Our top pick is the Bambu Lab P2S for $649, down from $749. For that, you'll get a fully enclosed printer with a 256 x 256 x 256mm build volume, along with an AMS 2 Pro unit that handles multicolour printing and dries your filament too.

Want something even more advanced? The X2D and H2C have both dropped in price too, and I’ve compare all three below. Meanwhile, if you want to see what discounts other brands are offering right now, check the constantly updating price widgets in our best 3D printers guide.

Bambu Lab Black Friday Sale top picks

How to choose

All three of these bundles include an AMS 2 Pro and an enclosed printer with AI error detection, so the real question is how much multicolour work you do, and how demanding your materials are.

For most people, the P2S will be the best buy. It prints in multiple colours out of the box and handles materials such as ABS and ASA, and it’s $140 cheaper than the X2D. However, bear in mind it only has a single nozzle and lacks active chamber heating.

The X2D includes both, with essentially the same build volume, making it a smart choice if you often print with separate support material, while the 65°C chamber helps with tougher filaments. Just be aware that the auxiliary nozzle supports fewer filaments than the main one.

At the top end of the scale, in terms of both price and sophistication, is the H2C. It costs nearly three times as much as the P2S and weighs over twice as much at 32.5kg. But its hotend-swapping system slashes purge waste, and in our testing, models that’d take three days or more on an H2S took just over 24 hours on the H2C. If multicolour printing is your business, this is the one to get.

If you still need some wicker in your own life, there's always the option to 3D print your own wicker husband (actually the technology they used in the film), but there are plenty of ready-to-go budget gems around. Ikea has dusted off its Tolkning bench, reinventing it as the season's must-have racy accessory, and it has plenty of other options to help you get your wicker fix. Just don't blame me for any chafing.

Get the Wickercore look

You might also want to see how they made Alexander Skarsgård's wicker suit.

The 16 Pro 9i Aura Edition boasts dedicated Nvidia graphics, 32GB RAM and a high-resolution OLED touch display, making it a solid option for video editing and content creation as well as gaming. It also comes with a Wacom stylus included, making it an option as a laptop for drawing.

Today's best laptop deals for creatives

You know the one. Aggressive brush strokes. A slight upward slant. It's loud, it's shouty, and it's everywhere. And now, people are comparing it to that other much-maligned font, Comic Sans. Which, if you ask me, is an insult to Comic Sans.

So why are so many small businesses happy to make posters using the exact same aesthetic? The clue might be in the name: small businesses. If you're looking for the quickest, cheapest and easiest way to produce a poster, and you haven't got the resources to hire a designer, perhaps you'll be happy to make do with one of the first things AI spits out. And if you're not as chronically online as the rest of us, perhaps you won't even realise this style is so ubiquitous.

But comparing it to Comic Sans? Come one, now. Comic Sans might not be the most serious looking typeface around, but it was handmade for a purpose. According to Carrick Signs' signage and print expert Mandy Roscoe, Comic Sans was originally created to solve a very specific communication problem, made to “mimic informal, handwritten speech in cartoons, not to decorate official notices." Mandy explains, "The problem isn’t the font itself. It’s when it’s used in the wrong context for the message being delivered.” And in 2020, it was deemed the world's second most trusted font.

As for why AI keeps pumping out the same font, well, who better to ask than AI? I asked ChatGPT, who gave me the following answer:

AI image generators frequently use this bold, brushstroke-style lettering because they've learned to associate it with exciting, attention-grabbing design. Their training includes countless posters, advertisements and YouTube thumbnails featuring oversized capitals, distressed textures and bright colours. When asked to create something dramatic, AI often reproduces these familiar visual patterns. Interestingly, it isn't necessarily selecting an actual font, but generating lettering inspired by similar styles. This reflects AI's tendency to repeat popular design clichés rather than invent something original. Ironically, typography originally intended to look handmade, rebellious and expressive has become so common in AI-generated artwork that it now looks unmistakably artificial.

So, there we have it. Thanks, ChatGPT. You're right, it does look unmistakably artificial.

And now it's hit a new low price of $699 for Black Friday (yeah, it's more Black Month than Friday these days).

This is a great 3D printer that boasts zero waste, fast multicolour prints and excellent quality. We've picked it as our in our guide to the best 3D printers for a reason.

If you're looking for a 3D printer with zero waste, fast multicolour prints and excellent quality, look no further. It's in our guide to the best 3D printers for a reason – it's one of the speediest 3D printers you can get with zero purge.

Why is the Snapmaker U1 so popular?

I've been testing the Snapmaker U1 for quite some time now, and I'm chuffed with it. The printer is super fast thanks to the modular design, which comprises 4 separate toolheads. The SnapSwap system allows the printer to switch colours in just five seconds, all while reducing filament usage with zero purge/poop (yes, really).

The only other 3D printer at this level that I've tested is the Bambu Lab H2C, which takes a slightly different approach with a Vortek Nozzle-swapping system for fast colour changes. I've compared both machines against each other in a Vs piece to help you decide which one to buy.

Take a look at the video below to see just how fast this printer can change colours.

See the Snapmaker U1 in action

*If you can't see the video above, please refresh the page.

I honestly think Bambu Lab might have single-handedly mastered 3D printing with this mic drop of an announcement. I know that's a bold statement, but I can say with confidence, having tested the H3C for the past few weeks, that nothing else even comes close.

At this point, we might as well scrap our guide to the best 3D printers and just recommend the H3C from now on.

Jokes aside, every time the 3D printing community has raised an issue, Bambu has responded with a "hold my beer" like approach to fixing it. Purge waste? Eradicated. Wet filament? Not anymore. Long print times? Cut in half thanks to the H3C and Swaptek technology. I'm not sure what else can be improved.

VIDEO: A first look at the Bambu Lab H3C

Bambu Lab H3C: specs & features

Where to begin? The highlights boil down to the new Swaptek tool changer, comprising 9 PrintTools (nozzle + a PTFE tube), each with its own filament path for effortless and speedy colour changes in under 6 seconds.

Not to mention there's the new FlexFeed extruder, which accommodates both 1.75mm filament and 2.85mm filament for super soft TPU like the 75A Bambu Lab spools I've been testing.

The new AMS 3H is humongous, and has been superbly designed to not only store your filament but dry it too, with 2 dedicated chamber slots. Several of the spool slots also have what the company calls a bypass feed, so using materials that aren't suitable for AMS auto-loading, like TPU, has never been easier (I've got a video on this coming soon).

The only thing that the H3C is missing is a laser module, but I think that's for the best in this case and not needed for this kind of product. You can always get yourself a Bambu Lab R1 if you want to join the laser cutting club, or check out some of the best laser cutters and engravers out there from brands like xTool and Creality.

It seems like Bambu is on a mission to conquer the craft space, having launched its first standalone laser this year with the R1, and having recently announced that it's dipping its toe into 3D scanners as well. I'm calling it now: in 2027, there will be a Bambu Lab sticker maker, keyring machine, or some type of mini portable maker.

Will you be preordering one? Let's discuss in the comments below.

However, it's important to note that different tools do different things, so you need to find the right one for you. For instance, if you're writing a newsletter on a specialist topic you want to charge for, you'll have different needs to a studio wanting to send out newsletters for multiple clients.

For this roundup, I've focused on three main types of newsletter tools. Kit, Beehiiv and Substack are for people whose newsletter is part of what they sell. Ghost and GetResponse help you to add a website, memberships or courses to the mix. Finally, Flodesk, MailerLite, Mailchimp, Campaign Monitor and Brevo are more traditional email tools, which are the best choices if email is mainly there to promote your work or company.

So first, decide what you want your newsletter to do, then check the size of your list against the relevant price. I've included current prices at time of writing, but these change regularly so make sure you check the provider's website and read all the small print. Also read How to build an unskippable newsletter.

The best email newsletter tool for free subscribers

Are you a freelancer or small shop who doesn't want to pay anything for sending out newsletters, at least yet? Then Kit is the one to start with.

This tool would suit, for example, an illustrator who wishes to email around 3,000 subscribers every month about what they've been up to. You'd pay absolutely nothing, because the free plan covers up to 10,000 subscribers. What if you started charging $10 a month for your newsletter? In that case, the fee for Kit would be 65 cents per payment.

The free plan only lets you set up one series of emails that send automatically, such as a welcome series for new subscribers. If you wanted to set up more, this would cost $39 a month for 1,000 subscribers. Finally, note that you can sell digital products here too, but you get fewer design options than with Flodesk.

The best email newsletter tool for paid subscriptions

If you already have a large mailing list or social following, and want your newsletter to make money through subscriptions, Beehiv is the one I'd opt for. This tool would suit, for example, someone who runs a weekly design newsletter that 10,000 subscribers are willing to pay for.

If you paid Beehiiv $139 a month, which is its Lite price at this list size, you'd keep all your subscription income, beyond Stripe's fees for processing payments. You'd also be able to run ads through Beehiiv's network rather than hunting for sponsors yourself. Beehiv is able to host your website and podcast too.

Note, though, that you'd get Beehiiv's branding on your newsletter; this is only removed on the Pro plan. There's also a free plan, which covers 2,500 subscribers, but it doesn't allow you to charge subscriptions or run ads.

The best email newsletter tool for aesthetics

If you work as a creative professional, chances are you'll want your newsletter to look as good as possible. If that's your number one priority, then Flodesk is the tool for you.

This tool was built specifically for creatives that prioritise visual presentation, and has been widely praised for its superior aesthetics. It would suit, for example, a photographer who wants every email to feel like a page from their portfolio.

For up to 1,000 subscribers, the Lite plan costs $25 a month, but the Pro plan is only three more dollars at $28 and you'll unlimited automations and a checkout, making it a slam-dunk if you have anything to sell to your readers.

Note that there is a free plan, but that's purely for forms and landing pages, not sending email. Also, ignore older reviews that praise Flodesk's flat rate, because that closed to new members in 2025.

The best basic email newsletter tool

Want to keep things simple and cheap? Then consider MailerLite the best "no frills" option here. This tool would suit, for example, a small studio emailing 200 clients and contacts. The free plan would allow you to email everyone about 12 times a month, and you'd also get automations, a website and a landing page. You'd only have to upgrade once you exceed 250 subscribers.

With MailerLite, you can build newsletters using its drag-and-drop editor, or code your own emails in HTML: whatever is easiest for you. Just watch the limit of 250 subscribers. Paid plans start at $12 a month.

The best email newsletter tool for marketing features

Mailchimp is the grandday of email newsletter tools, and still remains very popular. If you run a small business and want a familiar, all-round marketing tool, this is the one I'd choose. The newsletter builder is easy to use, and you can create templates from your logo and colours.

The free plan allows you to have 250 contacts and 500 sends a month, with no automation. The Essentials plan, at $13 a month for 500 contacts, allows 5,000 sends, while Standard, from $20, includes AI writing tools and advanced automation.

The best email newsletter tool for bloggers

Do you want your some or all of your articles to live online as blog posts, as well as sending out newsletters? Then Ghost is the one to choose. You get your own website, where your articles live, and you can give readers the choice of signing up for free or paid access to your newsletter.

The Publisher plan, from $29 a month billed annually, adds paid subscriptions and custom themes, and Ghost takes zero cut from any of that. This beats Substack's 10% fee once you starting earning above $290 a month.

The $18 Starter plan, meanwhile, stops at 1,000 members and doesn't include paid subscriptions. Ghost won't help new readers find you, though, so you'll need to bring your own audience.

The best email newsletter tool for building a subscriber base

Want to ultimately make money from newsletter subscribers, but don't yet have a subscriber base? Substack makes it easy to get started with sending out free newsletters that you can monetise further down the line when you've convinced people to pay for them.

Substack is easy to set up and if your newsletter is free, you pay nothing to send it out. It also provides good features for being discovered: Notes, Chats and Recommendations all connect you with other writers and their readers.

When you start to charge for your newsletter, that's when Substack makes its money. Let's say 200 people pay you $10 a month, adding up to $2,000 of income: Substack will keep $200 before Stripe's fees. Also note that there's also no automation or integrations, and only basic reports.

The best email newsletter for agencies

If you're an agency who wants to send out polished emails for several clients, Campaign Monitor is my pick. The focus here is on templates, design control and account management, as opposed to earning money.

There's no permanent free plan. The Lite plan allows around five sends per contact each month, at $13 for 500 contacts. Essentials, from $31 a month, gives you unlimited sends and automations. The cost rises considerably if your contact list grows: you'll pay around $182 a month for 10,000 contacts on Essentials.

The best tool for a big list but few emails

If you have a big list but don't email it often, pick Brevo. Because what you pay with this service mainly depends on the number of emails sent, not the number of people on your list.

Say you have 10,000 contacts and send one newsletter a month. The cheapest Brevo plan that allows that many contacts costs $29 a month and covers 20,000 emails, so you could send two newsletters. By comparison, Campaign Monitor’s Essentials plan would cost about $182 a month for the same list (although admittedly that includes unlimited sends).

If you email more often, Brevo stops being so economical: a weekly newsletter to the same list would cost about $55 a month. If you hit your monthly limit, your campaigns are paused until you buy more emails, renew your plan early or the next billing month starts.

Note that there is a free plan, but its limit of 300 emails a day means a mailing to 1,000 people would take four days, so it’s only really worth using to try the service for size.

The best email newsletter tool if you're selling courses

If your newsletter is one part of a bigger teaching business, GetResponse is a strong choice. This would be a good choice, for example, for an illustrator who's focused on selling a course in how to draw with Procreate. The $69-a-month Creator plan, at 1,000 contacts, would enable them to build a course, run webinars and manage members as well as sending email newsletters.

If you only need a newsletter, though, the Starter plan at $19 a month, makes more sense. You can try this for 14 days without a card. After that, accounts drop to a free version capped at 2,500 emails a month, without automation.

The Wacom MovinkPad Pro 14 didn't disappoint. It's a lovely tablet to draw on, with a superb OLED screen and Wacom's excellent Pro Pen 3, and it finally gives Android the sort of hardware artists have been waiting for; it immediately made our best tablets list with a stylus guide.

Then I got my hands on the XPPen Magic Pro 13, and I struggled to decide which was best. I've tested quite a few Android drawing tablets, and you can find many in our guide to the best Android drawing tablets for artists on a budget, and while they've all had something going for them, I've usually found myself going back to an iPad Pro or a desktop drawing display. The problem was often a laggy pen, a processor that could keep up, or a cut corner on display specs.

But both Wacom's MovinkPad Pro 14 and XPPen's Magic Pro 13 are different. Wacom's Pro Pen 3 is excellent; the OLED cuts zero corners and its processor whizzes through any 2D and 3D app, while the new XPPen has sorted out the brand's pen tracking, given it decent processing power and, rather neatly, made it possible to plug the tablet straight into a PC and use it as a desktop pen display.

So now there's a proper choice to make. Wacom has the better screen and more RAM, but XPPen's drawing experience is surprisingly close, and its PC connectivity is arguably more useful. I've used both for drawing, painting and general everyday work, and while I have a favourite, it's not quite the straightforward win you might expect.

Wacom MovinkPad Pro 14 vs XPPen Magic Pro 13: deals

Wacom MovinkPad Pro 14 vs XPPen Magic Pro 13: specs compared

Looking only at the core specs, Wacom wins on display, processing power, and RAM, but the gap isn't as wide as the specifications suggest. The MovinkPad Pro 14's OLED panel, 900-nit brightness and full DCI-P3 coverage make it the better screen for colour work, while the Snapdragon 8s Gen 3 makes it better suited for demanding projects.

XPPen counters with a 3K 120Hz display (that can also be manually reduced to 60Hz and 90Hz to save battery), a larger battery and a genuinely impressive stylus with tracking I couldn't distinguish from Wacom's Pro Pen 3. The Magic Pro 13 also offers direct hardware-solved PC connectivity. On paper, Wacom wins, but XPPen offers remarkable value.

Wacom MovinkPad Pro 14 vs XPPen Magic Pro 13: prices

Neither tablet is cheap, although XPPen has positioned the Magic Pro 13 slightly below Wacom's offering. In my original comparison review, the difference was around $100 / £100, which is enough to make you think twice, especially if you're buying a tablet for drawing at home rather than replacing a professional desktop setup.

The MovinkPad Pro 14 is the more expensive option, but you get that OLED display and Wacom's established pen technology. XPPen has done a good job of keeping the important bits while shaving a little off the price, and I think it's a particularly interesting option for artists who want both a portable tablet and a way to work on a PC.

XPPen launched the Magic Pro 13 with an early bird discount, and the brand has a habit of offering good Black Friday and event sales. Wacom has traditionally kept its prices stable, but it does like to offer bundle deals. But the original price difference makes the Magic Pro 13 worth a closer look.

Wacom MovinkPad Pro 14 vs XPPen Magic Pro 13: design

Pick up either tablet, and you'll notice something straight away: both feel like quality objects. Gone are the days when a drawing tablet meant a black slab of plastic with a few buttons around the edge; each has a slim, solid, Apple-like feel.

Wacom has gone with a white textured rear panel on the MovinkPad Pro 14, and I really like it. It's slightly cardboardy to the touch, in a good way, and feels more like picking up a favourite sketchbook than a bit of tech. Four little rubber feet on the back keep it steady on a desk, though there's no built-in stand.

I've used it in my hands, on my lap, and flat on a table, and haven't really missed one. One unique choice is removing the rear camera, which means no cluster bump on one side, so the Movink Pro 14 sits perfectly flat like a standard drawing display. The front is all glass and slim bezels, with no obvious gap between the screen and frame.

XPPen took a similar approach with the Magic Pro 13 but chose to keep the traditional camera bump. It's also white, has curved edges and a flat matte display, and at 655g and just 6.65mm thick, it's easy to hold for longer drawing sessions. I took it outside to sketch a local lane and used it on the sofa, and it worked well in both situations. There's also a rear camera, which is useful for snapping reference images, although I initially wondered whether it might make the tablet wobble when drawing flat on a desk. It doesn't.

Neither manufacturer has included a case or stand, which is a bit disappointing at this price, particularly for tablets designed to be taken out and about (though Apple doesn't either for its iPads, so the precedent is set). XPPen at least throws in spare nibs, a drawing glove, and a decent USB-C cable, whereas Wacom keeps things more basic with the pen, nibs and charging cable.

I like both designs, but the XPPen is a little easier to carry around, while Wacom has a slightly more distinctive feel in the hand. Neither will look out of place on a studio desk.

Wacom MovinkPad Pro 14 vs XPPen Magic Pro 13: displays

This is the big one, and it's where Wacom justifies some of its extra cost. The MovinkPad Pro 14 has a 14-inch OLED display with a 2880 x 1800 resolution, a 16:10 aspect ratio, and a 120Hz refresh rate. It reaches up to 900 nits, supports HDR and covers 100% of sRGB and DCI-P3, with 10-bit colour.

I was impressed by the screen from the first time I started drawing on it. OLED makes a difference, particularly when working with darker colours, gradients and subtle changes in tone. Blacks are properly black, colours have plenty of depth, and the extra brightness is useful when you're working with more colourful artwork. The 16:10 shape also gives you a little more room for palettes and brushes without eating into the canvas.

XPPen's Magic Pro 13 has a 12.95-inch 3K LCD that also runs at 120Hz. It reaches 650 nits and covers 100% sRGB and 96% DCI-P3, with a nano-etched glass surface that gives the stylus a little resistance. It's a really nice screen to draw on. I like the slightly textured feel, and the 120Hz refresh rate keeps things moving smoothly as you work. You can also manually switch between 120Hz, 90Hz and 60Hz depending on what you're doing and how much battery you want to save.

But put the two side by side, and the Wacom wins on image quality. The XPPen's LCD is good, and I wouldn't mind spending hours painting on it, but it can't reproduce the same deep blacks or colour richness as Wacom's OLED.

For artists who spend a lot of time painting with colour, or who also want a tablet for watching films and general media, the Wacom is worth the extra consideration.

Wacom MovinkPad Pro 14 vs XPPen Magic Pro 13: stylus

Now, this is where things get more interesting, because I tested the XPPen expecting Wacom to have the advantage. This is largely because the MovinkPad Pro 14 comes with the Pro Pen 3, a slim customisable battery-free EMR stylus with a carbon shaft. It's a lovely pen, with a little more weight than the usual plastic alternatives, and you can take it apart and add or remove weights to get the perfect balance and feel, adding different grips and nibs, including felt. I like how it feels in the hand, and Wacom has the pressure response feeling just right.

The XPPen uses its new X4 Smart Chip Stylus, which has 16,384 pressure levels – double that of the Wacom – a 2g initial activation force, 60-degree tilt and 5,080 LPI pen resolution. That last figure is worth mentioning because it measures how finely the tablet resolves pen movement, rather than simply counting pressure levels, and both brands now have the same spec, so XPPen has now caught up with Wacom with its Android tablet.

I spent a fair amount of time testing the XPPen stylus, drawing little circles, tapping dots, scribbling brush strokes and repeatedly going over the same lines. I was looking for jitter, cursor drift and any of the little annoyances that can make a drawing tablet frustrating to use. I couldn't find any. The cursor followed the nib, lines stayed smooth, and there was no obvious wobble. In fact, I put the XPPen side by side with Wacom's Pro Pen 3 and couldn't pick a difference in tracking accuracy.

That's quite a result for XPPen, particularly when I think back to the original Magic Drawing Pad, where accuracy was one of the things that stopped me from using it as an iPad replacement for art.

The XPPen pen is a little heavier, but I found it comfortable over my usual two-hour drawing sessions, and its two programmable buttons are useful. Wacom's Pro Pen 3 still feels like a more refined tablet and stylus, and I like the carbon shaft and customisation options, but I wouldn't say the drawing experience is noticeably better.

If you told me the XPPen was using Wacom's pen technology, I probably wouldn't have questioned it.

Wacom MovinkPad Pro 14 vs XPPen Magic Pro 13: performance & apps

Both tablets run Android and have enough power to create digital art without feeling like you're constantly fighting the hardware.

Wacom uses a Snapdragon 8s Gen 3 processor, with 12GB RAM and 256GB storage, expandable via microSD. It runs Android 15 and, in my testing, large canvases, dense brush sets and multitasking all worked smoothly.

I tend to use ArtRage on Android, and the MovinkPad Pro 14 handled it beautifully. Brushes remained responsive, strokes landed where I expected, and I didn't run into the stuttering I've experienced on less powerful Android tablets.

Wacom has also done a decent job of getting artists started. Clip Studio Paint comes pre-installed, with guided onboarding that takes you through layers, brushes and masking before opening up the full software. Wacom Canvas supports quick sketching, and Wacom Shelf keeps artwork and reference images together.

XPPen uses a MediaTek Dimensity 8300 processor with 8GB RAM and 256GB storage, also expandable via microSD. It runs Android 16. On paper, that's a step down from Wacom, but I didn't notice it in everyday use. I painted in ArtRage Vitae, switching brushes and pushing paint around with the heavier tools, and there was no visible lag. I also tried Nomad Sculpt and added layers to my artwork, including duplicating a painting to see how the tablet coped. It handled everything without slowing down or getting warm.

I'm not someone who works with dozens of layers – I rarely get past three before collapsing them – but it's reassuring to know the Magic Pro 13 can cope when you do push it a little harder.

The extra 4GB of RAM on the Wacom gives it an advantage with very large files, and I'd favour it if you're regularly working on complex projects. But for the kind of digital painting and illustration I do, the XPPen is more than capable.

XPPen includes ibisPaint X (one of the best drawing apps for Android) and its own Canvas app, which has a Quick Draw feature that gets you straight into sketching from activating the screen from Sleep mode. It also runs split-screen Android apps, so you can check a web page or email while drawing. The 13MP rear camera and 8MP front camera are useful for reference shots and video calls, and I found the battery lasted a couple of days during my testing.

Wacom MovinkPad Pro 14 vs XPPen Magic Pro 13: connecting to a PC

Here's a feature that I think makes the Magic Pro 13 particularly appealing. Both tablets can be used away from a desk as standalone Android drawing devices, but Wacom and XPPen take different approaches to connecting to a PC or laptop.

The MovinkPad Pro 14 has Wacom's Instant Pen Display mode, which supports both wired and wireless connections. The wireless option is useful if you don't want another cable trailing across your desk, but it relies on a companion app and requires you to fiddle with settings rather than use a direct hardware video connection.

XPPen has taken a simpler approach. Plug the Magic Pro 13 into a compatible PC or laptop using the supplied USB-C cable, and it works as a drawing display. I connected it to my HP Omen Max 16, and it was recognised straight away, without needing to download drivers or fiddle with settings. I then moved from ArtRage Vitae on Android to Rebelle on my PC, and the transition was easy. That's the sort of flexibility I like, particularly if you work between different art applications.

There is a catch: the XPPen doesn't have a wireless PC mode, so you'll need a cable. But the hardware-level connection is straightforward, and I can see it being useful for anyone who doesn't want to spend money on a separate desktop drawing display.

Wacom offers more flexible connection options overall, but XPPen has made turning its tablet into a PC display remarkably simple.

Wacom MovinkPad Pro 14 vs XPPen Magic Pro 13: which should you buy?

I've enjoyed using both tablets, and I'm pleased that XPPen has finally made something that can go toe-to-toe with Wacom. A few years ago, I'd have struggled to recommend an Android drawing tablet as a serious alternative to an iPad or desktop pen display, but these two have changed that.

The Wacom MovinkPad Pro 14 is still my pick if you want the best screen and a little more power for demanding creative work. Its OLED display is lovely, the 14-inch size gives you more room to work, and the Pro Pen 3 remains a joy to use. It's the tablet I'd choose if I were buying one primarily for digital painting and illustration.

But don't dismiss the Magic Pro 13. I was genuinely surprised by how good the X4 Smart Chip Stylus is, and the fact that I couldn't tell it apart from Wacom's pen when testing accuracy says a lot about how far XPPen has come. The LCD isn't as impressive, and the extra RAM on the Wacom is useful, but the XPPen is a very capable drawing tablet in its own right.

Then there's that USB-C connection. If you want to draw on the move and use desktop software at home, the Magic Pro 13 saves you buying another device, and that makes the price difference even more appealing.

I'd buy the Wacom for its screen, but if I wanted one tablet to take out sketching, paint with on the sofa and plug into my PC when I get home, I'd be very tempted by the XPPen.

Overall winner: Wacom MovinkPad Pro 14

"I've come across this logo from time to time and I'm so jealous I did not think of it. So simple and I love negative space," a Redditor comments alongside a logo for a brand called Ed's Electric. While it looks like it simply depicts a plug and a socket, take a look at that white space and you'll spoon spot an 'E' for 'Ed'. Like all of the best logos, this one is guaranteed to make you double-take.

"Negative space really is something; if you see the hidden wordmark, you can no longer unsee it," one user comments, while another adds, "That is top level design!"

The Ed's Electric logo was designed for a local company by Josiah Jost many years ago. Based in Canada, Jost has worked with clients from 55+ countries. Commenting on a Facebook post featuring the design earlier this year, Jost said, "I designed Ed’s Electric back in 2008 - glad to see it still getting coverage."

For more positive examples of negative space, take a look at our roundup of 10 logos that make clever use of negative space.

Blow’s brief was clear from the start, as he reveals the puzzle game “should be very easy to read the grid from the background, so it’s easy to tell where you can go, what is interactive and what is not, and so that your brain is never confused by what you are looking at.”

That idea shaped everything from character proportions to the technical features used to build the foreground play grids and how water is 'gridded' on each puzzle stage.

“One of my primary jobs in this department is just to look at a level and notice when my brain is working too hard,” Blow says. Sometimes the cause is a break with the grid, sometimes a background element that looks too “foregroundy”. There are general rules, but each level still needs its own judgement. The early days were rough, he says: “In the beginning we had a lot of problems here, but once we got the basic look of the game established, the art team was able to do many levels with relatively few problems.”

Scheu says artists have to unlearn some instincts: “As an artist, especially when starting on the project, your instincts and priorities for making something that might excite you are not necessarily aligned with making something clear and legible for the player.” Every artist on the project had to learn to picture a scene with clarity in mind. “We ultimately found that gameplay clarity and good visual design almost always go hand-in-hand, and getting this right became more second nature as the project progressed.”

The job continues after launch, as Scheu explains how, “Despite our effort to implement lessons we learned during development, issues and confusion as a result of artistic choices inevitably emerge once players start to interact with a finished level”.

Scheu explains how the art team takes notes from its game designers and player feedback, then works to remove ambiguity.

Order of the Sinking Star's three types of space

The levels come from several designers, so the art style had to work across some very different layouts. Blow sorts them into three types: “sometimes it’s a big open space with background behind it, sometimes it’s isles of varying shape (or cliffs similar to the isles), sometimes it’s tight irregular shapes that exactly determine where you can move.”

Get the style working across all three, and it can be applied to every level with fewer surprises, though Blow adds that making it look good “takes more work than it sounds when simply stated like that!”

Order of the Sinking Star also adapts earlier puzzle games, whose original looks were very different from the finished version. “We decided basically 100% of how they look […] we just had to decide harmoniously there,” Blow says.

Defining the game art direction

Scheu says the team was “trying to achieve something very classic and illustrative, with a bit of a fairytale quality to it, without making it overly stylised or wildly proportioned.” Scenes were built “with a lot of depth, detail, atmosphere and rich surfaces, while keeping the gameplay areas easy to parse and devoid of distracting visual noise.”

He became art lead partway through development, when the characters, general settings and some stylistic choices were already established. His own aim was “to bring the fidelity and feeling of richness and timelessness closer to a level you might see from a large studio working with significant budgets, while figuring out ways to accomplish this with a very small team and limited resources.”

His influences came as much from outside games as from within them. “It’s nice to have a degree or two of separation of influence from the medium we work in,” he says. Also working on the game was concept artist Liz Pulido, whom he never got to work with directly, and whose work “has a very graceful and whimsical approach to design, form, and line-making that was a joy (and a challenge!) to try and portray.”

He also cites “Studio Ghibli’s approach to clean, vibrant stylised naturalism” as a huge inspiration. Watching classic Disney films with his young daughter had a similar effect. “I found myself awestruck by the rich attention to detail and whimsical quality of the backgrounds in films like Snow White and Sleeping Beauty, which until recently I had largely dismissed.”

The four worlds

The worlds share a set of visual rules, even though each has its own identity. “Despite the different worlds existing in their own unique settings, they were all crafted with the same guiding principles of style and construction, so there was never a lot of risk of the worlds clashing stylistically, at least,” Scheu says.

What separates them is geography and culture. “Creating the individual identities was more a matter of having the four worlds portray different biomes with distinct flora and geology, as well as distinct architectural, cultural, and geographic influences.”

That contrast does more than make each place look different. Each world has its own mechanics, characters, and stories, and the visual differences help give them distinct identities before the game brings them together. As those worlds collide and merge, their puzzle systems begin to intertwine, too.

With several designers contributing hundreds of levels, the art could easily drift. Scheu says, “We put significant effort into emphasising the play area and essential puzzle elements by achieving contrast in lighting, colour, value and scale.” The aim is “an immediate understanding of what is interactive, part of the grid, and relevant to the puzzle, while avoiding distraction from the background.”

Artists build levels from “a shared library of assets and materials and a modular approach to constructing levels”, which keeps the style consistent and the work moving. They also share work in progress with each other and the design team, and hold weekly feedback sessions to make sure everyone follows the same principles.

Differences are welcome, too. “We often choose to lean into the different approaches and stylistic instincts that individual artists take,” Scheu says. “Order of the Sinking Star is such an enormous game, we take advantage of the diversity of approach, style, and individual artistic preference simply to achieve more variety over hundreds of levels, as long as those core principles were maintained.”

Ten years, and only the last few looked final

“For most of development, the visuals were temporary,” Blow says. The engine was still being built, the features that make things look good weren’t there yet, and creative decisions “can only be provisional until all the final technology is in place”. The team only started trying to make the game look like the finished version “about the final 2-3 years of development”.

When Scheu joined, the vast majority of levels and the entire overworld still needed building. He took the chance to “do a bit of a reset in terms of how we were making assets and materials and constructing levels, not only to boost their quality level and fidelity, but to make the process more scalable and sustainable.”

Small teams can lean on individual strengths. “The magic of working on a small team like Thekla is that there is a real opportunity for individuals to bring certain skills or experience in techniques to the project that can have a huge impact,” Scheu says. Artist Jesse Seiterä, for example, “has significant experience and passion for creating lighting and atmosphere in scenes”, bringing techniques the project hadn’t had before.

Using a custom game engine

The game runs on a custom engine built in Jai, the programming language Blow has been developing. For Scheu, the draw was that “we can tailor and streamline it to best serve the needs of our project, and avoid the bloat that comes with an engine built to serve many different types of applications.”

Because the engine grew alongside the game, a good idea could be turned into a feature quickly, “in some cases, the very same day, which was quite remarkable!” The result, he says, was an engine that “was very lean and fast and simple to use for our needs, which made it a real joy to work with as an artist.”

There’s a cost. “It inevitably takes longer for the feature set to reach maturity and start to feel really capable, and you might never have access to some of the more robust and flashy features you might see in an engine like Unreal.”

For Blow, the benefit is focus. “When you have a problem, you can really dial in on that problem and solve it effectively.” The atmospheric effects, he says, “are very closely tuned for the kinds of scenes we render, and would either be more expensive, or not look as good, in a generalised engine.”

Scheu is more cautious. “It’s hard to say if this is something that can’t be achieved in other engines, but what I can say is that we were really able to focus on and tailor effects for our specific needs.” The fog and clouds were used to create “a very specific effect and sense of depth and atmosphere”, and they help emphasise the play area in levels that would otherwise have vast and potentially distracting backgrounds.

On Jai, Blow’s praise is brief: “It compiles really fast, and it lets you do things very straightforwardly that are a pain in something like C++. And the metaprogramming is super powerful and useful.” Some language features were built and then dropped because “they ultimately didn’t add very much relative to the complexity of the implementation”. Relative pointers and automated SOA struct generation are two examples. Starting again, he’d cut that experimentation, “but of course when you can’t see the future, this kind of experimentation is necessary!”

Open-sourcing the engine

Thekla plans to release the engine as open source. “This is meant to be a lean-meat, low-fat engine,” Blow says. “We want to provide an example of a commercial-quality shipping game, in open source, so that people can build from a good starting point.”

He adds a warning: “It’s not a no-programmer-involved engine like Unreal or Unity can be […] you’d still need a good programmer to get a good result here.”

Scheu says, “I don’t think I can speak to this with much knowledge,” but expects that “any team using it would need to heavily modify and develop it for the needs of their own project.”

All this work went into creating Order of the Sinking Star, a puzzle game that promises over 500 hours of gameplay for the most dedicated puzzle solvers across more than 1,000 interconnected puzzles. It's the kind of easy-to-play but complex-to-complete puzzle game Jonathan Blow has been renowned for since Braid, and especially since the Myst-like The Witness.

Part of that accessibility comes from Order of the Sinking Star also letting you find your own way through its enormous world. Each of the game's four realms has its own mechanics and characteristics, and if you hit a wall in one, you can head elsewhere and return later. As the worlds begin to merge, the puzzles start borrowing from one another, opening up new combinations of ideas.

Order of the Sinking Star is available now on PC (Steam and Steam Deck), Nintendo Switch 2 and PlayStation 5.

how to make things move in a 3D scene.

If you need the tools to get started, see our guides to the best 3D modelling software.

Animating a single metal ball bouncing down a staircase is a relatively simple animation which can be done by keyframing. Animating 100 metal balls down a staircase is anything but relatively simple. Animating a window opening, again simple to keyframe; animating the curtains of the window blowing in the breeze, potentially complicated.

This is what simulations are for, and it’s the same when animating liquid, or fire and smoke. Many 3D applications offer the ability to create at least hard (the bouncing metal balls) or soft body simulations (the curtains blowing in the wind), while some offer a full simulation suite which will include particle and fluid simulations.

The trade-off is control. A hand keyed animation does allow the artist to have full control of every single aspect of the animation and finesse a move, artistically, every time. A simulation does what the physics decides (which admittedly the artist has control of), but this can mean an iterative workflow of experiments of allowing the simulation to calculate the moves, the artist to review, and then go again.

Most 3D applications let you ‘bake’ a simulation once you’re happy, freezing the result into ordinary keyframes you can still tweak and play back more easily, but the physics would have gone. Understanding what can be done with a simulation and how it can make one’s life as an artist easier, whilst at the same time exploding your animation potential, is one of the many superpowers of a 3D artist.

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.

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

Creative Bloq is now easier to access than ever before with our on-the-go app, which brings you all the content you know and love from our website, but in a super-streamlined design.
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But could the creepiest Halloween costume of the year be something a lot more prosaic? A clever creative campaign hit hard over the spooky season by arguing that 'the ultimate monster costume' involves little effort and could just as easily be worn on any other day of the year.

On the surface, the social campaign was designed to look like a retail ad for an online Halloween costume store. But clicking through leads to a website listing what's described as a 'Real Life Monster Costume': an intentionally average men's white T-shirt and jeans with white trainers.

While, the costume immediately stands out for its apparent mundaneness, things take a turn in the description of what it includes. the site lists: friend/classmate/boyfriend/colleague/husband and outfit features: invading women’s personal space/ sharing nudes without consent/visiting chat rooms for tips on drugging.

The copy on the ‘buy’ button says 'DON’T BUY THIS BEHAVIOUR'.

The Ultimate Monster Costume was a tactical social campaign from Do Not Behave, an independent UK-based creative studio founded by creative director Jo Moore last year. The agency teamed up with educators What Makes a Man and Cheer Up Luv.

The aim of the unusual and paradoxically eye-catching ad was to highlight issues around violence against women and girls. The campaign suggests that the monsters behind sexual violence are often hard to detect because they often look like "everyday guys". Do Not Behave said it had received over 2.5k visits to the spoof site.

The agency notes that violence against women and girls is being treated as a national emergency in the UK, with studies showing that it impacts roughly one in 12 women in England and Wales, taking the form of domestic abuse, sexual assault and rape, stalking, harassment, forced marriage, female genital mutilation, and digital/online abuse.

According to the Women and Girls Network, research indicates that approximately 97% of women who report sexual assault know their attacker. The campaign found a clever way to raise awareness of how commonplace the issue can be, particularly aiming get the attention of other men to ask male allies to be more vigilant.

But skip forward twelve years, and the Bélo (as the symbol was officially named) is still going strong. Indeed, these days it's hard to imagine Airbnb without it. So how did a logo that launched to an avalanche of mockery and anatomical comparisons become one of the most recognisable symbols in travel? And was the backlash ever really justified, or was this early proof that the internet can't help but judge a rebrand too quickly?

Before: The blue years

When Airbnb launched in 2008, its proposition was pretty simple: why stay in a hotel when you could sleep in a stranger's house? What began with its founders renting out air mattresses in their San Francisco flat quickly grew into a global accommodation platform.

Its original branding, however, was decidedly less ambitious. The company's blue, handwritten wordmark had a distinctly late-noughties feel, complete with bubbly lettering and a white outline. It was friendly, playful and just a little bit naff.

But by 2014, Airbnb was no longer a quirky little startup. It was becoming a serious challenger to the hotel industry, and its branding needed to reflect that. Enter London-based agency DesignStudio, tasked with creating an identity that could grow with the company.

The birth of the Bélo

On 16 July 2014, Airbnb unveiled its new identity. Gone was the blue, bubble-like wordmark, replaced by a clean sans-serif typeface and a bold coral-red symbol called the Bélo.

The new logo was designed to combine four elements: a person with their arms outstretched, a location pin, a heart and the letter A. The idea was that these would come together to form a universal symbol of belonging. It was certainly ambitious.

And this wasn't just a logo redesign. DesignStudio overhauled the company's entire visual language, introducing a new colour palette, typography and redesigned digital experiences.

The agency had certainly done its homework. As DesignStudio's James Greenfield explained to Creative Bloq in 2014, the project involved visits to 13 cities, stays with 18 hosts across four continents and interviews with more than 120 people. This was no quick afternoon in Illustrator.

Crucially, Airbnb wanted the Bélo to be something anybody could draw. The company even launched a 'Create Airbnb' initiative, inviting its community to customise the symbol and make it their own.

The internet's mind enters the gutter

Almost immediately, the comparisons began. While Airbnb saw a welcoming person, a heart and a map pin, everybody else seemed to see genitalia. Social media was flooded with jokes about the logo's resemblance to breasts, bottoms, vaginas and testicles. A Tumblr account dedicated to Airbnb logo parodies soon appeared, featuring everything from questionable anatomy to Peter Griffin's chin. The Guardian went with the wonderfully direct headline, 'Is it balls, vagina, or both?'

And the unfortunate comparisons weren't limited to human anatomy. Designers were quick to point out similarities between the Bélo and existing logos, most notably that of software company Automation Anywhere. Airbnb and Automation Anywhere subsequently issued a joint statement explaining that the resemblance was coincidental, with the latter agreeing to transition to a different design.

To DesignStudio's credit, the team appeared unfazed. Writing for Creative Bloq shortly afterwards, Greenfield insisted that the designers had taken the response in good humour, declaring that they had actually enjoyed the experience. After all, the logo had got people talking (and talking).

What came next

Spoiler alert: the Bélo is still here. Not only did Airbnb resist the temptation to pull a Cracker Barrel and replace its controversial new logo (or pull a Jaguar and fire its head of design), but it stood firm, and the design has become fundamental to the company's identity.

It's also aged remarkably well. The stripped-back shape works at almost any scale, from a tiny app icon to a giant billboard. The coral colour is distinctive, the symbol is instantly recognisable, and the whole thing manages to feel both friendly and professional.

But perhaps most importantly, after all these years, it still doesn't look particularly dated. Unlike the company's original blue wordmark, which now screams early internet startup, the Bélo still somehow feels contemporary. And while Airbnb itself has changed enormously, its branding has remained remarkably consistent. In 2025, the company launched an entirely redesigned app, expanding its offering beyond accommodation to include services and experiences. The Bélo remained firmly in place.

Indeed, like the 2016 Instagram logo, the Bélo's longevity is perhaps its greatest achievement. What once looked baffling or faintly obscene has become so familiar that most people probably don't give its shape a second thought. The symbol hasn't changed. And that's the interesting thing about controversial rebrands. The initial reaction is often less about the quality of the design than the shock of seeing something unfamiliar. Give a logo enough time, and it might start looking less like a disaster and more like a design classic.

In a world of rebrand backlashes and apologies, brands would do well to remember the lessons of Airbnb's Bélo. Here was a design that was strange enough to provoke ridicule but strong enough to weather the jokes. And while Airbnb's lofty claims of creating a 'symbol of belonging' might have been overblown (hey, isn't every design case study?), it did create a symbol that's become inseparable from the brand itself.

While the game is much more than a fresh coat of paint for the 1998 classic, with new controls, richer environments, extra dialogue, voiced cutscenes and fixes for some of the creakier bits of the original, it's also clear that Nintendo has been faithful to the original in many ways. Some of the thinking behind that comes across in a new series of interviews with developers. They reveal the vision for retaining a stylised look to the game's art, and confess that certain changes were considered but ruled out because they interfered with the core structure of the game.

The art style aimed for a "puppet-show" feel

As we noted in our preview, the new Hyrule of the Ocarina of Time remake remains very faithful to the shapes and colours of the N64 original but rebuilds them with sumptuous lighting and far more detail, from the grain in the wood and foliage to the stitching on Link’s tunic.

Despite the Nintendo Switch 2's far superior graphics capabilities compared to the N64, art director Aya Shida emphasises that the goal wasn't merely to make the classic look as realistic as possible. In early in development, the team used phrases like “a puppet-show feel” and “the analog feel of practical effects films” as concepts to aim for.

"We wanted to rebuild Hyrule as a rich, dense world that felt as though it could truly exist, while retaining the feel of the original. At the same time, we wanted its colorful and quirky characters to feel like a natural part of that world. Figuring out how to strike the right balance became one of the main themes of the art development," she says in Nintendo's Ask the Developer series.

"Neither puppet shows nor practical effects films reproduce reality exactly as it is. Even so, both create a convincing sense that the characters truly exist within their respective fantasy worlds," Aya adds.

The team began by drawing sketches of Link, Zelda and the other characters and creating a 3D model of the Great Deku Tree. Although the N64 designs and the new ones look very different due to the exaggerated features in the former, Aya says the aim was to preserve familiarity, which included paying particular consideration to how characters look from a distance "so that players would feel they were still the same characters they remembered, even after 28 years".

A lot of attention also went into the textures of the characters’ clothing. While they're much more detailed, they couldn't be took perfect. For example, the young Link's clothes needed to look handmade to be believable.

"We started by asking what kind of fabric those children might actually weave and wear," Aya reveals. "We looked at materials in museums and even experimented with making our own fabric from thread to get a better sense of what it should be like. For this game, the hardware allowed us to depict that level of detail, but that also meant we needed to do our research until we had a clear idea of what we wanted to create. As a design team, we often talked about imagining the story behind every object in the game as we created it."

Ocarina of Time almost had a big change in its world exploration

While the objective was always to be faithful to the original game's focus on the joy of exploration, The Legend of Zelda series producer Eiji Aonuma reveals that the Ocarina of Time remake could have ended up with warp points like in Breath of the Wild.

"In the original The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, you could get around a bit faster by spamming forward roll, so I think a lot of players spent their time doggedly rolling across Hyrule Field whenever they needed to be somewhere in a hurry. I thought we needed to address this in this new version," he said.

However, developers discovered that adding the warp points to Ocarina of Time eliminated an important part of the game: the moments of discovery.

"Through this development process, we were reminded once again just how important those moments are to the very structure of The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. So even though I was the one who proposed adding warp points, they just weren't working for me in the end, so I got the team to take them all back out again," he says.

One gameplay change that did make it into the remake is the addition of a dedicated jump button for Link, whereas he hopped automatically off certain ledges in the original. This will take some getting used to, especially mid-fight, but should be a welcome change for fiddly moments.

The Ocarina of Time remake could influence future Zelda games

Eiji also commented on the reason for remaking Ocarina of Time in the first place as the franchise approached its 40th anniversary. He says that a significant part of the motivation was to ensure that the team working on the Zelda series today truly understands the original game's significance to the series as a whole.

"By learning the game structure and development style behind the original The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, and by actually rebuilding it as a full remake, it may trigger new insights that they can carry forward into future development," he suggests.

The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time launches on Nintendo Switch 2 on 5 November, 2026.

You can read the full interviews with developers on the Nintendo website.

This year, I want to focus on six of my favourite IEM deals from HiFiGo – one of the biggest operators in the space. These are all earphones that I've actually tried and tested myself, and that I feel hit the sweet spot of excellent sound quality, build quality and value for money.

My absolute favourite would be the Juzear Light Shuttle, which I reviewed only last month. It is my 'neutral with bass-boost' release of the year, and it's currently down from $190 to $155 over at AliExpress.

All six of these IEMs are featured either on my list of the best budget IEMs currently on the market, or my pick of the best IEM under $500.

Each asset starts with a brief and a team brainstorm. Forsgren then builds a rough 3D blockout in Blender, refines the functionality, materials and finish, and pushes it into Arrowhead’s Stingray engine to see how it behaves in real time.

That loop helps give Helldivers 2 its battered, believable look. Weapons have to be mechanically plausible, and procedural materials add edge wear, grime and volumetric detail “without ever doing a single second of UVs”. Forsgren has also built a Blender pipeline for the game’s Warbond banners, producing renders at a higher fidelity than the game itself can manage, in the series’ propaganda-poster style.

There’s plenty here for Blender users beyond games, too: the scripts and add-ons Forsgren uses to speed up his work, the custom tools Arrowhead uses to move assets between Blender and the engine, and why the studio lets artists build their own workflows. The takeaway is that the best pipeline helps artists make better decisions, faster, with fewer hand-offs.

For more on Helldivers 2, visit Arrowhead Game Studios.

This is a real life video of a horse standing in a stable. And the horse is clearly black... except, it isn't. Apparently it's white. I absolutely cannot see this however many times I come back to it, but people in the comments have learned how the horse is actually in shadow, clicked off and back onto it, and then can see that it's white.

I'll share it below – can you see the horse as its real colour, or are you stuck in the same camp as me?

With 4,500 upvotes on Reddit, the r/opticalillusions subreddit is taken with this illusion.

"I can no longer see it as a black horse but at first it was as black as midnight. Now it's white and I cant make it go back," one amazed comment reads.

"It's the exact same effect as the White/Gold Blue/Black dress," explains another. "It's an image where the subject is in shadow but the background is in bright sunlight and our brain struggles to differentiate the two lighting conditions."

Other comments share tips on how to achieve the effect if you're struggling.

"Scroll so you can only see the legs," one suggests. "Focus your eyes on the shade that the horse is standing in. You should be able to see that it is white," says someone else.

Has that worked for you? Let us know in the comments. Then check out the original spinning horse illusion that amassed millions of views on our site. And the follow up version that was spotted in real life.

There had to be a catch, and one of the suspicions was that the new Affinity would be unlikely to get regular upgrades or improvements. One year on, Canva seems to be defying those predictions. It added new raw photo editing capabilities last month, with more colour, sharpening and detail adjustments. Today, it's completed things by adding one major element that was still missing for many creatives' workflows: a dedicated Affinity for iPad.

The individual Affinity apps (Affinity Photo 2, Designer 2, Publisher 2) were previously available for iPad before last year's launch of the unified free Affinity for desktop. Users who had bought them could continue using the apps, but they didn't support the new .af file format.

The new single-app Affinity for iPad brings the bulk of the combined desktop software to Apple tablets but designed specifically for a touch-first interface. It also takes advantage of Apple Pencil capabilities like pressure and tilt for sketching or for masking images, as well as Apple Pencil Pro's barrel roll, squeeze and hover features.

The app features Sketch Studio for freehand drawing and sketch-to-vector workflows, and several iPad-first features like a Mask Tool and Sketch to Shapes.

Like on the desktop app, Affinity for iPad uses the same .af file format across sketch, vector, photo and layout processes to make cross-media workflows easier. Non-destructive edits render in real time and there's no need for assets to be exported, converted or remade.

For sketching, there's a brush library with controls to shape each brush, while sketches stay live in the file to build on, rather than trace again. The iPad app also includes Affinity's raw image editing capabilities and the ability to create print-ready multi-page documents.

AI tools, including Generative Expand, upscaling, denoising, and Decompose Layer to split a flat image into editable layers, are available with a subscription via Canva AI Studio.

An increasing range of major software is now available in the form of dedicated iPad apps, from Adobe's main apps like Photoshop, Illustrator and Premiere to DaVinci Resolve for video editing and Maxon's ZBrush for 3D sculpting. This means the powerful iPad Pro can now be used to its full potential for creative work, allowing more mobile workflows, either for working remotely or simply allowing creatives to take time away from the desk to work in another place before coming back to pick things up on desktop.

Affinity for iPad is is free for individual users and available to download from the iPad App Store now. If you don't already have one, you'll need to create a free Canva account to use the app. A premium Canva subscription is required for AI tools.

Readers of a certain vintage will remember the illuminated Apple logo. The light-up fruit used to adorn every Apple laptop, and was a (somewhat distracting) mainstay of cafes, trains and DJ performances. In 2015, Apple unceremoniously killed the illuminated logo, replacing it with a mirrored version. But as of last week, it's back – and it seems people are happy about it.

Now, the cynical among you might think the reason for the addition is to make the MacBook Pro with PROLED XDR Display stand out as new in public. There's always something to differentiate a new Apple product from the previous generation, even if it's simply new colours. But from a distance, this new MacBook Pro looks almost identical to non PROLED models. How are we supposed to quietly show it off in a cafe? With the 'new' illuminated logo, of course!

But the less cynical among you might see this as yet another sign that under new CEO John Ternus, Apple is rediscovering its sense of fun. From the brand's wild new TikTok presence to the colourful (and cheap) MacBook Neo, Apple seems to be stepping outside of its space grey prison and embracing a sense of friendliness we haven't seen for years. And it's going down well.

We'll be sharing our comprehensive thoughts on the new MacBook Pro once we've got out hands on it in the coming days. In the meantime, take a look at my first impressions from LA, and why that touchscreen might make more sense than you think.

Now, let's do a thought experiment. If you're old enough, picture the digital work you made 20 years ago. That might be a website design, assets for a CD-ROM, a vector illustration… whatever.

Ask yourself: could you locate and open those files today? If you’re anything like me, the honest answer is “mostly no”.

It's ironic, really. Because digital work has no tangible physical presence, we tend to think of it as eternal. In truth, though, it's kind of the opposite.

Why your files are in danger

This March, I visited memory card manufacturer Lexar’s facilities in Shenzhen, China. And one moment there has stuck with me ever since.

In a press conference, the company's representative explained that the flash memory used in consumer memory cards and SSDs can start losing data within a year if you leave them in a drawer and don't power them up.

Lexar told me it’s developing a dedicated device to address this issue, but it's early days. In contrast, a print just sits there, being a print.

Meanwhile, if you're putting your work online, there's more bad news. A Pew Research Center study found that 38% of webpages that existed in 2013 were no longer accessible a decade later. Platforms are no safer. Back in 2019, MySpace admitted that a server migration had wiped photos, videos and music uploaded between 2003 and 2015: an estimated 50 million songs from 14 million artists.

Its advice to users was to keep their own backups. But wherever you back stuff up, basically, you're running the same risk. As the sudden closure of Sora highlighted, venture capitalists don't really care about protecting your stuff as much as you do.

There's also the problem of actually opening files in years to come. Built something in Flash in 2012? I doubt you'll be able to salvage it now, after Adobe shuttered the format in 2020, and that's just one example among many.

How to keep them safe

So what can we do? There are few basic rules we all should be following if we want to be able to access our work in 2030, 2040 and further ahead. The first is to follow the 3-2-1 rule. Keep three copies of anything important, on two different types of storage, with one stored offsite or in the cloud. It's not a foolproof method, but it does reduce the odds of losing stuff exponentially.

Secondly, every few months or so, power up your SSDs and memory cards, so firmware can do its job. Thirdly, export your final files to open formats like TIFF, PNG, SVG or PDF/A, which are more likely to be readable in decades to come.

Fourthly, treat platforms as shop windows, not storerooms. And finally, print your work. As long as you can avoid floods or fires, paper-based storage has a better track record than digital.

Is this seems a bit of a faff, I'd have to agree. But consider this. If future historians end up knowing more about 1926 than 2026, it won’t be for lack of material. It’ll be because we couldn't be bothered to look after it – and what will future generations think of us then?

I've honestly got no idea if smart glasses – some of which can now project information, images and videos straight at your eyeballs – will end up taking off in future, and replacing the smartphone. But if they do, then it occurs to me that this will be big news for billboards.

You might assume that if more digital tech catches on, physical advertising would be one of the casualties. After all, why look at a poster when your glasses can show you something tailored? But the more I think about it, the more convinced I am the opposite will happen.

Consider this: nobody is going to wear smart glasses to look at their feet. The whole attraction is that you get the benefits of a phone while keeping your eyes on the world around you. And in most towns and cities – even in this smartphone era – that world is already plastered with outdoor advertising.

And if smart glasses can truly take advantage of augmented reality – tech that overlays digital content onto real-world, physical things – then those billboards will suddenly be a lot more exciting to look at.

Make billboards great again

For over a century, billboards have been essentially a one-way medium. QR codes promised to fix that, but how many of us have actually stopped in the street, taken out our phones and waggled them at a pixelated square? Once or twice, maybe. But on a regular basis? Hardly.

In future, I reckon, you'll be able to point smart glasses at a billboard and get it to do all sorts of useful things, probably by talking to an AI bot embedded in your specs.

With a movie billboard, for instance, you might want to play the trailer or find out which cinema it's playing at nearby, and when. You might even want turn-by-turn directions to the multiplex to appear in front of your very eyes.

This might sound like Black Mirror-style sci-fi, but it's worth remembering how many old Black Mirror episodes have essentially come true already. And it certainly seems to be the way the ad industry is thinking.

In fact, you can already see a version of this idea in east London. Electric Garden, on Shoreditch High Street, bills itself as “the billboard you can walk into”. It’s a 21,000 sq ft open-air site that sits behind a row of giant digital screens, so brands can run a campaign on the screens and then build a physical world behind them for people to explore.

Its launch campaign, for Activision’s Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4, turned the site into a neon-lit, Seoul-inspired alleyway, complete with convenience stores, plastic stools and code-breaking missions. As co-founder Alex Ezen puts it: “A screen can capture attention, but a physical experience gives people a reason to stop, take part and share it.”

Smart glasses could deliver something similar without anyone needing to build an alleyway. That will make the brief for designers all the harder, of course, but personally, that’s the kind of challenge I’d relish.

The world's third-largest hamburger fast-food chain has unveiled a turn-based, pixel-art adventure in which its red-haired mascot leads a party of fast-food heroes to save a kingdom in peril. It's called WendyQuest: Legend of the Four Corner Stones. No, this is not a South Park parody. This is a real, playable game.

The branded element isn't just about bigging up Wendy's either: it also takes potshots at rivals. In the game, for example, your enemies include Frydusa, a carton of snake-like French fries, and a gang called the Golden Archers. As a dig at McDonald’s, it's not subtle.

81monkeys, an indie studio in Port Moody, British Columbia, is making the game, and it’s heading to Steam. You might expect something so obviously corporate to either get trounced on social media or get ignored and sink without a trace. At the time of writing, though, gamers mostly seem to be asking… why it looks so good.

There's more. Last summer, Pepsi asked on social media whether it should make a video game. It was buried in replies pointing out that it already had. One came from Kotaro Uchikoshi, now a celebrated visual-novel director (yes, that's a thing now), who'd worked on 1999’s Pepsiman and was offering to reconnect the company with the original team.

Branded games are clearly back on the menu. The question is… why? Well, first it's worth noting that we've been here before.

Branded game have a long tradition

Domino’s Avoid the Noid in 1989 is widely cited as the first fast-food tie-in game. McDonald’s followed with Global Gladiators, which is considered one of the best platformers of its era. Then there was Cool Spot, starring the red dot from 7 Up’s American logo, which you could play on the SNES and Mega Drive in 1993 and, branding tie-in aside, is a genuinely brilliant 2D platform game.

The original Pepsiman, though, remains the king of the branded games. Released only in Japan (which always helps cult status), it showed a superhero sprinting through cities to deliver Pepsi cans. And it remains much-loved: these days, copies go for hundreds of dollars on sites like eBay.

Then came Burger King's 2006 experiment. The chain sold three branded Xbox games for $3.99, including the infamous stealth title Sneak King, as long as you bought a value meal (sold separately). BK ended up shifting more than 3.2 million copies in total.

KFC was late to the party, only joining the fun in 2019 with I Love You, Colonel Sanders! A Finger Lickin’ Good Dating Simulator. The parody dating sim got flayed by critics, but players loved it, giving it a 91% positive rating on Steam.

From a branding perspective, what's interesting is that these weren’t just adverts with gameplay bolted on. They were proper games that people actually liked, even if reviewers were somewhat sniffy. So why are they coming back now? It's difficult to say, but I think a few factors are in play.

Reasons for the return of ad-gaming

First, the original branded games' child audience is now an adult audience with money, and nostalgia is a powerful force. Second, it’s far easier to distribute games today. While Burger King once had to manufacture physical copies and distribute them to restaurants, now Wendy’s just needs a Steam page.

Thirdly, traditional advertising is struggling to break through ad blockers, ad-free subscriptions and a general lack of interest. In contrast, people actually like a branded game. They might even actively seek it out.

Finally, there's the backlash against AI. Wendy's Steam page proudly declares its game “100% fresh and 100% human-made” for a reason. As we all drown in AI slop, handcrafted, indie-style pixel art becomes a visual statement of brand values.

Will they succeed?

None of this, of course, guarantees that these games will succeed. For every Global Gladiators there’s a Sneak King, a game remembered more as a curio than for its gameplay. The brands that get this right treat players as players, not targets for ads.

So will WendyQuest join Pepsiman in the hall of fame, or end up in the bargain bin of history? I have no clue. But if a burger chain can get me excited about a turn-based RPG, its marketing team must be doing something right. And Pepsi, if you’re reading: Uchikoshi’s offer is still on the table.

His work has seen him become a 2x ADG and Gold Cannes Lion award winner, shaped by his radically practical approach to production design amidst the rise of AI. As part of our 5 Questions series, I caught up with Christopher to discuss pet peeves, imposter syndrome and "learning by fire".

It's no secret that Apple and Samsung are among the brands that fight the most online, so the recent stab at Apple shouldn't exactly come as a surprise. While Apple purists may defend the Duo's screen-cracking debacle, Samsung fans are sitting smugly, knowing the Z Fold has nailed foldable design – but is it enough for Apple fans to convert?

We want to hear your opinion. Is the iPhone Duo here to take over, or has Samsung's legacy secured its place as the foldable phone king? Are you team Apple, team Samsung, or is there another rival brand that deserves the crown? Have your say in the comments below.

For more tech news, check out the iPhone Duo complaints that have emerged since its launch or take a look at Apple Music's splashy new logo.

Our reviewer, who’s tested many of the best 3D printers over the last decade, found it easy to use, beautifully built and capable of some of the smoothest results he’s had from an FDM machine.

Even at full price, it’s cheaper than the Creality K2 Pro. Now Amazon has dropped it from $424.97 to $401.28, a small yet significant saving.

Our favourite feature is the Canvas system, which lets you load up to four reels of filament. Our reviewer found it all very quick and easy to load. If your spool has an RFID chip, you just hold it up to the side of the unit and the printer sets everything automatically. When you open a multicolour file, a setup window lets you choose which spool goes where.

The Centauri Carbon 2 uses a CoreXY design for printing speeds of up to 500mm per second, with a respectable 256 x 256 x 256mm build volume. Our reviewer printed a one-piece fidget toy with moving parts, which came out silky smooth.

The main drawback is size: with the spools on the side and a waste chute at the back, you’ll need plenty of space around it. Otherwise, this a great value, especially at this discounted price. Read our full Elegoo Centauri Carbon 2 review for more details.