, you mean your fingers *aren’t* comically long and ten times the size of your entire body?!?! Freaks!" another joked, while another suggested, "maybe they used a long-fingered person."

Apple's new tagline:"Grow your fingers" 👀 pic.twitter.com/MfeWoax63FSeptember 10, 2026

Whether or not Apple used a hand model well-endowed in the digits department is beyond the point – the average-sized hand will likely struggle to cradle the Duo in its vertical form... and that's okay. Apple trying to gaslight us into thinking the Duo is more ergonomic than it actually is? That's less okay. True, it makes a slick marketing pic, but I can't help but feel a little deceived.

Training our fingers in order to use the iPhone Duo. pic.twitter.com/s4oGff1PioSeptember 10, 2026

For more Apple news, check out why some are worried that the iPhone Duo could present a brand-new health risk, or take a look at our review of the rival Samsung Galaxy Z Fold8 Ultra.

]]> https://www.creativebloq.com/tech/the-iphone-duo-is-perfect-for-people-with-uncanny-alien-fingers wAnxTtMs5f2qJhSdmo5iFQ Thu, 10 Sep 2026 11:00:00 +0000 false false false <![CDATA[ The brand new Sony ANC headphone... is the old Sony ANC headphone?! ]]> The announcement that Sony is refreshing the WH-1000XM4 – their 2020 best-selling ANC headphone – has left me perplexed.

The newly named WH-1000XM4C (did you miss the added 'C'?) offers customers more of what they loved in the older model, says Sony, but offering more and doing better. And all for a competitive $300 ($50 cheaper than the original).

However, with a battery life that gives us three hours less than the 2020 model, and this year's Sony 1000X The Collexion, and last year's WH-1000XM6 crowding the market (not to mention my list of the best ANC headphones), the WH-1000XM4C seems like an odd addition.

Until, that is, you get into the weeds...

XM4C: Why you might hate it

A selection of images of the Sony WH-1000XM4C ANC headphone. — Sony

When I've tested the WH-1000XM range, I've always been struck by how uncomfortable they get over long listening sessions, especially when compared to competitors such as the Bose QC Ultra and Sennheiser Momentum ranges. As the XM4C is a rework of the XM4, with the same chassis and ear cup cushion depth, I'm not holding out much hope for its comfort. I hope I'm wrong.

Ultimately, that's all guesswork. What's more certain is that Sony has stated the XM4C will offer three hours less battery life than last year's WH-1000XM6 and the 2020 XM4 model. That's 27 instead of 30 hours of ANC-enabled use. I'm sure there are very good reasons for this, but from a purely marketing point of view, it's a massive fail, especially when you've got this year's Sennheiser Momentum 5 boasting a massive 57 hours of use with ANC.

However, further context helps paint more detail into this picture. The WH-1000XM4C is priced at $300, compared to the XM6 at $450 and the Momentum 5's $400.

When looked at through the prism of price, the XM4C appears to be Sony's best value headphone to date, and that's pretty exciting.

XM4C: Why you might love it

I thought the ANC of the XM4 was excellent, and the XM4C is apparently bringing a slightly improved noise cancellation, so I'm happy there. Yes, the XM6 will still offer the superior noise cancelling, but $150 better? That's a hard sell.

Where the reduced battery life of the XM4C is a fail, I think the proposed approach to tuning and the new EQ of the XM4C could be two solid wins.

First of all, the XM4C comes with 10-band EQ, a massive upgrade from the 5-band of the original XM4. It's the same EQ feature set as the XM6, and I'm mightily impressed by that.

Second, we're promised "updated sound tuning to match latest music trends", which I'm tentatively excited about. It's a bit of a meme in the audiophile space, but Sony's commercial headphones are known for their bloated sub- and mid-bass that tramples all over the lower midrange detail of music, making everything sound stuffy and boomy. To compensate for all that bass, they whack up the treble frequency and hey presto, you've got a classic V-shape sound signature that's about as subtle as a slap in the face.

If the marketing and early first impressions of the XM4C are to be believed, Sony has taken a different approach to the XM4C's tuning, reducing the mid-bass bloat to allow more midrange detail to come through. However, there are reports that they've increased the treble a touch, which seems like a bold choice! Either way, I think something fundamental needed to change with the WH-1000XM line, and I'm excited to hear it's happening, especially in the new value set.

Either way, with a 10-band EQ, hopefully there's enough room to personalise the XM4C's sound, and that might just be enough for me to strongly recommend the new $300 XM4C.

]]> https://www.creativebloq.com/tech/headphones-earbuds/the-brand-new-sony-anc-headphone-is-the-old-sony-headphone iRWEoYGQncsSqCsuhhffri Thu, 10 Sep 2026 10:24:54 +0000 false false false <![CDATA[ This artist designed a poker deck inspired by the crisp textures and geometric shapes of Cubism and Futurism ]]> The Canadian artist Dan Gartman loves everything analogue, and he gets excited about handmade items with imperfections and stories. Created using watercolour paints, acrylics and coloured pencils, his work embodies this while also taking inspiration from the crisp textures and geometric shapes of Cubism and Futurism.

Below, Dan talks us through four examples of his work, from a study for The Iliad to a character design for his own poker deck.

Achilles

Traditional art made using watercolours, acrylics and coloured pencils — (Image credit: Dan Gartman)

“This illustration was one that I made during my study of the Iliad, even though Achilles isn’t my favourite character from the epic. It’s a quick artwork that I did in one attempt using watercolours and a couple of green pencils.”

King of Clubs

“Someone has to reign the Club’s suit, so bless the King! Made with watercolours and ink pen, this is part of my poker deck. I used a circuit-cutting machine to make a stencil so I could sponge on the gold emblem with straight edges and circles.”

Unknown Water Anomaly

“This is what you never want to face in the ocean! Where are all the lost ships that people cannot find? Well, I’ve drawn an answer using acrylic paint and watercolour paper.”

Triplets

“These guys (or is it one guy?) are a card design from one of my monster card deck collections. I used acrylic and watercolour paper, as well as a dry sponge, in order to add texture to the background.”

You can see more of Dan's work on his website.

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Looking to stock up your own art supplies? See below for deals on watercolor paints and coloured pencil sets.

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This article originally appeared in ImagineFX. Subscribe to ImagineFX to never miss an issue. Print and digital subscriptions are available.

]]> https://www.creativebloq.com/art/traditional-art/this-artist-designed-a-poker-deck-inspired-by-the-crisp-textures-and-geometric-shapes-of-cubism-and-futurism YxZM447sZxcytFWiBMRzgf Thu, 10 Sep 2026 10:00:00 +0000 false false false <![CDATA[ Clive Barker's Hellraiser: Revival is the horror game AAA publishers have been too prudish to make ]]> The modern games industry – finally acknowledged in most quarters as an important pillar of pop culture – doesn’t have many blind spots left, but one does persist due, one suspects, to its persistent desire to be as mainstream as possible in order to sell as many units as possible.

Think about it: the few games that even acknowledge the existence of sex, say RPGs like Mass Effect or The Witcher 3, where you can work hard to develop relationships with other characters in the game, treat the actual act coyly (although at least in the case of Geralt in The Witcher 3, they mine some comedy from it). Maybe GTA VI will contain some spicy moments dotted in between the violence, but don’t hold your breath.

But a game is about to arrive which does acknowledge sex, and specifically sadomasochism. Frankly, it could hardly do otherwise, because that game is Clive Barker’s Hellraiser: Revival, based on the classic Hellraiser films, which chronicle the misdeeds of the Cenobites, a ghoulish extra-dimensional quasi-cult of sado-masochists unable to distinguish between pleasure and pain.

Screens from a horror game — (Image credit: Saber Interactive)

So respect is due to Saber Interactive, then, for its determination to make something which reproduces the Hellraiser movie franchise in game-form as faithfully as possible. Especially given that one of the features of this current age in which we all live is an unexpected prudishness – despite the rise of OnlyFans and the gruesome protagonists of the manosphere. Every month seems to bring a new report of how Gen Z is having less sex than any previous generation, although in truth, it may just be more reluctant to admit how much sex it is actually having.

But when Clive Barker’s Hellraiser: Revival is released on October 8, it will undoubtedly create a stir, simply for not being coy about sadomasochistic sex. I’ve now played it twice, at this year’s and 2025’s Gamescom shows, and can confirm that it does a really fine job of recreating the Hellraiser universe. In the Gamescom 2025 demo, in particular, which showed the game's beginning, S&M was to the fore. It started with a bravura cutscene in which protagonist Aidan had distinctly non-standard sex with his girlfriend Sunny, who then got sucked into the sinister labyrinthine underworld occupied by Pinhead and the Cenobites. Cue Aidan’s overriding quest to rescue Sunny from the Cenobite labyrinth, armed with his mystical dimension-spanning puzzlebox.

After an initial sequence in said labyrinth, Aidan found himself in an earthly club heavily populated with Cenobites, often tied up and with flayed skin pulled back to expose their innards – body horror has, of course, featured in many of the darker survival-horror video games, but never with such an overt sadomasochistic undercurrent.

Disturbingly slick gameplay

Aesthetically, Hellraiser: Revival stayed true to the film's art style, but with a modern visual clarity. It had two distinct areas: the real world and the Cenobite labyrinth, the latter stony grey, full of traps, often reconfiguring itself, and very much the stuff of nightmares. Above ground, the environments were lush and detailed, emulating the sort of fetishistic clubs that you would imagine only the world’s elite know how to find.

The game’s depiction of such environments, along with Aidan’s apartment, was colourful and believable, but even outside of the labyrinth, it was unafraid to move into dream-sequence territory. In the 2026 demo I played, I at one point found myself in a very creepy ruined house, in which I had to perform various interactions in order to get it to reconfigure itself so I could escape.

One aspect which added, if anything, to the pervasive sense of dread was the slickness of the gameplay. In the 2025 Gamescom demo, it firmly occupied survival-horror territory, demonstrating a decent, precise stealth engine and requiring judicious crafting to earn small amounts of ammo, as well as making as many environmental kills as possible.

In the 2026 Gamescom demo, from a later stage in the game, I had a variety of weapons (although dead enemies still had to be looted for ammo) and could use the puzzlebox to, for example, draw flames from handy braziers and fire them at enemies. The puzzlebox, with its telekinetic properties, also proved useful in the labyrinth, allowing me to rotate segments of the walls to create a safe path when my progress was initially blocked by rotating blades embedded in the walls.

From what I saw, I have no doubt that Clive Barker’s Hellraiser: Revival does a fantastic job of recreating the Hellraiser universe as a game – as it should, since Clive Barker himself was heavily involved in its development. Saber Interactive’s Chief Creative Officer Tim Willitts told me: “He’s helped us – he knows the game, he’s approved concept art, and he’s approved the story.”

It’s undoubtedly a labour of love, but Saber Interactive deserves extra kudos for throwing the highest production values imaginable at Clive Barker’s Hellraiser: Revival. As well for making what Willitts acknowledges is: “Mature content; it’s entertainment made for adults.” When it comes out in October, you may find that the tabloidy end of the media tries to manufacture some sort of outrage. But when the rest of us play it, we may end up questioning why sex remains so coyly treated in video games.

Clive Barker’s Hellraiser: Revival for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, Nintendo Switch 2 and PC in 8 October.

]]> https://www.creativebloq.com/entertainment/gaming/hellraiser-revival-is-the-horror-game-aaa-publishers-have-been-too-prudish-to-make 3LLzZbyKsR2KvFQ4a8XDLU Thu, 10 Sep 2026 09:00:00 +0000 false false false <![CDATA[ Are the controversial new Harry Potter logos actually more historically accurate than the movie designs? ]]> A few days ago, we wrote about the new Harry Potter logos for the upcoming TV series, and it sparked a debate that shows no sign of disappearing into the mists that surround Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Many readers commented on our article and social media posts, and others wrote to us by email to express their opinions both for and against the new house emblems.

While the Harry Potter movies released between 2001 and 2011 were made by Warner Bros, and upcoming series is the work of HBO. That means new everything, from the cast to the sets and, yes, even the logo designs. The new symbols for the Hogwarts houses of Gryffindor, Slytherin, Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff look very different to those used in the movies. But are they really a glow down?

Old and new Hogwarts logos from the HBO Harry Potter series — The Hogwarts house symbols in the movies (left) and the designs for the new Harry potter series (right) (Image credit: HBO )

The movies' take on the Hogwarts house symbols took inspiration from classical family crests, complete with healm, shield and mantle. The HBO Hogwarts designs are simpler and more readable, with larger mascots placed on medieval-looking circles with less fussy ornamentation.

For some readers, modern corporate minimalism has entered the magical realm of Hogwarts. Some called the new designs "basic", "uninspiring" and even "AI-like".

"This franchise has way to big of a following to be cutting corners for cost," one reader complains.

Others picked apart the consistency of the new design language.

"I don't like that the scroll shape goes in a different direction for each animal, and Slytherin looks like a little upside down mushroom on the left bottom 'scroll'," one person wrote. "Us artists like details and none of these details are uniform, the HufflePuff circle is even a different color!"

There were also suggestions that the problem isn't the design per se but HBO's insistence on "remaking something that doesn't need remaking".

This is hilarious, so we are witnessing the decay of art. The new crests looks like AI generated images. There are many passionate designers who would have done better. HBO is not interested in putting efforts. Not to mention the crests' lake of elegance and auraSeptember 3, 2026

But others argue that the new designs are actually more historically accurate to Hogwarts’ founding era.

"According to lore, Hogwarts was founded around 990 AD – the late Anglo-Saxon period in Britain," one reader wrote by email. "Classical heraldry (featuring heater shields, knightly helmets, and elaborate mantling like those in the films) did not exist in the 10th century; it only emerged across Western Europe in the 12th to 14th centuries. In 990 AD, institutional emblems were preserved on round wax seals, carved wooden boss rings, or circular metal brooches."

"While the film crests represented a late-medieval or early-modern interpretation of heraldry, HBO's circular roundels offer a style that feels far more grounded in the Anglo-Saxon origins of Godric Gryffindor, Salazar Slytherin, Rowena Ravenclaw, and Helga Hufflepuff. Beyond correcting Ravenclaw’s eagle mascot, the simplified circular framing reflects the exact medium a 10th-century founder would have actually used."

That's a great point, but it also raises a question. Would the Hogwarts houses not have rebranded at least once in over 1,000 years of history?

Another reader has a possible explanation for the longevity of their brand assets: "They are also magic, so they could very well have been charmed to not age and be the very ones used since the founding of the school."

I think that's a nice new contribution to Potter lore.

Now here's the trailer for the series.

]]> https://www.creativebloq.com/design/logos-icons/are-the-controversial-new-harry-potter-logos-actually-more-historically-accurate-than-the-movies J9SKz56hwSaNN75WAWc6T9 Thu, 10 Sep 2026 08:00:00 +0000 Thu, 10 Sep 2026 15:08:24 +0000 false false false

How I created a large-scale serpent scene

01. Concept Sketch

02. 3D layout in Blender

03. Rendering and final paintover

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Key specifications

Design and build

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Performance

Who's it for?

Buy it if:

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Familiar but enhanced visuals

Traversing the skies

FITS: outfits with benefits

Plenty to do

The biggest instalment yet?

XM4C: Why you might hate it

XM4C: Why you might love it

Achilles

King of Clubs

Unknown Water Anomaly

Triplets

Get the gear

That blind-spot is sex

Disturbingly slick gameplay