<![CDATA[ Creative Bloq ]]>

<![CDATA[ Creative Bloq ]]> https://www.creativebloq.com/entertainment Fri, 25 Sep 2026 16:00:00 +0000 en <![CDATA[ This $30 phone charger gives speeds to rival wall plugs, and it's down to $23 ]]> I've tried countless portable chargers over the years, and they often prioritise heavy-duty capacities over pocketable, daily utility. The Sharge Flow Mini 2 broke that mold on its release late last year, and right now it's down from $29 to $22.90 over at Amazon.

This pocket-sized 5,000mAh power bank offers fast-charging while keeping things relatively cable-free. It offers a far more practical approach to charging than 90% of the bricks out there, and at the new price, I think it's one of the better super-practical, cool-looking tech deals.

Of course, if you want to explore more heavy-duty laptop chargers, we've got a guide for the best power banks out there. But if it's portability you're after, the Sharge Flow Mini is a strong recommendation.

Flow Mini 2: was $29 now $23
Getting 22.5W fast-charging hardware in a pock size is rare, and getting up to $6 off is a nice discount on an already well-priced unit. It's perfect for a day trip. View Deal

Sharge Flow Mini 2 deep dive

The Sharge Mini Pro charger. — (Image credit: Future)

At the heart of the Sharge Mini 2 is a 5,000mAh cell configuration, with a built-in USB-C cable for immediate top-ups with dual swappable connectors for iOS and Android. It's all pretty seamless, and the metallic trim, splash of orange and charge lights all look pretty cool (not something I ever thought I'd be saying about a power charge).

When put head-to-head with other options, such as the $55 Anker MagGo 5K, the Sharge Mini is smaller and costs nearly $30 less.

So it's perfect, right?! Well, no, and while the compact power bank battery reaches up to 22.5W and handles steady low-battery background anxiety well, it still trails the market-leading capacities found on the larger Anker Prime 20K. Yet that is $89! So for the sub-$30 price, I still think the Mini Pro is a great option.

]]> https://www.creativebloq.com/tech/headphones-earbuds/this-usd30-phone-charger-gives-speeds-to-rival-wall-plugs-and-its-down-to-usd23 6ouVxRpmk7muPacyHmNv9j Fri, 25 Sep 2026 16:00:00 +0000 false false false <![CDATA[ Ace Combat 8: Wings of Theve review – bigger skies, more drama, same old rhythm, and I'm mostly fine with that ]]>

Details

A render of a jet plane on a carrier — (Image credit: Bandai Namco)

Publisher Bandai Namco

Developer Project Aces

Release date 2 October

Format PS5 (reviewed), Xbox Series X|S, PC

Platform Unreal Engine 5

Crisp blue skies, real-life planes modelled to every nut sitting alongside hyperactive anime heroes and sci-fi flying fortresses – oh yes, Ace Combat 8: Wings of Theve is the most Ace Combat-y of Ace Combat games, and from takeoff it’s not really interested in being anything else. If you’re here wondering if Project Aces has finally decided to reinvent what it does, well, it doesn’t, and about six hours in, I didn't really mind.

Ray-traced clouds, a new war, the return of squadron orders you can bark at your wingmen mid-dogfight (well, via the D-pad), and for a while I waited for the moment the formula cracked open and did something really new. It never quite does. Lock on, cycle targets, cycle weapons, fire – Ace Combat's been running that loop in these blue skies since 1999 (for me, the series true self started with Ace Combat 3: Electrosphere), and Ace Combat 8, for all its polish, is still that loop wearing a nicer flying jacket now joined by teammates.

That's not really a complaint, because it's comforting to return to what it's like to play a game from a developer that understands what’s needed, and when it works – and it works often – Ace Combat 8 is still a wonderful, faintly ridiculous flight of fancy, with controls easy enough that you spend most of a mission looking at the sky instead of worrying whether you're flying it correctly, right up until a flying mega-wing-thing the size of a city block rises over the horizon and you remember exactly what game you're playing.

The story, such as it is, hangs a fresh look on that old formula, as it’s not in first-person: 2029, the Federation of Central Usea overrun, its navy shattered, and you aboard the ageing carrier Endurance, where a propaganda unit has turned a legendary pilot called the Wings of Theve into a rallying myth – except the legend was never real, and somehow you inherit the name anyway, flying with Baxter, Tasha and Coster as Joker Flight while what's left of the FCU tries to take its home back. It's Ace Combat doing what Ace Combat does: a war story about borrowed identity, the underdog doing what’s right against the odds, mostly as an excuse to strap you into increasingly swift and agile fighter jets.

Screens from a video game featuring jet fighter planes — Blue skies and dense clouds, the new Unreal Engine 5 made world feels solid and real.Bandai Namco

Wings of Theve, and one thousand aircraft against your four

Like previous entries, the spectacle is where Ace Combat 8 earns its keep, because just as a mission starts feeling like another exercise in target practice, things shift a gear and a new mini-boss, an elite squadron, a change of objective, the horizon suddenly fills with something enormous or numerous, and Project Aces throws the next thing at you, usually a massive flying wing or 'land ship', and the soundtrack swells dramatically, convincing me that whatever's sitting at the far end of my lock-on reticle actually matters.

While Ace Combat 8 plays a little coyer with its biggest moments than Ace Combat 7, saving the real spectacle for later, when it arrives, it arrives properly: the space elevator returns, scaled up further still, and one of the best missions in the game puts you against a Land Battleship – a destroyer bolted onto tank treads – as it tries to ram and bring down the iconic megastructure, and you pick apart its armour plate by plate before it can fire again.

This is exactly the sort of setpiece event that sounds like nonsense but feels fantastic in flight, and making use of Unreal Engine 5 mostly just means more of it – more aircraft, more bombers, more tanks, more explosions – right up to a finale when a radio operator tells you, with sincerity, there are a thousand aircraft against your four (I counted around 100 planes at one time, but more and more were added). I gulped. Then I grinned. That's the whole review, really, if you want the short version.

What surprised me is how close Ace Combat 8 is willing to bring you in for a game that spends so much time at missile range with jets tumbling and rolling around each other until you're watching the enemy aircraft rather than the battlefield behind it, which is where the series has always been at its best, better than any attempt to play this straight as a simulator ever managed. The new clouds help here and become more than eye-candy and emerge as genuine tactical leverage: they break line of sight, mess with missile tracking, give you somewhere to vanish when a dogfight's gone wrong, and more than once I caught myself using weather instinctively to escape danger rather than simply admiring how good it looks rolling across a skyline and over mountains, and that backdrop finally feels like a place rather than a 3D-rendered diorama.

Systems that promise more than they spend

This is also where Ace Combat 8's attempts to grow up are more interesting on paper than they are in-game. Like previous entries, you have aircraft and special weapons to unlock, parts to fit, and MRP (Military Result Points ) to earn and spend. The returning squadron system lets you issue basic commands, like sending wingmen after targets, but it hasn't really evolved since AC5 and is less complex than AC6. However, you can now spend MRP on them and not just yourself, adding a degree of tactical plotting through the aircraft upgrade tree, so when you call them back to cover you, they have the gear to make it work.

It feels like squadron commands should be a genuinely tactical layer sitting on top of the old arcade skeleton, but in practice, it rarely changes how I actually play. I leaned on a teammate to watch my tail a handful of times and enjoyed the couple of missions where directing the squadron actually mattered, but mostly I left them to it; your standard missiles will lock on and destroy almost anything anyway, and the special weapons settle into a familiar handful of ideas – long-range, multi-lock, auto-targeting bombs – by the campaign's final third I was flying the same loadout I'd worked out hours earlier and never really questioning it.

Squadron orders are useful, and customisation is handy, but none of it breaks the lock-on-and-fire rhythm underneath, and maybe that's the series' whole compromise, really: push too far toward simulation and you lose the immediacy that makes this fun, push too far into pure arcade, and you lose the pleasure of actually feeling like an ace pilot, and Ace Combat 8 sits in that middle ground happily. Sometimes too happily – I let out an audible sigh hitting a stealth mission built around radar avoidance – but give me a sky full of fighters and a stupid objective, and I'm in love with how Ace Combat 8 feels. Ask me to creep around a maze of radar cones, and I start wishing it would just get back to the good stuff.

The campaign also weaves in something more personal, with new first-person interludes aboard the Endurance that bring you closer to the characters. And your performance, not raw decisions, shapes who survives, who joins Joker squadron, and who is there by your side for the grand finale, when every ally made along the way races to your side. Queue dramatic orchestral music as that pilot you faintly remember helping 18 hours earlier sweeps in from behind the clouds to save you. It doesn't transform the storytelling, not really, but it gives the battles a bit more weight than the usual faceless setup because it could affect something.

Bigger skies, actual humans

Then there's the multiplayer, which might be where all those half-realised systems finally make sense, because *deep breath* online features a hundred-player Air Base hub, its own progression track, co-op missions, PvPvE, four-player Scramble runs against AI, eight-player superweapon raids, Co-Op Warfare that pits two four-strong teams against each other with NPC forces flooding the map, and Co-Op Assault turns it into a straight scoring contest. I only had limited time with it before review, so take this as a first impression rather than a verdict, but even my short play made one thing obvious – putting actual humans on the other end of the fight, and your aircraft and weapon choices matter in a way the campaign's AI wingmen never quite do. Understanding positioning, cover, and roles means you have to watch your team instead of hunting the next lock-on. It's a singular multiplayer mode, and there's honestly not much else quite like it.

Which, in the end, is probably the whole pitch of Ace Combat 8. Project Aces hasn't tried to reinvent anything here; instead, the team has taken a formula it's spent decades sanding down, dipped back into fan-favourite ideas, and made the skies bigger, denser, prettier, and bolted on a unique dynamic narrative system onto these wings to make the old loop feel worth taking flight with again.

Is Ace Combat 8: Wings of Theve worth playing?

Sometimes I wanted more: the weapon system evolves from AC7 and promises depths it doesn't deliver; the squadron commands could have been more effective; and here and there you can see the rails the game adheres to running behind the spectacle a little too clearly.

But then the clouds break, enemy aces come charging out of them, the score kicks in, half the sky goes up in flames, your allies arrive, and I remember what Ace Combat does better than almost anything else – it takes the simple, stupid joy of flying a fighter jet, piles an emotionally charged amount of drama on top of it, and somehow convinces you the fate of this anime world genuinely hinges on whether you can get one more target locked.

]]> https://www.creativebloq.com/entertainment/gaming/ace-combat-8-wings-of-theve-review-bigger-skies-more-drama-same-old-rhythm-and-im-mostly-fine-with-that KGMAY8FCG3swHxRuE3Hnw8 Fri, 25 Sep 2026 14:00:00 +0000 false false false <![CDATA[ GTA 6's $400 collector's box comes with a plastic crocodile, and it's genius branding ]]> Rockstar has unveiled a $399.99 collector's box for GTA 6 that doesn't include GTA 6, but it does include a six-inch plastic crocodile, and that's the detail everyone's talking about.

The Goodtime State – Vice City Collection, now listed on the Rockstar Games Store, centres on Macca the Gator, a mascot from a fictional in-game TV show set in Leonida, GTA 6's answer to Florida. The $400 price gets you a Macca figure, a pair of Oakley Frogskins, a New Era cap, a Leonida Keys crossbody bag, a shot glass, a magnetic mirror, pins, stickers, a swizzle spoon, a razor-blade keychain, and a double-sided poster of the Leonida map, according to Rockstar's official listing.

There’s no game code and no mention of one anywhere in the bundle, but fans don’t seem to mind, because Rockstar is doing what it’s always been great at: developing fictional brands that feel as tangible as anything Taylor Swift or Sydney Sweeney put their name to.

Merch for a place that doesn't exist

And that’s what makes the box stand out: it isn't the price tag, but instead it’s the concept behind it. Rather than producing standard game-branded merchandise, Rockstar has designed the collection to look like something you'd actually buy inside Leonida itself: souvenirs from a fictional TV show, sold by a fictional tourist economy, to real people who haven't played the game yet. I can absolutely imagine buying this stuff at an airport store.

It's a natural extension of how GTA has always built its worlds (I still own my GTA IV dartboard and dominos from that game’s launch). The series has spent decades filling its maps with fake burger chains, parody beer brands (Pißwasser), dodgy adverts and radio stations that exist purely to make the city feel lived-in rather than designed. Rockstar rarely explains these details – we as players absorb them ambiently, glimpsed on billboards or overheard on the radio – until the setting feels like a real place with its own culture and history, not a collection of missions.

The Goodtime State box takes that same approach and makes it physical. The Leonida Keys bag, the branded cap, the souvenir poster. None of it feels like generic game merchandise; it’s not just a hoodie with a GTA6 logo, for example, and it doesn't read as tourist tat from a city that technically doesn't exist.

GTA 6 collector's box — (Image credit: Rockstar)

A souvenir, not a statue

Rockstar describes the poster as a double-sided map of the "full Leonida landscape," with Macca the Gator artwork on the reverse – deliberately framed as a keepsake rather than a reference item, according to the product description.

That distinction matters because Collector's editions have traditionally leaned on statues, steelbooks and hero art – items that signal this is the game you bought. The Goodtime State box instead leans into the fiction that Leonida is a destination, and it's full of the stuff you'd bring home from visiting.

Little is currently known about Macca the Gator beyond his appearance in the box art and figure – whether he's a children's TV staple, a washed-up local celebrity, or something stranger within GTA 6's world hasn't been detailed by Rockstar. That ambiguity appears to be intentional, consistent with how the studio has handled fictional media and brands throughout the GTA series. Rockstar also isn’t averse to sidestepping perfect brand tie-ins, such as when Phil Collins starred as Phil Collins in GTA Vice City Stories.

The bigger picture

The collection arrives as a pre-order, and collector's edition pricing across the games industry keeps climbing, with $400 putting the Goodtime State box well above typical special editions. Rockstar has not confirmed whether the collection will be limited in quantity or how it fits alongside any standard or deluxe editions of GTA 6 itself.

What's notable is the strategy behind the price: rather than selling players a bigger, shinier version of the game they're already anticipating, Rockstar is selling them a piece of the world itself – one built entirely from the kind of background detail most studios would never bother turning into a product.

Grand Theft Auto 6 releases on 19 November on PS5 and Xbox alongside this newly revealed $400 box of collector items.

]]> https://www.creativebloq.com/entertainment/gaming/gta-6s-usd400-collectors-box-comes-with-a-plastic-crocodile-and-its-genius-branding 9qKwtkcM9Gp4wYR39s4qB4 Fri, 25 Sep 2026 13:00:00 +0000 Fri, 25 Sep 2026 14:55:38 +0000 false false false <![CDATA[ Meta’s new AI avatar is making me feel infantilised ]]> At this year's Connect event, Mark Zuckerberg announced Meta's going all in on its AI agent Muse, calling it the "centrepiece" of the brand's vision. The cross-device agent is set to effortlessly infiltrate everyday life, jumping from smartphone to Meta Glasses, ensuring that there's never a Meta-free moment in your digital day.

If that sounds a bit like a nightmarish Black Mirror episode, fear not, as Meta has come up with an ingenious way to make things a little less dystopian. They've created a cute little mascot to distract you from the potential domination of a global superintelligence. Hey, at least it's got a cute character design.

Introducing Muse, your personal AI agent from Meta that gets things done across every part of life.Download the Muse app and get started: https://t.co/KBjYWfshGo pic.twitter.com/1exp56xj93September 8, 2026

The new face of Meta Muse is a little fuzzy guy with a soft smile and a distinctly unthreatening vibe. Aptly named Jolly, the character adds an endearing quality to Meta's once faceless AI, softening the technology for the more AI-skeptical among us. Alongside the new avatar was the debut of a pocket-sized device to house your AI pal – essentially turning Jolly into a glorified Tamagotchi.

Users can ask Jolly questions like a typical AI assistant, and thanks to the new Muse Realtime Avatar model, you can also call him up for a real-time video chat. Am I slightly worried there's a potential for parasocial connections? Yes, a little, but darn it if he ain't cute,.

you gave your Muse a look. now give it a voice pic.twitter.com/8QjLyaM7qqSeptember 23, 2026

I can't help but feel like there's something slightly infantilising about Meta's new AI avatar, given Zuckerberg's prediction: "In the coming years, I expect that Muse is going to grow into the personal superintelligence that billions of people around the world are going to use."

There's something about a cute character design masking the global takeover of Meta's AI that sits a little strangely with me. Pair that with the childlike novelty of Meta's new pocket AI device, and it seems like a calculated move to soften the more nefarious potential of the technology. With Meta's smart glasses already making headlines for privacy issues around both users and the company itself, the concept of an ever-listening pocket AI (however cute) certainly pushes the limits of my trust in Meta.

]]> https://www.creativebloq.com/ai/metas-new-ai-avatar-is-making-me-feel-infantilised DVBM9rNZspvJBju4atVwmJ Fri, 25 Sep 2026 12:00:00 +0000 false false false <![CDATA[ Quote of the Day by Es Devlin: "I’ve learned that I make my most interesting work when I don’t know the rules and I don’t know what I’m doing" ]]> Source: Art Basel, Artist and stage designer Es Devlin: ‘Each piece has to be a prototype’, based on an interview with Devlin.

A particular kind of panic arrives when you start making something and realise you have absolutely no idea where it’s going. For many creatives, that feeling signals them to stop, find a reference and look at what worked last time; maybe open a familiar digital art software or iPad drawing app and find a safe place to return to. Do the thing you know you can do. Es Devlin takes almost the opposite view.

“I’ve learned that I make my most interesting work when I don’t know the rules and I don’t know what I’m doing.”
Es Devlin

“I’ve learned that I make my most interesting work when I don’t know the rules and I don’t know what I’m doing,” she told Art Basel. She followed it with a line that feels almost like a manifesto for escaping your own creative comfort zone: “I don’t want to repeat experiments I’ve already done. Each piece has to be a prototype.”

That is quite a statement from someone whose work includes huge kinetic sculptures, Olympic ceremonies, Super Bowl performances and stadium-scale collaborations. These aren't exactly things you casually knock up to see what happens. Devlin says her projects can involve enormous resources and the time of many other people, meaning every new idea carries a genuine risk of not working as she imagined.

A woman poses in front of art — James Gurney's studio is littered with creative tools, including models and marquetes he uses as reference. (Image credit: Es Devlin / Design Museum)

Not knowing what you're doing isn't necessarily evidence that you've made a bad start. It can be evidence that you haven't simply repeated yourself. Devlin has even created a room in her home for this kind of uncertainty: a space without a brief or commission where she doesn't know what she'll make by the end of the day. She credits advice from artist William Kentridge, who told her she needed a room where she could make a mess and not be in control.

With Devlin's first European retrospective, Es Devlin: Other Worlds, opening at London's Design Museum on 2 October 2026, it's a timely reminder that a 30-year career doesn't necessarily come from finding a formula and sticking to it. The exhibition brings together her work across sculpture, stage design, music, language and light.

What can we all learn from Devlin? Sometimes the uncomfortable bit at the beginning isn't the problem, and it might be the point of it all after all

Visit Es Devlin for art, insights, and inspiration in stage design, graphic art, and sculpture.

Our favourite Es Devlin art books:

Thames & Hudson

An Atlas of Es Devlin

Thames & Hudson

A Concise Atlas of Es Devlin

Majosta

Es Devlin: the Art of Transformation and Immersion-From Theater to Global Spectacles (secret Order of the Guardians-Enigma of the Ancient World)

]]> https://www.creativebloq.com/creative-inspiration/quote-of-the-day-by-es-devlin-ive-learned-that-i-make-my-most-interesting-work-when-i-dont-know-the-rules-and-i-dont-know-what-im-doing jodD9Uc4ZhCua9EeVxsdi3 Fri, 25 Sep 2026 11:00:00 +0000 false false false <![CDATA[ Sticker addicts rejoice! Cricut just released two really cool label and sticker makers ]]> Oooh, that unmatched satisfaction of peeling a perfectly printed label or sticker and slapping it on your water bottle, food container or whatever else is close by! If anyone knows what I'm talking about, this one's for you – the crafting giant Cricut is taking the joy of label and high-end sticker making to the next level with two new machines: the Cricut StickerPix Print and the Cricut StickerPix Print + Cut.

Available now, both models could easily hit our lists of the best label makers, or the best laminators. But they're so much more than that. They serve as compact mini-print shops that print and laminate pro-quality, water- and scratch-resistant stickers and photos using ultra-vivid 300 DPI dye-sublimation technology.

That may be a mouthful, but it basically means these are very capable little things. The standard Cricut StickerPix Print (£159.99 for the Essential Bundle) works seamlessly with pre-cut sticker sheets—perfect for quick, uniform labels. Meanwhile, the advanced Cricut StickerPix Print + Cut (£249.99 for the Essential Bundle) adds a built-in cutter, automatically kiss-cutting custom shapes directly around your unique designs. Both connect effortlessly to the free Cricut Design Space app, meaning you can transform your smartphone photos and designs into tactile stickers in minutes.

StickerPix Print Bundle: $169
The Cricut StickerPix Print Essential Bundle has everything you'll need. It includes the machine, an ink cartridge (54 prints), 18 circle pre-cut sticker sheets, 18 rectangle pre-cut sticker sheets, 18 glossy photo papers, a power adapter, and a material tray. Perfect for beginner crafters.View Deal

StickerPix Print + Cut Bundle:
At $299, the Cricut StickerPix Print + Cut Essential Bundle equips you for custom sticker projects instantly. Included alongside the machine is an ink cartridge (36 prints), 18 glossy sticker sheets, 18 photo paper sheets, a pre-installed cutting tool, material tray, power adapter, and a free Cricut Access trial subscription. View Deal

A selection of press shots featuring the two new Cricut sticker machines. — Cricut

So, who's this for? Well, everyone from label/sticker homebody maniacs to digital artists and small business owners.

If you run a market stall or Etsy shop, the StickerPix Print could be a really nice addition to your business. It’s efficient for batch-printing logos, price tags, QR codes, or packaging seals using the pre-cut circular and rectangular sheets. And, because the dye-sublimation prints come out completely dry and laminated, you won't have to worry about smudging labels. It's also ideal for anyone who wants to label their spice jars or craft room storage without fussing over intricate cuts.

I think there's also scope for illustrators to use these things, especially those who want to share their art at conventions – after all, everyone loves stickers! You can upload a hand-drawn illustration or a photo from your phone, and the machine will print, laminate, and precisely kiss-cut a custom border around the image so the backing stays intact for easy peeling.

For me, I'm excited to use them to create unique water bottle sticks and fun gifts for my son's birthday party bags.

Looking around at the other sticker makers in this price range, I think Cricut has successfully bridged the gap between a pro print shop and an everyday crafting tool. I can't wait to get my hands on them to fully try them out.

]]> https://www.creativebloq.com/creative-inspiration/digital-crafting/sticker-addicts-rejoice-cricut-just-released-two-really-cool-label-and-sticker-makers Ym7qaJhfMkCqwHDiPnLcNQ Fri, 25 Sep 2026 10:32:48 +0000 Fri, 25 Sep 2026 10:33:16 +0000 false false false <![CDATA[ This digital artist takes inspiration from Old Masters and orientalist paintings ]]> Based in Hong Kong, Brian Yuen uses Photoshop as his tool of choice for his art, but his influences are mainly traditional. The freelance illustrator, who started digital painting in 2016, was inspired by the Old Masters, as well as modern artists such as Jaime Jones and Craig Mullins, and he loves using a painterly style.

Continuing our regular series of artist showcases, he briefly introduces four examples of his work below. If you're inspired, see our guides to the best drawing tablets and the best laptops for drawing and digital art.

Blue

Digital art — (Image credit: Brian Yuen)

“This was done as a quick paint over practice on top of an old painting I did in 2019. I wanted to see how I can edit a painting to make it more interesting and in alignment with my current taste. I find I am now much more expressive with my mark-making.”

Shopkeeping

“This image is inspired by Orientalist paintings that are pretty complex with a lot of props and materials. For this image, I tried to balance all of the different details while trying to imply some kind of narrative as well.”

Pigeons

“This is inspired by Old Master paintings. I was particularly interested in the hands; I wanted them to have some kind of swirling motion and gesture to them. Hands are always fun to paint.”

Spirit

“This is probably my favourite painting that I have done. I wanted to capture something spiritual and mystical, a sense of movement, yet stillness, while also letting the viewer’s imagination interpret what’s going on.”

You can see more of Brian's work on his website

Today's best drawing tablet deals

Inspired to work on your own digital art? See below for deals on drawing tablets that we've reviewed.

XPPen

Artist 13.3 Pro

XPPen

Artist 15.6 Pro V2

XP-Pen

Updated Deco 01 V3

Huion

Huion Inspiroy H1060p

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

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]]> https://www.creativebloq.com/art/digital-art/this-digital-artist-takes-inspiration-from-old-masters-and-orientalist-paintings WCeMuecemuycUvCgcad589 Fri, 25 Sep 2026 09:00:00 +0000 false false false <![CDATA[ We were robbed of a 2D Ray Gunn movie and Hollywood’s to blame ]]> The trailer for Netflix's animated sci-fi movie Ray Gunn has attracted the attention of animation fans over its surprisingly divisive art style (and no, it's not a movie about the Australian breakdancer). Directed by Ratatouille’s Brad Bird, the neo-noir mystery film boasts an all-star cast and electrifying action, yet critics have been quick to pass judgment because of its 3D animation.

With animated films having a resurgence thanks to Marvel's Into the Spider-Verse and recent announcements like Laika's Wildwood, all eyes are on the latest animation releases. Despite Ray Gunn's director swooping in to defend his stylistic choices, it seems the film has some high audience expectations to meet upon its release.

Created by Skydance Animation, the film follows detective Raymond Gunn as he investigates a potential murder involving celebrity star Venus Nova. A blend of sci-fi and classic noir, the movie has a surprisingly adult feel despite its humble PG rating, with romance, pummeling action and a hint of romance. But that's not why critics are peeved.

Ray Gunn poster — (Image credit: Netflix)

In a heated tweet on X, one user wrote, "watched this Ray Gunn trailer over and over because I absolutely cannot get over how sh**ty and plastic and awful this animation is." The impassioned reaction sparked a flurry of debate among animation fans who were torn by the provocative statement.

For some, the 3D animation style felt like the wrong fit, with one X user claiming, "Brad Bird’s Ray Gunn looks like a movie that’s BEGGING to be hand-drawn." Another lamented, "I do still really wish Ray Gunn was 2D animated. I’m tired of the 3D animated movies looking so similar & in general prefer 2D," while one user wrote, "Just saw the early designs for Ray Gunn and wow what we could’ve had (if only studio execs weren’t fu**ing babies)."

Concept art for Brad Bird’s Ray Gunn (2026) pic.twitter.com/ynWEfQWBl6September 23, 2026

In defence of the 3D animation style, Director Brad Bird told Discussing Film, "My love of hand-drawn is not shared by nervous executives. Studios think audiences won’t accept that, which I don’t agree with. So, it became seen as a commercial decision [to make Ray Gunn in 3D CG]. But you are collaborating with a lot of people, and if somebody is putting forth the resources possible to make the movie, you have to play ball."

The visuals of ‘RAY GUNN’.A new noir detective movie directed by Brad Bird (‘The Incredibles’). pic.twitter.com/Q8FteIwAZWSeptember 23, 2026

Others were more on board with the film, praising its more mature feel. "Am I the only one who’s glad that Ray Gunn has a slightly more grounded art style that still retains elements of stylisation?" one X user wrote, adding, "Ray Gunn has the feel of a more visually mature Pixar movie, and that’s great. We need more of this in moderation with different visions and art direction." Another chimed in, "I’m really excited for Ray Gunn. It’s a type of animation you barely see these days, and for nostalgia’s sake, I wish Brad Bird the best."

For more movie news check out why Laika is the animation house of the future or take a look at our guide on how to break into animation.

]]> https://www.creativebloq.com/entertainment/movies-tv-shows/we-were-robbed-of-a-2d-ray-gunn-movie-and-hollywoods-to-blame opFZz3dZCY8Z33PZaf5ofm Fri, 25 Sep 2026 08:00:00 +0000 false false false <![CDATA[ Sony has an idea for turning PlayStation controllers into payment devices, and everyone's saying the same thing ]]> It's been quite a week for dystopian gaming concepts. We've already seen the Microsoft patent for credit-based gaming that would make you watch adverts to be able to continue playing a game.

The next logical step to that idea would be to create a 'premium tier', allowing players to skip the adds if they pay a monthly fee. And it seems Sony's devised the perfect frictionless way to charge people for that.

It's filed a patent for a game controller that would also serve as a card reader, allowing gamers to make contactless payments directly via the device (I'll say it again: it might be time to consider one of the best retro gaming consoles).

Sony PS5 controller payment patent — Sony's patent application US19/082121 for “Video Game Controller-Driven Information Transfer"Sony / USPTO

Sony's patent application for “Video Game Controller-Driven Information Transfer" proposes a device that would support tap-to-pay with credit card, gift card or a phone. If it advances with the idea, you might be able to make payments on your PS6 directly via the Dualsense controller without having to look away from a game or enter a card number.

The patent was filed back in March 2025 but only published this month. Sony doesn't name the PlayStation or any other specific application but suggests that the controller could be used to pay for games, in-game credits and add-ons. It also cites an example of a player buying a game after trying a demo at a store or expo.

The console would request payment information and tell the player to move a payment method towards the controller. Payment details would then be beamed to the console via NFC or Bluetooth. These would be verified by the console, which would then process the purchase.

In the post-physical age of digital games, it feels inevitable that console makers would be exploring new ways to charge customers. Reduced friction could lead to more spontaneous purchases in free-to-play games or for additional DLCs. And I think I'd rather this than having to sit through an advert like in Microsoft's concept.

Of course, the concept quickly led to suggestions that the PlayStation 6 could be rebranded as PayStation if Sony actually ends up making controllers with this tech. Some people are surprised that Nintendo isn't already doing something similar on the Switch 2 given that it has NFC on board for Amiibo support.

Others reckon Sony's thinking too conservatively by focusing on traditional card payments – couldn't it store card details in advance and put a fingerprint reader on the controller for authorisation? That way, players wouldn't need to lift their fingers to make payment.

As ever, we should remember that a patent doesn't necessarily signal an intention to bring the idea into production. Sony's also recently patented an AI system that would allow PlayStation consoles to repair software problems themselves.

You can preorder Sony's limited-edition Dualsense GTA VI controllers now.

]]> https://www.creativebloq.com/3d/video-game-design/sony-has-an-idea-for-turning-playstation-controllers-into-payment-devices-and-everyones-saying-the-same-thing ZdT3urkdsfNDsZ6oHxUtqY Fri, 25 Sep 2026 07:00:00 +0000 false false false <![CDATA[ No, that Apple Games advert isn't AI, and the brilliant BTS video proves it ]]> Apple's been making some really fun advertising recently, from the vibrant MacBook Neo ads to the funny iPhone Duo TikToks.

The latest example is an Apple Games advert that might even impress Laika for how well it blends stop-motion animation with CGI wizardry. The company's now released a behind-the-scenes video showing how it was made – and perhaps to prove that it wasn't AI-generated.

Behind-the-scenes videos for pieces like this are becoming as important as the finished adverts themselves in these AI-dominated times. If your brand is going to invest in the expense of traditional, human-created art, you want to make sure that people recognise it as that and appreciate the craftsmanship that went into it.

The behind-the-scenes video for the Apple Games stop-motion ad is a wonderfully produced and edited ad in itself. It shows how the team sculpted and painted physical props, game characters and real-world sets and moved them frame by frame rather than relying on automated digital or artificial intelligence tools. We also see glimpses of software like Dragonframe being used to produce the animation on Macs.

It's a stark comparison to when Coca-Cola made a bizarre AI-narrated behind-the-scenes video to try to claim there was some artistry behind its AI-generated Christmas advert.

There may be a suspected design fail on the new MacOS 27 wallpaper, but I think we can forgive that when Apple's still producing things as impeccable as this.

]]> https://www.creativebloq.com/design/advertising/no-that-apple-games-advert-isnt-ai-and-the-stunning-bts-video-proves-it soKnzxqtLf8LJ2GJtLqhYN Fri, 25 Sep 2026 06:00:00 +0000 false false false <![CDATA[ Amazon's early Prime Day deals include massive discounts on coffee makers of every kind ]]> I don't know about you, but as winter approaches I find I need increasing amounts of coffee to help get the creative juices flowing in the morning. Or to get any juices flowing really: I'm barely alive without it.

The good news is that Amazon's brought forward the start of its October Prime Day sale just in time. Its catchily named Early Prime Big Deals include some pretty decent discounts on coffee makers of all kinds. They range from $10 off a classic Chemex, my favourite method for the rare weekend when I'm feeling mindful enough to have the patience to pour, to up to a massive 42% off Bodum French presses (what I actually end up using most days!)

There are some great deals of mechanical methods too, including on the iconic Moccamaster. Here's my pick of the best. A couple of the deals are for Prime members only, but you could take advantage of the 30-day free Prime trial, which you can cancel afterwards if you don't want the other benefits.

Browse coffee machines at Amazon

Ninja

Pods & Grounds Coffee Maker

Keurig

K-Supreme K-Cup Pod Coffee Maker

Technivorm Moccamaster

Kbgv Select 10-Cup

Black+decker

12-Cup Drip Coffee Maker

Keurig

K-Classic Single Serve K-Cup Pod Coffee Maker

Aromaster

1400w Espresso Machine With Milk Frother

Chemex

Classic Pour-Over Glass Coffeemaker

Bodum

51oz Chambord French Press

DeLonghi

Magnifica Espresso Maker

Also see our round up of early Prime Day deals for creatives.

]]> https://www.creativebloq.com/design/product-design/amazons-early-prime-day-deals-include-massive-discounts-on-coffee-makers-of-every-kind DMjdFZ8jpPqccKEUUzU7Q5 Thu, 24 Sep 2026 17:59:59 +0000 Thu, 24 Sep 2026 18:00:21 +0000 false false false <![CDATA[ How a studio created an "impossible" animated symphony using Autodesk's AI-driven mocap tech ]]> Daughter of the Inner Stars is a 50-minute animated orchestral film experience whose scope evolved massively during the production process. Conceived as a way to introduce kids to symphony music, it blends live narration and orchestral performance with original animation. It's also a powerful demonstration of how new AI-driven technology can expand creative possibilities, allowing smaller teams to explore animation in a way that maintains an analogue soul.

With handmade assets, traditional storyboarding and live performers, the film's creators turned to Autodesk Flow Studio's AI-powered motion capture workflow to transform reference footage into customisable 3D character animation. That move allowed them to create a production that they never imagined could be possible when they first embarked on the project.

Daughter of the Inner Stars premiered with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra at the Sydney Opera House in 2024 and made its North American debut with the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra in 2025. It follows a young girl called Fia. Searching for her lost father amid a cosmic war, she encounters ancient spirits forgotten by her culture and deeper truths about folklore, animism, grief and kinship.

The film was conceived by composer Nicholas Buc, writer and director James Vinson and producer Melanie Hiluta. It was originally going to be something like a picture book brought to a concert stage. Fia and a cast of fantastical characters developed by Ukraine-based Tubik Studio were going to be shown as static 2D imagery while the live narrator guided audiences through the story and voiced the characters.

However, the vision became more ambitious when production designer Nathan Su, the architect founder of Inferstudio, was brought on board. He began exploring how Tubik Studio’s illustrations could be translated into 3D.

Inferstudio Daughter of the Inner Stars animated orchestral film experience — Inferstudio

Character artist Ludvig Holmen sculpted the characters as full 3D meshes, and early tests helped the team understand which qualities from the original illustrations carried over successfully, and which elements needed to be reinterpreted for the new format.

But another leap in the project's ambitions occurred just 18 months before the scheduled premiere in Sydney. Autodesk'sFlow Studio and the Unreal Engine MetaHuman Animator emerged as technologies that could potentially allow movement to be added to the project.

Flow Studio provides a web-based workflow for turning live-action performances into 3D character animation in a simple and intuitive way, without the need for a suit. Users can upload video footage alongside a custom 3D character, and then use AI-assisted motion capture to translate the performer’s movements onto the character, preview the result within the original live-action scene, and export the motion-capture data for refinement.

In an early test in 2023, Holmen performed a simple range-of-motion study that the team captured on a phone. They uploaded the footage into Flow Studio to see if the resulting character animation might be usable. Fia didn't yet have her final face or hair, but in that rough form, Flow Studio was still able to composite the character back into the scene and translate Holmen’s performance into her movements with surprising accuracy. That offered the first real indication that fully animated sequences might be within reach.

Suddenly, the vision for the project had gone from static 2D images to 3D, to a fully animated film. The team brought performers into the process, while the transition also put Animation Technical Director Nour Hassoun in a central role. He worked with the motion-capture data generated through Flow Studio, interpreting and refining it to help shape the quality and character of the final animation.

Meanwhile, the team tested facial animation in Unreal Engine and MetaHuman Animator, exploring how these could be combined with Flow Studio’s body-tracking workflow. They also tested different render styles, frame rates, and texturing techniques to see how the animation could be shaped to fit the intended storybook-inspired aesthetic.

The team estimates that Flow Studio reduce animation times by 80%, but it also helped redefine the project's focus. Thinking about the shoot in practical, performance-driven terms helped the team hone in on the details that mattered most and on the emotion of the story. The use of real performances also kept the production grounded in an analogue approach.

“I delivered scripts. I delivered storyboards, which were all hand-drawn and painstakingly put together,” Vinson says. “I think there were about 200 boards or something like that, maybe more. And critically, I provided directorial guidance over all major aspects of the creative department. So, music, visual effects, environments, cinematography, and motion capture performance, where a lot of my experience working with real actors of flesh and blood became surprisingly relevant.”

Instead of technical perfection, the team focused on what would create the strongest emotional impact. That approach helped clarify the project’s creative priorities and define what the team wanted to achieve.

You can learn more about Flow Studio on the Autodesk site.

Also see our reports from AU26 and our interview with Nikola Todorovic, the founder of Wonder Dynamics, which created Flow Studio.

]]> https://www.creativebloq.com/art/animation/how-a-studio-created-an-impossible-animated-symphony-using-autodesks-ai-driven-mocap-tech oSzJPPKJ85ef2Rum3nw53F Thu, 24 Sep 2026 16:03:52 +0000 Fri, 25 Sep 2026 15:12:28 +0000 false false false <![CDATA[ Canva adds 1000+ new Monotype fonts for global creatives ]]> Canva and Monotype have taken their partnership to the next level with the introduction of over 1,000 new font styles. Expanding the platform for its global users, the new fonts offer an extensive choice across languages, boosting the diversity of its offerings.

With its preexisting Monotype fonts, Canva already boasts a wide collection of some of the best fonts of all time, but not all possess the right language support. The expansion is yet another leap for Canva, empowering its users and further opening up creative choice for its global community.

The expansion features additions in Arabic, Bengali, Hindi, Khmer, Lao, Thai, and Vietnamese, focusing on languages that have historically had fewer professional-quality font options. Tapping into the extensive font libraries of Monotype and its foundry partners, the new additions take Canva's font offerings up to 3000+.

The new font additions are much more than blind expansion – it's a calculated move to offer variety for creators that prioritise curation and character through their typography, not just language support. The largest increases are across Hindi, Bengali, and Vietnamese, adding 99 Hindi families and 298 styles, 72 Bengali families and 237 styles, and 114 Vietnamese-supporting families and 249 styles.

Monotype fonts — (Image credit: Monotype)

“Supporting the characters in a language is only the starting point,” says Charles Nix, global head of creative strategy at Monotype. “Real choice means having different voices, styles, and personalities to choose from. By bringing more than 1,000 additional styles in a wide array of scripts to Canva, we’re giving more creators the freedom to find type that fits not only their language, but how they speak visually.”

For more design news, take a look at how Monotype's new AI search tool is changing design for the better or check out why Canva hit the brakes on its huge AI rollout

]]> https://www.creativebloq.com/design/canva-adds-1000-new-monotype-fonts-for-global-creatives wRTXVT7QvWythgSu9kmpHB Thu, 24 Sep 2026 14:14:14 +0000 Thu, 24 Sep 2026 14:14:36 +0000 false false false <![CDATA[ The Taylor Swift iPhone colour theory doesn't feel like a joke anymore ]]> Has Taylor Swift secretly been working with Apple to coordinate her album colours with that of the iPhone lineup? It sounds like a wild suggestion – and it certainly started as a joke – but it's becoming more compelling every year. While last year's Cosmic Orange and Teal handset were suspiciously aligned with The Life of a Showgirl album colour, no-one had quite made the connection that this seems to be a pattern.

But Taylor is about to release an 'Encore' for that album, and the promo colour is overwhelmingly dark red. What is the new iPhone colour of the year? Yup, you guessed it, it's also dark red. And black. There's also black.

This has led people to look back on the pair's releases, and 1989 (Taylor's Version), Midnights, The Tortured Poet's Department, and TLOS all fall under the same matchy-matchy design pattern.

Pre-order iPhone 18 at Apple

See most of those eras/matches in the post below, with the exception of Midnights – during which Apple released a Navy Blue iPhone.

A post shared by wigconic (@wigconic.yt)
A photo posted by

I want to say that this is slightly tongue in cheek, but it is a ridiculous coincidence how often the colours align. Is it just a case of the two brands following universal colour trends every single year?

Taylor Swift Encore — (Image credit: Taylor Swift via Spotify)

But the thing is, it wouldn't actually be totally unbelievable given the fact she works closely with Apple Music – that platform often hosts tiny Easter eggs for fans to obsess over. Taylor has also done ads for Apple Music in the past. And with Apple and Taylor Swift among the world's biggest brands, it's not a stretch to suggest behind-the-scenes conversations may have happened.

What do you think of this potential collab?

]]> https://www.creativebloq.com/design/branding/the-taylor-swift-iphone-colour-theory-feels-like-its-not-a-joke-anymore vBorCWY5LXhKKqyzeceBYf Thu, 24 Sep 2026 10:19:55 +0000 Thu, 24 Sep 2026 11:48:51 +0000 false false false <![CDATA[ This tactical RPG channels a classic Sega series while putting its own spin on the retro-modern HD-2D aesthetic ]]> As a lifelong lover of JRPGs, my entry point had actually been its tactical variant with Shining Force on the Mega Drive. It's a series that has continued to resonate over the years, which is arguably how Aegis Force: The Scorian War caught my attention as a new indie tactical RPG whose creators are also influenced primarily by Shining Force.

"My friend had a Genesis and one weekend we rented Shining Force 2 from Blockbuster, and I instantly loved it," says Christian Smith, founder of indie studio Zenahive.

"That was the first tactical role playing game with grid based combat that I had played. So really, [Aegie Force] was kind of a response to loving these types of games, that idea of having combat on a grid involving movement and positioning in addition just to selecting commands was really enticing, and then being able to explore the world a little more fully without having to worry about fighting a battle every handful of steps."

Aegis Force: The Scorian War — (Image credit: Zenahive)

Admittedly, what also caught my eye about Aegis Force is that rather than a top-down affair like the 16-bit Shining Force games, its pixel art sprites are in a 3D world, which is more reminiscent of Shining Force 3 on the Saturn.

However, Smith tells me that Aegis Force's aesthetic takes inspiration from the more recent HD-2D style coined and trademarked by Square Enix, albeit a style that other devs are trying to put their own spin on. It should also be noted that while Square Enix's HD-2D games are developed in Unreal Engine, Aegis Force is developed with Unity.

Zenahive's specific approach is to present its sprites with a more dynamic 3D camera in comparison to Square Enix's HD-2D titles that despite using modern rendering and post-processing techniques, still largely keeps everything to one fixed perspective. "We wanted you to be able to spin the camera around both for exploration and also for the combat so you can see different elements of the combat."

That in itself isn't unique, since you can also rotate the map in games like Final Fantasy Tactics, but Aegis Force's camera isn't just isometric but can even come down close to ground level, almost like you're playing a third-person action game. "The buildings and environment assets are created in 3D. All the characters are created in 2D. And what we did is create sprites at multiple angles, and then as you move the camera, we've got it programmed with billboarding where the pixels move with the camera."

Where this use of the camera really stands out is during combat animations. In tactics games, these can usually be done by transitioning to flashier cutscenes like Shining Force and Fire Emblem, or just seeing the actions play out on the grid, which can be, in the case of Final Fantasy Tactics, quite no-frills.

Aegis Force actually opts for neither approach (Smith had incidentally ran a poll on the kind of battle presentation fans preferred and found it had split down the middle) and instead has a hybrid solution where combat animations do happen in real-time but the camera is also moving in when this happens to give it a more cinematic presentation.

"We're working in the camera in such a way that it is reminiscent of those Shining Force cutscenes," he explains. "It's very cinematic without dragging down the combat, so to balance that out you can also see the battlefield, you move people around and then the camera zooms in for attacks and spells in real-time, and we didn't create different pixels, sprite character animations, or backgrounds. So far, the overall feedback has been pretty good."

That dynamic camera is also very effective for the game's pincer mechanic where if you have two units positioned in front of and behind an enemy they'll both attack that same turn for extra damage. And Smith also promises more exciting ideas for even more dynamic-feeling battles.

"We want to do some pretty cool cinematic work with some of the bigger spells, like a summoner where we can bring in some cool effects when they summon creatures, and we even have an idea of an archer shooting an arrow where the camera follows that arrow as it attacks."

While Aegis Force's story starts as a more grounded low fantasy centring on a century-long conflict between two nations - one with advanced technology, the other with advanced magic - I'm also pleased to see it also includes a wide variety of races beyond just the fantasy staple of humans, dwarves and elves.

"We wanted to have a variety of races, so we've got fox people, frog people, bird people," Smith concludes. "We want to just make it a little more unique with underrepresented classes you don't see as much in role-playing games." And of course, appealing to my Shining Force sensibilities, it's also one of few fantasy games that also lets you play as centaurs.

Aegis Force: The Scorian War is available in early access on PC, a free Steam demo is also available.

]]> https://www.creativebloq.com/3d/video-game-design/this-tactical-rpg-channels-a-classic-sega-series-while-giving-its-own-spin-on-the-retro-modern-hd-2d-aesthetic csHV9LTKAe5iEb4oosbnTd Thu, 24 Sep 2026 09:00:00 +0000 false false false <![CDATA[ Microsoft's dystopian new advertising idea sounds like a nightmare for gamers ]]> Advertising is everywhere these days – even on the infotainment system in a $60,000 BMW. It seems it's only a matter of time before it starts seriously encroaches on gaming, particularly as entertainment giants predict growth in cloud gaming due to the rising cost of consoles.

Now Microsoft has provided evidence that tech companies are thinking about how they could deliver ads in games – and it sounds like a bit of a nightmare for players. ' The company behind Xbox has filed a patent for an ad-supported gaming concept that would see players forced to watch adverts before they can continue playing a game (perhaps it's more than ever time to opt for one of the best retro handheld game consoles).

Microsoft gaming advertising technology patent filing — Microsoft's ad-supported gaming concept as outlined in the patent filing (Image credit: Microsoft / USPTO)

Entitled Contextually Aware Management of Interactive Software Application Access, Microsoft's patent filing describes a model in which players would be granted access to games only on a temporary basis. Credits would allow play for a give length of time or up until a certain point in the game.

After that, players would have to sit through an advert to earn more credits to be able to continue the game. In-game events would determine when the ads are served. The system would seek to identify natural breaks that could serve to divide the game into playable blocks.

Ads could appear after boss fights, cutscenes, quests and multiplayer rounds. Microsoft describes a model that could identify menus, animations, sounds and player inputs to determine when the ad would would be less disruptive. That would be less infuriating than if the ad appeared at a crucial moment, but it still sounds like a killer for immersion.

Spotted by TechSpot, the filing was uploaded by the US Patent and Trademark Office on 3 September. The document suggests that the system could work both on locally installed games and streamed games across PC, consoles, smartphones, smart TVs and headsets.

The ads themselves could be video, audio or static, while credits might last 15, 30 or 60 minutes or up until a certain point of progress in a game, such as the end of a level or after three multiplayer matches. Players could also be shown a notification or countdown to alert them to an upcoming ad and allowing them to watch it early if they choose.

It's important to remember that tech companies file lots of patents, including for concepts they have no intention of developing. Sometimes that's to prevent other companies from using the idea. If we're going to be charitable, perhaps Microsoft is patenting this abomination to keep it locked up so nobody else can subject us to it? I'll let you decide its most likely intention.

In the meantime, don't miss the Walmart banana hack for getting cheaper Nintendo Switch games.

]]> https://www.creativebloq.com/3d/video-game-design/microsofts-dystopian-new-advertising-idea-sounds-like-a-nightmare-for-gamers 8UtepYo52VfW2gjUczb3GG Thu, 24 Sep 2026 08:00:00 +0000 Thu, 24 Sep 2026 14:14:35 +0000 false false false <![CDATA[ People think Disney is trying to erase every trace of Hexed's original concept ]]> Disney's Hexed is coming to cinemas in two months, and a lot of people still don't want to give the coming-of-age fantasy animated movie a break. We've seen allegations of Disney same-face syndrome, the slightly ridiculous Hexed vertical orientation conspiracy theory and then suggestions that Hexed's witches were inspired by The Owl House.

Now things have come full circle back to the controversy that started it all: the decision to change the film's original concept. When Disney announced Hexed only a year ago, we were told movie would revolve around the relationship between an "awkward teenage boy" and his "type A mom". But by the time the first character designs emerged in April, the boy had become a girl: teen outsider Billie Doe to be played Hailee Steinfeld.

A new display of concept art has led some to suggest that Disney's now trying to glaze over that change of plan for the movie.

Least I was able 2 ask the #Hexed crew at #D23 why they changed the story from mother/son to mother/daughter, and they said, which I honestly felt make sense cuz they didn’t fire Josie Trinidad from the film, that the change was an internal WDAS decision, not from corporate execs pic.twitter.com/zJBfj4YYgJSeptember 21, 2026

Posting on X, one fan suggests that Disney has gone so far as to create "an alternative original concept art" that removes the figure of Hexed's original boy lead as he appeared in the artwork revealed a year ago.

"We may never know the real reasons for the change, but Disney is definitely trying to avoid the conversation around it and that’s more interesting right now," they write.

Disney Hexed concept art — Disney's Hexed concept art as presented in September 2025 (Image credit: Disney)

Disney hasn't said why it changed the sex of Hexed's hero. Fans suspect the decision may have been influenced by the disappointing performance of Elio at the box office last year, or because of concerns that Hexed would be compared to Harry Potter since it was slated for release just as HBO prepares for its Harry Potter series.

One fan who asked about the change at D23 was told it was an internal Walt Disney Animation Studio decision, not something that came from higher up.

It will be interesting to see if more concept art of Hexed's original boy protagonist emerges in the movie's art book, which isn't coming out until 28 December.

The suggestion that there's a conspiracy to deny or hide Hexed's original concept sounds a bit far fetched to me. Multiple ideas are often tested during the concept art stage, so it's perfectly feasible that the 'alternative concept art' was made at around the same time as the image that Disney chose to make public.

It's no secret that sometimes Disney characters change dramatically during the pre-production process. The studio has openly shared concepts and storyboard artwork illustrating examples in the past.

Then again, perhaps Disney wants to avoid another Asha & The Starboy – the upcoming fan-made 2D animated short that revives the abandoned original concept for Wish. Could the studio be concerned that fans might take matters into their own hands again if they get hooked on the idea that Billie was supposed to be a boy?

Hexed will be released on 25 November.

]]> https://www.creativebloq.com/entertainment/movies-tv-shows/is-disney-really-trying-to-erase-its-original-concept-for-hexed mPpMwKRdUggaeFH8Kz9s8K Thu, 24 Sep 2026 07:00:00 +0000 Thu, 24 Sep 2026 14:14:35 +0000 false false false <![CDATA[ IKEA transforms its iconic blue bag in quirky campaign ]]> 2026 is the year of the IKEA Frakta, and while you might not recognise the name, you'll definitely recognise its iconic look. IKEA's big blue bag has been a staple for shoppers for 30 years, and now the legendary carrier has its very own campaign.

Documenting the many uses of the humble Frakta, the new IKEA ads celebrate the unconventional ways that the bag is used in everyday life. A wholesome, slice-of-life campaign bursting with personality, the ads reiterate why IKEA is behind some of the best adverts of all time.

A post shared by IKEA Italia (@ikeaitalia)
A photo posted by

Created by Ogilvy Italy, the Frakta campaign features 10 snapshots of everyday life featuring the iconic carrier. From a makeshift cat bed to a toddler's beach day paddling pool, the creative capabilities of the unassuming bag go far beyond its obvious function, effortlessly weaving its way into everyday life.

The comforting domestic tone of the ads, paired with the familiar scenarios, gives the campaign a distinctly human feel. Aided by the talents of street photographer Salvatore Matarazzo, these vibrant shots feel both candid and elevated, bringing a slick cohesion to the campaign.

For more design inspiration, take a look at IKEA's latest billboard ads that work because they reveal a common truth about every home, or check out why the brand went viral for this racy wicker bench photo because of Alexander Skarsgård.

]]> https://www.creativebloq.com/design/advertising/ikea-transforms-its-iconic-blue-bag-in-quirky-campaign Uh2PYkzFS5R9q6TUwLcp3 Thu, 24 Sep 2026 06:00:00 +0000 false false false <![CDATA[ People are treating Apple's MacOS 27 wallpaper 'design fail' like a true crime mystery to be solved ]]> As well as the new iPhone 18 Pro with iOS 27, Apple's rolled out its customary annual MacOS update this month. MacOS 27 Golden Gate introduces new Siri AI with on-screen awareness, enhanced apps and Liquid Glass design tweaks while dropping support for old Intel Macs.

There's been praise for the refinements and smoother performance, but some eagle-eyed users have noticed what some see as a bug in the all-important default live wallpaper design. What's going on with the Golden Gate Bridge?

I just found a MacOS 27 Golden Gate bug on the default live wallpaper. If you look closely, you’ll notice a brick wall or building overlapping a rock. I’ve talked to a few people, and they also see it too. I think there must have been a mistake with masking the video. Thanks to… pic.twitter.com/fxgnHzFfYzSeptember 22, 2026

As noted by tech influencer Sam Hlabangana in the post on X above, the MacOS Golden Gate wallpaper at one point seems to show the brick-walled building beside the bridge overlap the edge of a rock located closer in the foreground. The hard edge of the more distant object seems to move in front of the rocks.

"I’ve talked to a few people, and they also see it too. I think there must have been a mistake with masking the video," Sam writes.

That's sparked a range of theories from other detectives. One person suspects Apple's VFX artist edited in the building to cover up "something ugly, or something they didn't want to show". Someone else thinks the apparent glitch could be a side of effect of AI upscaling.

Others reckon that it's an optical illusion, or just the way the rock is actually shaped. If anyone reading happens to be in San Francisco and fancies trying to find the exact spot to recreate the shot, do let us know your findings in the comments!

That's just how the rock is shaped lol pic.twitter.com/28tTOikl7jSeptember 22, 2026

If you need a Mac to check out the mystery for yourself, see our guide to the best Mac for content creators.

]]> https://www.creativebloq.com/design/advertising/people-are-treating-apples-macos-27-wallpaper-design-fail-like-a-true-crime-mystery-to-be-solved zFEtLrPXk2jMf3efzvdrzF Thu, 24 Sep 2026 06:00:00 +0000 Thu, 24 Sep 2026 14:14:35 +0000 false false false <![CDATA[ How to make wooden pumpkins using the Bambu Lab R1 laser ]]> You may have heard that Bambu Lab announced a brand new product yesterday (spoiler: It's NOT one of the best 3D printers).

I've been lucky enough to put the new Bambu Lab R1 laser cutter and engraver through its paces for the last few weeks, and one of the first projects I made was this beautiful wooden pumpkin display piece.

How to make wooden pumpkins using the Bambu Lab R1 laser — Future

Spooky Season is upon us, and I think this is such a fun and easy craft for anyone who owns one of the best laser cutters and engravers to get involved with. All you need is a laptop with laser software, a laser cutter (duh), some acrylic paint, household glue, and some basswood plywood (I used these Bambu Lab sheets).

Oh – you'll also need to download the SVG files. I downloaded this project from Atomm, uploaded by user Pixel Perfect, so full props go to this creator. Follow along with the video I put together below, and let me know in the comments section how you got on or if you have any questions.

DIY wooden Pumpkin laser tutorial

Craving more autumnal DIY? Check out this pumpkin basket tutorial I put together last year for some cozy home decor inspo.

]]> https://www.creativebloq.com/creative-inspiration/digital-crafting/how-to-make-wooden-pumpkins-using-the-bambu-lab-r1-laser YmjyDFKuEVyLtjgRkhX98Q Wed, 23 Sep 2026 17:10:00 +0000 false false false <![CDATA[ Amazon's October Prime Day day deals have started! These are the best offers for creatives ]]> The Amazon Prime Day sales seem to get longer every year. This year's October Prime Day, AKA Big Deal Days, runs over 6 and 7 October, but the retail giant has already begun what it's billing as 'Early Prime Big Deals'.

In theory, most of the best deals are restricted to Amazon Prime members (just sign up for a 30-day free Prime trial), but I've actually spotted quite a few good limited-time discounts that seem to be available to everyone. Here are my picks for creatives.

The best Early Prime Big Deals for creatives

The Sihoo M18 remains the best budget office chair we've tested, and the only one we gave a five-star review. It's sturdy, well-designed, has adjustable lumbar support and the arm rests have a long range of movement up and down, bringing ergonomics to a home studio at a very attractive price.View Deal

As we found in our review, XPPen's slim and lightweight standalone Magic Note Pad does a bit of everything, allowing you to take notes, read and sketch on the go. This price is incredible value for a remote pen display with a nano-etched screen. The X3 Pro Pencil 2 comes included.View Deal

For a more professional drawing tablet for desktop work connected to a computer, the Artist Pro 19 Gen 2 provides 4K resolution, excellent colour accuracy and a handy mini keypad and dial for shortcuts.View Deal

Galaxy Tablet S10FE: was $549.99 now $419.99
If it's a tablet for general productivity and entertainment that you're looking for, there's no need to pay more than this. You get great battery life and a decent experience for note taking too.View Deal

The Galaxy Watch 8 has a light minimalist design, advanced health and sleep tracking features, an AI assistant and running coach, and long battery life. This is almost the cheapest it's been, though it was reduced to $244 for a period in May.View Deal

Digital Picture Frame: was $329.99 now $289.99
A digital frame can be a great way to show off your own art, or to enjoy your favourite pieces from other artists). This 21.5in model from Fangor has a anti-glare matte display that makes it resemble a real print. It can store up to 64GB of imagery, which you can send to the device via WiFi.

Also see our guide to the best e-ink art frames.View Deal

Made by Apple, the Beats Studio Pro can be a solid addition to a home studio, providing wireless connection, 40-Hour Battery Life, active noise cancellation, USB-C lossless audio and spatial audio.View Deal

17-66 in Art Easel Stand: was $16.99 now $14.43
The Early Prime Big Deals are also a good opportunity to pick up basic supplies for traditional art, like this highly rated easel. Delivery is free for Prime members. If you're not a member, you'll need to add other items to get free delivery to make the deal worth it.View Deal

Detect Blender with Cups: was $179.99 now $139.99
Ok, this isn't strictly related to creative work, but I'm a big fan of this blender, and I love making myself a smoothie when I'm too far into the zone to stop to cook solid food for lunch!View Deal

]]> https://www.creativebloq.com/tech/amazons-october-prime-day-day-deals-have-started-these-are-the-best-offers-for-creatives b3GqE9BxBJK77LMouanCci Wed, 23 Sep 2026 16:00:00 +0000 Thu, 24 Sep 2026 00:39:51 +0000 false false false <![CDATA[ This basic office chair has just raised the standard ]]> Branch’s Multitask chair is the one of the US-based furniture manufacturer’s cheapest offerings, and it strips everything to the fundamentals to hit a $279 price tag: there’s no adjustable lumbar support, the cushion is quite basic, and the headrest is only available as an added extra.

Buy the Branch Multitask chair for $299 at Amazon

This low-key approach may sound like a recipe for discomfort, but I’ve found that it weirdly has the opposite effect: its lack of features allows the bare soul of the chair to shine through without distractions or annoying extras. And even though it doesn't have a dedicated lumbar support, the shape of the back plate is such that it does give enough back support – enough to make our list of the best office chairs for back pain. This is a chair that proves you can get a premium experience without a high budget.

Comfort & ergonomics

Branch Multitask — (Image credit: Future / Henry Winchester)

Branch may have pruned this chair as much as possible, but that doesn’t mean it’s uncomfortable. The seat cushion is one of the spongiest and most couch-like I’ve used. There’s no attempt at memory-foam levels of firm support here, but it’s comfortable in a more traditional way, and I never felt like I’d sunk all the way through.

We’re currently experiencing yet another UK heatwave, and the mesh backrest is letting enough air through to help me feel like I’m not sweating my bodyweight in water. There’s no lumbar support here, but the curved shape presses into your lower back in just the right way. For the majority of people this will be enough, but if you have lumbar problems then you might be better off with a chair with more customisable support.

Adjustments on the chair are about as minimal as you’d expect: the backrest can be locked in an upright, work-focused vertical position, or reclined into a 45-degree-ish angle, or left to bounce freely between the two. The latter setting is just right if you’re someone who wriggles and squirms throughout the working day, with a solid feeling of resistance to ensure you’re supported in whatever weird yogic contortion you get yourself into.

Lumbar support isn’t the only thing that’s missing here: Branch supplied the chair without a headrest. This is good in some ways: they’re usually too short for me, and in jettisoning the headrest, it’s no longer an issue. If you really want one, you can get it included for $39 / £30.

The armrests go further up and down than most chairs, rotate a little to the left and right, and offer firm elbow support. It’s a shame you can’t flip them out of the way completely, but I get that this requires a new level of engineering.

The lack of headrest, combined with the taller-than-average gas lift and the lower-than-average height range of the armrests, make the Multitask a perfect chair for taller people, either intentionally or inadvertently. It’s still perfectly serviceable if you’re of a sensible height, and there’s the added advantage that multiple people of various statures can enjoy the chair. Not all at once though.

Design & aesthetics

Branch takes the Multitask back to basics in terms of design, but one of the things that makes the company stand out is the sheer simplicity of its chairs: there are no needless structural additions or superfluous metal motifs here. Instead, the Multitask relies on an oblong outline for the backrest with a slot at the bottom that makes it resemble a happy whale. And who doesn’t love a happy whale?

The material here does the job adequately, too. The seat cushion is covered with a denim-like hardwearing fabric, while the mesh back is airy but similarly tough. I’m not keen on the dizzying black-and-white pattern on the mesh back, which short-circuited my mind a bit, but as long as I’m sitting in the chair, I don’t have to look at the thing (and it is available in black, too).

There’s also a premium feel throughout: it’s held together with more than enough bolts, and nothing feels wobbly or creaky — which can be a problem on chairs that cost a lot more.

Specs

Branch Aire
Colours	Quarry, Black
Warranty	Five years
Max load:	125kg
Item weight:	12.7kg
Product dimensions	63.5D x 69.9W x 112.3H cm

Assembly

I’ve assembled a lot of chairs now, and something always goes wrong: I put the wrong bolt in the wrong hole, or I get something upside-down and have to take the whole thing apart and reassemble it. But Branch chairs are an exception to this rule: the build experience is straightforward, and the manual has clear illustrations and well-written descriptions. Other manufacturers could learn a lot here.

The construction process involves bolting the armrests and backrest to the seatpad, and then placing the whole contraption onto the wheeled base. I’m still sure I must have got something wrong somewhere, but it’s a testament to Branch that the whole process is so idiot-proof.

Price & value

A $279 / £220 price tag is just about right here. It’s in the mid-budget range, and roughly $100 / £80 more than Sihoo’s M18 ($170 / £150), our absolute favourite budget office chair. While the Branch Multitask offers fewer features, such as the M18’s exemplary lumbar support, it’s a more polished package that is easier to assemble, feels more solid, and is straightforward to use. Sihoo’s more premium option, the Doro C300 ($399 / £299), offers more adjustments, but it also gains a beating with an ugly stick.

Branch itself offers the Aire for a little more ($369 / £300), but I struggled with this one a little more than I did with the Multitask, especially as a taller person.

Should you buy?

Sometimes less really is more. The Branch Multitask has stripped everything back to the bare minimum, but this simplicity is its biggest selling point. I usually find myself wanting to get out of entry-level chairs like this as quickly as possible, which is fine for short bursts of work, but I sat on the Multitask for much longer stints because it nails the balance between comfort and active support.

I have minor niggles with the pattern on the mesh and the armrests, but these definitely aren’t dealbreakers, and its stripped-back looks help seal the deal as a chair for anywhere. If you’re looking for a new office chair, or you’re upgrading, the Branch Multitask is pretty much perfect.

]]> https://www.creativebloq.com/tech/chairs-desks/this-basic-office-chair-has-just-raised-the-standard XnnAgKXG3mjQD8LC84eevg Wed, 23 Sep 2026 15:03:39 +0000 false false false <![CDATA[ Improve your mood with the best monitor light bars ]]> If you haven't got dedicated lighting for your desk, a monitor light bar is one of the simplest upgrades you can make.

These are clip-on lamps that sit on top of your screen, throwing light down onto your desk rather than into your eyes, which makes a real difference during long working sessions. Especially once you've also sorted out the rest of your setup with the best monitor for graphic artists and the best office chair for back pain.

To draw up a list of the best monitor light bars for a range of budgets, I've considered brightness, colour accuracy, monitor compatibility, design, controls and features. My top pick overall is the BenQ ScreenBar Halo 2, thanks to its dual front-and-rear lighting and excellent wireless controller.

The best monitor light overall

Product shot of BenQ ScreenBar Halo 2 — (Image credit: BenQ)

01. BenQ ScreenBar Halo 2

BenQ's dual-light design remains the benchmark every other light bar gets compared to.

Release date: May 2025 | Price: $199 (often discounted to around $179) | Brightness: 500 lx workspace coverage, 1000 lx peak centre illuminance | Colour temperature: 2700K-6500K, front and tri-zone rear lighting | Compatibility: Flat and curved monitors, 0.17"-2.36" thick, 1000R-1800R curve | Controls: Wireless touch dial with digital display, auto-dimming ambient sensor | Power: USB-C (5V/3A)

Dual front-and-rear lighting

Superb controller

Fits wide range of monitors

Won't interfere with colour calibration

Expensive

No cable for charging controller

No RGB or ambient colour lighting

30-second review: The ScreenBar Halo 2 is the first light bar in BenQ's lineup to include a rear-facing light alongside the usual front bar. The former balances the contrast between a bright screen and a dark room, which helps reduce eye fatigue and headaches over long sessions. Both lights can be run independently or together, depending on what you need.

Pricing: Listed at $199 (though frequently found closer to $180), this sits at the premium end of the market. However, its brightness and coverage area are around double that of rivals such as the Razer Aether, which goes some way to justifying the price.

Features: This monitor light's standout feature is its wireless controller: a puck that adjusts by twisting its entire body, saving you from having to fumble with separate buttons. A built-in display shows the exact brightness and colour temperature for each light. The light itself mounts on monitors from 0.17 to 2.36 inches thick. It curves between 1000R and 1800R, auto-dims based on ambient light, and switches on and off automatically with your monitor. A motion sensor turns it off after five minutes if you're not at your desk, and a small webcam mount is included in the box, which is as a thoughtful touch considering how monitor lights often get in a webcam's way.

Best budget monitor light

Product shot of Quntis Computer Monitor Light Bar — (Image credit: Quntis)

02. Quntis Computer Monitor Light Bar

The best value monitor light for the money

Good for colour-sensitive work

Flicker- and blue-light-free

Auto-dimming ambient sensor

Affordable

Only compatible with thinner monitors

No remote

No RGB rear lighting

30-second review: Quntis has built a loyal following for its ScreenLinear line by offering the same core promise as more expensive bars (glare-free, flicker-free lighting with a high colour rendering index) at a lower price. The base model keeps things simple with top-mounted touch controls and an asymmetric optical design that only lights the desk, not the screen.

Pricing: At $39.95, this is the cheapest light bar on my list, at less than a quarter the price of my number one choice. Despite the affordability though, colour rendering and build quality are good. If you want a remote control and RGB rear lighting, the Pro+ version costs more, but the standard bar covers the essentials.

Features: This monitor light mounts via a weighted clip that sits on top of the monitor. It's built for flatter displays, though, than some rivals, so check your monitor's thickness before buying if you have a chunkier or curved screen. A built-in ambient light sensor auto-dims the light to around 900 lux to suit the room, and colour temperature is adjustable between 3000K and 6500K with a CRI of 95 or above.

Best light bar for dual monitors

Product shot of EppieBasic Ultrawide LED Desk Lamp — (Image credit: EppieBasic)

03. EppieBasic Ultrawide LED Desk Lamp

A 31.5-inch bar built to span two monitors, or one very wide one.

Release date: October 2020 | Price: $49.99-$70.99 depending on retailer | Brightness: 24W output, up to 1200 lux | Colour temperature: 3000K-6000K, stepless dimming | Compatibility: Desk clamp, fits desks up to 2.5" thick | Controls: Front-facing touch controls, built-in ambient light sensor | Power: AC adapter

31.5-inch wide

Flexible gooseneck arm

Auto-dimming

Doesn't fold particularly flat

No wireless remote

30-second review: Unlike the other bars on my list, which clip directly onto a monitor, the EppieBasic mounts to the edge of the desk itself via an adjustable clamp and flexible gooseneck. That makes it a good choice for a dual-monitor or ultrawide setup, because it it isn't tied to the thickness or curve of any one screen. At 31.5 inches wide, this monitor light will comfortably illuminate an entire desk rather than just the area under a single monitor.

Pricing: This monitor light is typically listed around $49.99 on Amazon. So while it's not the absolute cheapest on the market, it's excellent value considering the amount it lights up your desk, compared with smaller, single-monitor bars.

Features: The EppieBasic Ultrawide offers four brightness levels and four colour temperature modes (3000K-6500K depending on the model). You can control these using touch buttons on the lamp body, and there's a memory function that restores your last settings on power-up. A built-in ambient light sensor auto-adjusts the level of brightness to the room, and a flexible gooseneck lets you angle the light down onto a keyboard or drafting surface just as easily as across a pair of monitors. The trade-off for that flexibility is a desk clamp rather than the more compact monitor-mounted clips used elsewhere on my list, so it needs a bit of usable desk edge to attach to.

The best monitor light for iMac

Product shot of BenQ iScreenBar for iMac — (Image credit: BenQ)

04. BenQ iScreenBar for iMac

Built exclusively for the 24-inch iMac, down to the magnetic mount and macOS integration.

Release date: August 2026 | Price: $189 | Brightness: 1000 lx centre illuminance | Colour temperature: 2700K-6500K, stepless, Rf >96 colour fidelity | Compatibility: Magnetic mount for 24-inch M-series iMac only (not compatible with Studio Display or Pro Display XDR) | Controls: 24GHz mmWave radar sensor, native macOS app with Video Call Mode | Power: USB-C

Purpose-built magnetic mount

Native macOS app integration

High colour fidelity (Rf >96)

Only works with 24-inch M-series

No RGB or novelty lighting modes

30-second review: BenQ built the iScreenBar for one computer and one computer only: the 24-inch M-series iMac. That specific focus shows in the details: a magnetic mount, custom-fit to the iMac's chassis; an unobstructed camera and mic; and deep macOS integration including app-based lighting presets and a Video Call Mode. If you own a 24-inch M-series iMac, it's arguably the most seamless light bar on this list. If you don't, it won't fit, so don't buy it.

Pricing: At $189, it sits just below the ScreenBar Halo 2, even though it's only a single front light rather than BenQ's dual-light system. Ultimately, though, you're paying for the custom fit and software integration.

Features: A 24GHz mmWave radar sensor detects your presence more precisely than the simpler motion sensors used on other monitor lights, automatically waking the light when you sit down. Brightness and colour temperature can be adjusted directly from BenQ's macOS app rather than a physical controller. Full-spectrum LEDs deliver Rf >96 colour fidelity, which suggests this is pitched squarely at designers and photographers working on colour-accurate iMac displays. The whole unit is CNC-machined aluminium, finished to match the iMac itself rather than looking like an add-on.

FAQs

Are monitor light bars worth it?

If you already have good, adjustable ambient lighting in your workspace, you won't need a monitor light bar. If you don't, the best monitor light bars are definitely worth buying, especially if you spend long hours at a screen.

The benefit you get from the extra brightness is the reduction in contrast between a bright monitor and a dim room, which is what tends to cause eye strain and fatigue over a working day. Once you're used to having one, going back to overhead lighting, or no lighting at all, feels worse on the eyes.

A monitor light bar is also useful for anything else you do at a desk, from reading and hobby crafts to video calls, since the light is angled to illuminate the desk rather than your face or the screen.

]]> https://www.creativebloq.com/tech/accessories/improve-your-mood-with-the-best-monitor-light-bars anRxPqZ3mS8ZdhjydKa5xD Wed, 23 Sep 2026 14:00:00 +0000 false false false <![CDATA[ New Taylor Swift Patient 0 cover accused of Photoshop mishap ]]> Swifties were in a flurry last night after a mysterious countdown clock appeared on her website. Would it be a tour? A new Taylor's Version? A brand new album perhaps? Ever the one for the unexpected, Taylor instead surprised fans with the announcement of her new single, Patient 0.

The reveal was joined by new cover art, which raised some eyebrows among fans. Known for her refined album covers, the 'Photoshop fail' portrait received criticism from some who claimed the design was far from the glitz of T Swift's Showgirl era.

A post shared by Taylor Swift (@taylorswift)
A photo posted by

The cover art in question features a minimalist portrait of Taylor leaning against a wall. Her high-neck black top and the sterile grey of the walls give the design a distinctly industrial look, signalling a potential new era for the singer.

So why did the design irk some fans? It's all to do with the editing. Many claimed that the star had overdone it on the Photoshop, gesturing to the overly smooth line of her arm against her body. With such a simple composition, there was nowhere to hide when it came to the finer details.

The photoshop on Taylor Swift’s “Patient Zero“ cover is horrendous… girl you’re a billionaire, please get a professional photographer! pic.twitter.com/NOF1EJVZa8September 22, 2026

"Poor Taylor spent so much on the wedding that there wasn't even money left for a decent Photoshop job," one critic wrote. "The Photoshop on Taylor Swift’s 'Patient Zero' cover is horrendous… girl you’re a billionaire, please get a professional photographer!," another chimed in, while one added, "Am I tripping or does this not look like Taylor Swift… like did she AI herself or get facetuned to extra smooth like somethings not right?? (and maybe it's intentional?)"

For more entertainment news, check out Taylor Swift's wedding invites that had an ingenious detail or take a look at how Taylor Swift’s Easter Eggs are a masterclass in creative mischief.

]]> https://www.creativebloq.com/entertainment/new-taylor-swift-patient-0-cover-accused-of-photoshop-mishap AFHa3bEzDhYkby2xVsSUDU Wed, 23 Sep 2026 13:20:54 +0000 Wed, 23 Sep 2026 13:21:13 +0000 false false false <![CDATA[ The Brand Impact Award Winners 2026 have been revealed! ]]> We're excited to announce the winners of the Brand Impact Awards 2026. Following the celebration event, at which we revealed the Best of Show and Social Impact Award recipients, we can now publish the full list of Gold, Silver and Bronze award winners.

After shortlisting 29 agencies with a total of 41 projects, it was the job of our expert global jury to award them their specific accolades. Our new three-stage judging process culminated in a specialist panel, which benchmarked the Gold winners to ensure only the best work was awarded at the highest level. This panel also chose the Best of Show, while the Social Impact Award was chosen by a separate panel.

This resulted in four Gold, 17 Silver, and 31 Bronze winners, all of whom will receive one of our coveted Brand Impact Award mallets. Find them all below, and our warmest congratulations to the worthy winners.

Best of Show

The Runner-Up for Best of Show was Rail Clock by Design Bridge & Partners, a stunning experiential project that picked up a Gold Award (read more about it below).

But the winner is...

V&A East by Fieldwork Facility

V&A East Storehouse reimagines the museum experience, giving the public radical access to the V&A's stored collections of over 250,000 objects, 350,000 books and 1,000 archives across 16,000 square metres. The challenge for Fieldwork Facility was to make this new museum typology feel intuitive and welcoming, especially for younger, diverse audiences who might not see national collections as being for them.

The agency's solution treated Storehouse like software, built around the idea of an "operating system." Wayfinding became a way to search and discover, while interpretation invited visitors to decode, and even hack, the museum, encouraging them to chart their own path. This single idea runs consistently through typography, signage, digital content and operational design, creating a coherent, modular system built for a living, evolving collection.

The result is a public interface for an entirely new kind of cultural experience, one that doesn't tell visitors what to think, but gives them the tools to explore for themselves.

One judge admitted to being "totally obsessed" with it, and another added that it “completely reinvented what a museum could be.”

Runner-up honours go to For What Matters in Childhood by UnitedUs for a truly ambitious concept that was excellently executed (read more about it below as this brilliant project won a Bronze Award in Not-For-Profit).

But the winner is...

Where There's a Tree for WWF, by Johnson Banks

The campaign marks new territory for WWF UK, opening up direct conversations with trusts, corporates and philanthropists about supporting its work on tropical deforestation, which is now the charity's top strategic priority.

The challenge was that WWF's public image is tied to orangutans, elephants and pandas, the animals that call these rainforests home. Johnson Banks needed a fresh way to connect those species to their habitat, explain why it matters to both wildlife and indigenous communities, and unpack the supply chains driving forest loss week by week.

The agency flipped the narrative entirely, building the campaign around a spare, almost poetic opening line: "where there's a tree..." Rather than leaning on the doom-laden messaging typical of deforestation campaigns, it led with everything a tree, and by extension a forest, provides a home to. The shift in tone has reframed the conversation, with a flexible structure that can turn punchier when the moment calls for it, including showing, starkly, what's lost when the tree is gone.

One judge called it an "infinite storytelling device" that could "express the complexities of ecological challenges and relationships in a pithy, meaningful way."

"The versatility of the structure kept surprising me," they said, "and the lines deftly brought home the realities of deforestation with wit and empathy."

Gold Awards

The following projects took home a Gold trophy.

New York Philharmonic, by JKR

Gold Award: Culture

The New York Philharmonic exists to bring people together through music, but its branding hadn't caught up with that mission. JKR was tasked with repositioning the orchestra as inclusive, current and unmistakably tied to New York City, extending its presence beyond the concert hall and into every borough.

The solution leans hard on the city's own visual vocabulary: tall, condensed type nods to Manhattan's verticality, illustration reworks classical symbols with street-level attitude, and a palette balances stark black-and-white against flashes of city energy. The system holds together across every touchpoint without flattening its different parts, echoing the way New York itself layers scale, rhythm and diversity. The aim throughout was to present classical music not as something rarefied, but as current, shared and woven into everyday city life.

Rail Clock, by Design Bridge and Partners

Gold Award: Experiential

Britain's railway hasn't had a single, unified clock design in over fifty years, leaving passengers without a consistent way to check the time. To mark 200 years since Britain's first railway, Network Rail ran an international design competition with RIBA and The Design Museum to solve the problem.

Design Bridge and Partners' winning entry, Rail Clock, builds on Gerry Barney's legendary Double Arrow symbol, animating the once-static mark with the actual passage of time: the two arrows rotate in opposite directions, meeting briefly every 30 seconds, then locking together and sweeping clockwise for a full minute at noon and midnight.

The physical build pairs back-to-back screens that echo the arrow symbol in profile, using a modular, low-cost, low-maintenance design made in Britain. Accessibility experts helped shape a bold display paired with an updated Rail Alphabet 2 typeface. Since unveiling at London Bridge Station in October 2025, Rail Clock has earned praise from design figures including Gerry Barney and Margaret Calvert, and will gradually roll out across 2,500 mainline stations.

Stella Artois – Dressed for Wimbledon, by JKR x GUT Amsterdam

Gold Award: Wine, Beer & Spirits

Stella Artois has always leaned on tradition such as its colours and its trademark pour, but at Wimbledon, no rule matters more than the tournament's famously strict all-white dress code. JKR and GUT Amsterdam's answer was to have Stella break its own branding conventions and blend in instead: a limited-edition White Can, almost entirely white apart from a trim of colour at the rim, built to comply with the same dress code players follow.

The Stella Cartouche and other brand marks were carefully debossed so they sit just proud of the surface, visible but understated, much like a sportswear logo on a crisp polo shirt. A Wimbledon purple-and-green rim trim finished the look, and each can was individually numbered from 1 to 148 – one for every year the dress code has stood. The can anchored a wider 360-degree campaign that used the tournament's traditions as a way into both real-time relevance and Wimbledon's own history.

V&A East Storehouse, by V&A East / Fieldwork Facility

Gold Award: Culture

V&A East Storehouse reinvents what a museum visit can be, opening up the V&A's stored collections of more than 250,000 objects, 350,000 books and 1,000 archives across 16,000 square metres to the public. The brief was to make an entirely new kind of museum feel welcoming and intuitive to audiences, particularly younger and more diverse visitors, who might not have seen national collections as being for them.

The team's response treats Storehouse like software, building the whole identity around the idea of an "operating system": wayfinding becomes an interface for searching and discovering the building, while interpretation invites visitors to discover, decode and even "hack" the museum on their own terms. That single idea runs through typography, colour, signage, interpretation, digital content and operational graphics, held together by a modular visual language that can evolve without waste as the live collections store changes. Rather than designing communications for a museum, the team designed the public interface for a genuinely new kind of cultural experience.

Lenovo Legion: Always Get Back Up, by Design Bridge & Partners

Gold Award: Motion

To launch Lenovo Legion's "Reach Your Impossible" platform to Gen-Z gamers, the campaign transformed an everyday student flat into a battle-zone with a hero film spanning horror, sci-fi, competitive shooter, RPG, indie and fantasy genres, rather than sticking to a single gaming aesthetic.

The motion craft was the campaign's engine, including 70 intricate 2D and 3D VFX shots, including six fully designed boss characters, blurred the line between live-action and CG. Remote VFX supervision using Gaussian Splats and Insta360 cameras kept the interaction between real footage and digital effects seamless, while high-impact editing and a visceral soundscape, anchored by Hanumankind's "Big Dawgs", gave the film its relentless, kinetic energy.

The result was Lenovo Legion's biggest campaign to date, racking up over 157 million views and 34,000 hours of watch time, alongside a measurable lift in brand preference and innovation perception among younger gamers.

Silver Awards

The following projects were awarded Silver:

Aperol, by Design Bridge and Partners

Silver Award: Wine, Beer & Spirits

Aperol's bottle redesign leans into the brand's role as an antidote to rushed modern life, capturing the ritual of the Italian aperitivo – slowing down, sharing small plates, and savouring golden-hour moments with others. The new bottle is tactile and rooted in Venetian culture: its double-embossed shoulder nods to the dome of the Santa Maria della Salute Basilica, while rippled glass echoes the movement of the canals and the craft of Murano glassmakers. The founding Barbieri brothers' original 1919 seal sits at the base, grounding the redesign in the brand's history even as the bottle itself moves in a more contemporary direction.

Aqua Libra – Refreshingly Good, by Magpie Studio

Silver Award: Illustration

Only around 5% of adults say they genuinely enjoy drinking plain water, so Aqua Libra set out to make hydration more appealing through flavour, personality and emotional pull rather than sugar or additives. Magpie Studio built the "Refreshingly Good" platform around this idea, working with illustrator Chris DeLorenzo to create a distinct water-based world for each flavour – oceans, quiet lakes, rain, sunlight – instead of leaning on predictable fruit imagery.

The loose, handcrafted linework mirrors the movement of water, with small imperfections giving it warmth and humanity. The illustrations scale from a single focused moment on individual cans to fuller, more immersive compositions across multipacks, and elements can be lifted out and animated for campaigns and digital use, keeping the system flexible without losing coherence. In a category built on functional health claims, the work leans on imagination and discovery instead.

Blueprint AI – Human Powered, by Squarespace / ManvsMachine

Silver Award: Motion

For Squarespace's Blueprint AI film, ManvsMachine wanted to frame artificial intelligence as something rooted in human creativity rather than pure automation. The film traces a website's origin back to its earliest, most tactile stage – a designer's sketchbook – following ideas as they move from rough, imperfect beginnings to finished digital work.

Every illustration, typographic element and environmental detail in the sketchbook world was built in-house for full creative coherence, and the narrative mixes in-camera practical effects with refined 3D animation to keep a sense of physicality throughout. By centring the act of thinking rather than the finished product, the film grounds an advanced AI tool in something relatable and human, standing apart from typical tech-brand communications

Canva Affinity: Zero Bucks Given, by Canva / ManvsMachine

Silver Award: Motion

To launch Canva's new Affinity software, ManvsMachine reframed "free" not as a limitation but as creative freedom, positioning Affinity as a serious, professional-grade tool built by creatives, for creatives. Rather than a conventional feature-led software explainer, the film focuses on the emotional experience of making work, exploring the tension between restriction and possibility. It combines 2D and 3D animation, kinetic typography and hand-drawn illustration into a high-energy, expressive visual system, with product moments folded naturally into the storytelling rather than isolated as demos. A key walk-cycle sequence was built from frames submitted by real Affinity users, tying the film's craft to genuine creative community rather than typical software-launch messaging.

Character.ai, by PORTO ROCHA

Silver Award: Copywriting

Character.AI risked being written off as just another companion chatbot, despite ambitions to be an immersive entertainment platform where users direct real-time stories through chat. PORTO ROCHA noticed that much of the community already used roleplay to explore different sides of themselves without judgment, and built a character to give that impulse a face: Chippy, the "good glitch" living inside the platform, born from the app's own leftover code and inspired by early internet culture and companion misfits.

Chippy's voice of creative disobedience stretches from "Press any key to unhinge" in out-of-home ads to reassuring, storytelling-fluent copy in error messages, using expressive emoticons and internet-native phrasing that mirrors how the platform's most engaged users already talk. Where most AI chatbots read as flat and technical, Chippy behaves like a participant in the story, a sidekick cheering on users as they go off-script, making the brand feel as alive and imaginative as the platform itself.

Eleven as One, by Saboteur

Silver Award: Copywriting

Women's grassroots football participation in the UK has grown 56% over four years, yet kit options were still stuck with oversized shirts and a "shrink it and pink it" approach. When entrepreneur Julia Cove-Smith set out to build the first football kit designed by women, for women, Saboteur avoided the obvious route of building another elite-performance brand and instead built Eleven as One around the emotion and connection of grassroots women's football.

The tone taps into the sport's growing confidence and playfulness, guided by a story from a player nicknamed "Eileen the Octopus" who joined a Monday-night team because she wanted to start her week off right. The guiding copy rule became "if you wouldn't put it in the team WhatsApp, we won't say it" — a voice built on humour and warmth across headlines, social posts and product copy, aimed at making women want to wear the feeling football gives them.

Heineken StarMark Glass, by Design Bridge and Partners

Silver Award: Wine, Beer & Spirits

Heineken's green bottle is instantly recognisable, but once poured, the beer looked much like any other premium lager in a glass, and existing Heineken glassware wasn't doing enough work. Design Bridge and Partners' brief was to create a signature glass that was ownable, "stealable" and globally iconic. Global research pointed to two brand elements that resonate everywhere: the wordmark's "smiling e's" and the red Heineken star. Rather than starting from a blank page, the team built the new StarMark Glass directly from those existing assets. It rises from a star-shaped punt with a tall taper, the vertical wordmark climbing to a red star positioned at the exact height of Heineken's "perfect pour." The alignment turns a long-standing bar ritual into a physical design feature, leaving a crisp, star-shaped condensation mark on the bar when it's lifted.

Holt Art Projects, by Studio Sutherl&

Silver Award: Culture

Holt Art Projects (HAP) builds on the fifteen-year legacy of Holt Festival, combining live music, conversation, art and culture with a visual art awards scheme spanning seven categories, with shortlisted work shown in an annual exhibition. Studio Sutherl& drew the identity from flint, a material deeply tied to Holt and North Norfolk's history and architecture, including the Neolithic flint mines at Grimes Graves.

The system is built from multifaceted forms that reference flint's fractured surfaces while working together, echoing the knapped flint walls found throughout Holt's buildings. Like the programme itself, each shape is distinct but part of a larger whole, and the mark and typography shift in scale and orientation to reflect the breadth of the awards, exhibitions and performances. A flint-grey palette paired with bright pink and orange accents runs across posters, flyers, event spaces, merchandise and digital communications.

KFC, by JKR

Silver Award: Bars & Restaurants

KFC didn't need reinvention – it already had a recognisable founder, an iconic palette, a famous slogan and packaging embedded in pop culture. What it needed was relevance: US sales fell 4% in 2024, dropping the chain to fifth among American chicken competitors, as faster-moving challengers built on more modern tastes caught up. JKR's move was to turn the bucket, already KFC's most ownable asset, into more than packaging – an organising system for the whole brand experience, from a visual frame for food to a structure for restaurants, digital ordering and service moments.

This system, the "Bucketverse," reframes KFC not as a quick-service restaurant but as a quick-experience one, where every route in, from signage to app, kiosk to counter, feels part of one unmistakable world. It's built to hold consistent across more than 34,000 restaurants in over 150 countries, with a new KFC opening roughly every three and a half hours.

League of the Lexicon, by Studio Sutherl&

Silver Award: Entertainment

League of the Lexicon is a trivia game built for word nerds, quiz obsessives and the endlessly curious, spanning 2,000 questions across five categories covering definitions, usage, archaic words, etymology and word trivia. Players take on bookish character roles, collecting historical and literary artefacts as they progress.

Studio Sutherl&'s identity celebrates typography, history and linguistics to match the game's academic charm, weaving glyphs from ancient international alphabets into the core logo and gameplay icons, forming patterns inspired by the typographic borders of traditional bookplates. Custom roundels built from pairs of glyphs tie the core game together with its Slang, Global and Junior expansions, while highly detailed bespoke illustrations bring the game's eccentric characters and artefacts to life with archival precision. Even the dice ditches conventional dots for number formations and an interrobang symbol. The system is flexible enough to unify the core game and its expansions while supporting further product development, and it's published across the US and UK.

Ostara, by Here design

Silver Award: Illustration

Easter packaging is one of retail's most crowded categories, typically leaning on pastel palettes, cartoon rabbits and generic florals. Fortnum & Mason wanted a range that stood apart and justified its premium price point. Here design rooted the collection in Ostara, the pagan festival of spring and the little-known myth behind Easter's origin – a goddess turning an injured bird into a hare that laid coloured eggs – and commissioned illustrator Lou Benesch to bring that world to life by hand in watercolour, drawing on folklore, nature and mythological creatures.

The work deliberately shifts the protagonist from rabbit to hare, mythologically more accurate and visually more characterful, running across the range as motif and mascot. The loose, unfinished quality of the illustration is the craft itself — every pack feels caught mid-transformation, echoing the myth. The artwork holds together across more than 20 products, from a £165 assortment box down to a £6.95 matchbox of chocolate hares, including a children's line led by its own character, Harrie the hare.

PJL, Premier Jumping League, by NOT Wieden+Kennedy

Silver Award: Sport & Leisure

Showjumping had an image problem, often read as a genteel world of flowerbeds and polite applause rather than the high-adrenaline sport it actually is: two athletes, horse and rider, pushing the limits of physics together. The Premier Jumping League wanted to launch a new global showjumping league that reframed the sport as spectacle without alienating its existing fanbase.

NOT Wieden+Kennedy anchored the identity in the rail — the sport's most iconic fixture, using it as the basis for grids, motion, layout and imagery across broadcast, merchandise and signage. The logo is an athletic wordmark that hides a nod to the sport's most pivotal moment – the instant a horse tucks its hooves to clear the rail – within its letterforms. The tone of voice took a similarly bold turn, with lines like "Not all athletes are human," while a bespoke typeface co-designed with Studio Drama echoes the angle of horse and rider mid-takeoff. Photography by Daniel Benson, known for shooting BMX, brings the same close, physical energy to horses, and a launch film directed by Nicolina Knapp captures a full minute of tension and motion.

Plymouth City brand, by DNCO

Silver Award: Brand Strategy

Known as Britain's Ocean City, Plymouth already had a strong tourism identity built on a history of remarkable voyages, but with 25,000 new jobs to fill, the city needed to be seen as somewhere to build a career, not just visit. DNCO spent time embedded in the city, visiting landmarks, interviewing locals and visitors, digging through museum archives and running a week-long creative residency, drawing on 250 creative responses, 100 UK-wide surveys and 100 interviews, backed by economic research.

Three insights stood out: Plymouth sits uniquely between a national park and a national marine park, it offers a high quality of life relative to similar cities, and it carries a legacy of exploration, from Darwin to Dame Ellen MacArthur. Together, these shaped the central idea of adventure, expressed through the tagline "Make life an adventure," inviting both newcomers and residents to see the city as a place of ambition and curiosity. Where many UK coastal cities struggle to be seen as more than a holiday destination, Plymouth's strategy turns that same coastal identity into its strongest case for relocating.

Probably Serif, by Taxi Studio

Silver Award: Typography

Carlsberg has spent over 150 years balancing science and imagination, a tension embodied in its 1904 brandmark by Thorvald Bindesbøll – organic yet precise, fluid yet structured. Taxi Studio's Probably Serif translates that DNA into a full typeface, designed so Carlsberg stays recognisable even without its logo present — a strategic necessity in "dark markets" where alcohol promotion is restricted and packaging assets like the logo may be banned outright.

The team deconstructed the original mark and archival material to build a system from its most distinctive traits: the sheared, flat-topped "C" and "s", the single-storey "a" and "g", and the flicks, curves, ligatures and slab serifs that give the mark its rhythm. The result works across packaging, campaign, digital, retail and environmental applications, supporting both Latin and Cyrillic scripts, and is built entirely from Carlsberg's own visual history rather than generic beer-category heritage.

Schweppes, by JKR

Silver Award: FMCG

Schweppes is the world's original soft drink at nearly 250 years old, but a wave of artisanal newcomers like Fever-Tree and Fentimans had started borrowing its own heritage cues, such as vintage stamps, to compete against it. Meanwhile Schweppes itself had leaned into mass-market accessibility, quietly diluting its craft credentials. JKR's strategy was to reclaim rather than reinvent – Schweppes, not its challengers, has the real claim to "craft."

The redesign unifies the brand's fragmented global look around a saffron-yellow beacon, drawing on archive research and fountain illustrations to bring in more serifs, ornate detailing, distinctive angles, monograms and patterns, with golden-hour lighting running through the photography. The rollout includes directly printed aluminium cans to cut unnecessary packaging, alongside secondary carton and box formats, launching across the UK and South Africa from December 2025 ahead of further markets in 2026.

Somer Valley Brewing, by Supple Studio

Silver Award: Illustration

Somer Valley grows its own barley on its farm using rotational cropping alongside a herd of heritage cows, sends the harvest a few miles down the A36 to be traditionally floor-malted in Warminster, and even draws its own water from a bore hole on-site. Supple Studio built the identity around the idea "From our land, to your hand," and, since so much of the process already happens on the farm, made the brand assets there too – working with Bath-based illustrator Simon Spilsbury to create textures by printing, rubbing and inking everything from hay bales to tractor wheels, then layering in farm-based illustrations full of wit and charm.

Beer names draw on farmyard sayings and West Country slang, giving the brand a distinct regional accent that shows up everywhere from packaging to wall art and social content. The brand has since extended to its first taproom, aptly named The Welly.

WKD, by Continuous

Silver Award: Brand Strategy

WKD built its name on connection and turning ordinary nights into stories, but had slipped from provocative to peripheral among 18-24-year-olds, with consideration down 43% year-on-year. While headlines obsessed over a "sober generation," Gen Z alcohol consumption had actually risen from 66% to 73% between March 2023 and 2025; the real shift, Continuous argued, was exhaustion with "betterment burnout," not sobriety.

The resulting platform, "All Fun. No Filters," leans into self-aware humour and honesty rather than chasing the aspirational tone much of the category was adopting, reviving the "WKD Side" tagline to keep the brand name front and centre. A Humour Matrix, co-created with 18-24-year-olds, helped navigate the line between cheeky and offensive. Posed lifestyle imagery was banned outright in favour of unpolished, slightly chaotic real nights, with bold copy poking fun at the brand itself rather than others, rolled out through WKD's regional heartlands across digital, out-of-home and on-trade activity. 76% of consumers said the resulting campaign could only have come from WKD.

Bronze Awards

The following projects were awarded Bronze:

Best of the Bone, by Universal Favourite

Bronze Award: Copywriting

Best of the Bone makes properly made bone broth – organic, grass-fed, slow-simmered, with none of the miracle-elixir or wellness-mysticism framing that dominates the category. Universal Favourite built the brand's whole voice around that same bluntness: real ingredients, no additives, no preservatives, nothing dressed up. The tone is dry, irreverent and deliberately unpolished, finding warmth and wit in plain speech rather than clinical authority or ancient-wisdom posturing.

On the packaging, ingredients are named without fanfare and benefits are stated without spin; in wider brand communications, the copy finds unexpected angles like a steaming mug on a fjord, a broth-soaked head of hair, while always circling back to one simple message: it's just bone broth, and that's enough. In a category weighed down by jargon and overclaiming, the confidence to say less has deepened the brand's relationship with its loyal following.

Blood Cancer United, by JKR

Bronze Award: Not-For-Profit

The Leukaemia & Lymphoma Society was founded in 1949 by a family who'd lost their son to leukaemia, determined to spare others the same loss. Over the decades its work expanded to cover all blood cancers and a much wider range of audiences, but its branding hadn't kept pace – and the COVID pandemic exposed just how siloed and disjointed its various efforts had become. JKR's solution was a new name, Blood Cancer United, that makes the scope of the organisation's work immediately clear, paired with an identity built to unify every campaign, event and fundraising effort under one visual language. What was once a sprawling, fragmented network comprised of patient support, fundraising and research now speaks with a single, consistent voice, sending a direct message to everyone living with blood cancer that they're not alone.

For What Matters in Childhood, by UnitedUs

Bronze Award: Not-For-Profit

Buttle has provided beds, coats, laptops and other essentials to children in crisis since 1953, carrying on the vision of founder Reverend Frank Buttle. But by 2024, the charity's modest legacy brand couldn't carry the weight of an ambitious new five-year strategy or amplify children's voices as demand and advocacy needs grew. UnitedUs's rebrand, "For what matters in childhood," rejects pity-driven, deficit-based poverty narratives in favour of a child's dignity, agency, joy and hope.

The Brighton-based B Corp co-designed the identity directly with the young people Buttle serves – a Youth Advisory Panel steered the creative direction and conceived Frank the Otter, a character from their own imagination named after the founder. The brand launched at the Houses of Parliament alongside Buttle's first children's art project, giving young people a platform to share what the charity's support meant to them in their own words – often the first time stakeholders had heard directly from children rather than through adults. The work transforms a quiet grant-giver into a confident, advocacy-led voice built to influence national policy.

Hellmann's Lifts It, by Design Bridge and Partners

Bronze Award: FMCG, Brand Strategy

Facing shifting food trends and rising consumer expectations, mayonnaise category leader Hellmann's needed a refresh to hold onto its market dominance, built on the insight that people are tired of overhyped food fads and just want genuine enjoyment in everyday meals. Design Bridge and Partners centred the work on "Hellmann's Lifts It," inspired by the brand's century-old blue ribbon symbol of top-quality mayonnaise, positioning a dollop of Hellmann's as the thing that elevates simple food into something more. The ribbon was amplified in a refined logo and new "H" monogram, packaging was redesigned across more than 90 products, and the brand's cartouche became a flexible "window" onto lifted food and moments, all supported by a new colour palette, a custom Dollop Serif typeface, upward-angled photography and optimistic motion design. Since launch, "Worth Paying More For" perception has climbed from 49% to 61%, with measurable gains over competitors in shelf findability, purchase intent and perceived taste and excitement.

Joby Aviation, by TinyWins

Bronze Award: Motion

As Joby Aviation prepared to launch a new era of all-electric flight, motion became a central tool for conveying both the emotion and mechanics of a mode of transport most people have never experienced. TinyWins developed a motion language inspired by aviation's golden age and the physical sensation of ascent and arrival, aiming to make audiences feel the promise of flight throughout the digital experience. Typography, transitions and interface elements move with the rhythm of flight, and signature brand devices animate throughout to carry the aircraft's visual language into digital spaces. Working with INK Studio, the system extends into high-fidelity 3D visualisations and technical, schematic storytelling that turns complex engineering into clear, compelling narrative – serving both emotional and functional roles at once, building wonder while explaining innovation.

Kiko Martins: A Culinary Journey, by Peter Schmidt Group

Bronze Award: Bars & Restaurants

Kiko Martins, a Michelin-starred chef from Portugal, built a reputation on culinary curiosity, studying regional dishes from his travels and folding them into his own cooking. Peter Schmidt Group translated that journey into a simple, striking identity: every location is marked by its geographic coordinates – degrees, minutes and seconds. The result reads as minimalist but story-rich, working consistently across physical and digital touchpoints from menu to website, while positioning Kiko as a cosmopolitan figure and his dishes as cross-cultural creations within a crowded restaurant industry.

KFC, by JKR / JKR x Studio DRAMA

Bronze Award: Brand Strategy, Illustration, Typography

Chicken has gone mainstream, and everyone from global chains to regional upstarts has moved into the category KFC itself built – US sales fell 4% in 2024, dropping the brand to fifth place among American chicken chains. JKR's read was that the product had never lost its edge, only the brand's expression of it, so the work reoriented everything around making experiences feel "Finger Lickin' Good" – elevating a legacy slogan into a defined standard of behaviour applied through the bucket, KFC's most ownable asset, across packaging, restaurants, digital and menu innovation. For illustration, rather than defining one fixed style for over 34,000 restaurants in 150-plus countries, the team put the bucket shape in the hands of native artists around the world – five illustrators from Buenos Aires to Xiamen, Lima to Mumbai, each given the same brief (make it Finger Lickin' Good) and free rein within an open "Creativity" palette held together by KFC's black, red and white.

For typography, working with Studio DRAMA, the brand's red stripes were rebuilt from decoration into a full storytelling device: a refined lettermark led to Kentucky Fried Stripes, a display typeface, plus a custom web tool that automatically turns copy into stripes, and a wider Kentucky Fried Serif and Sans family tuned for legibility from billboards to fry bags.

Lenovo Legion – Always Get Back Up, by Design Bridge and Partners

Bronze Award: Experiential

Lenovo Legion's "Always Get Back Up" campaign, built on the insight that gamers have to lose before they win, spans horror, sci-fi, shooter, RPG, indie and fantasy genres rather than committing to one, following a gamer repeatedly knocked down by different bosses who keeps getting back up.

The team transformed an ordinary student flat into a battle zone using 70 2D and 3D VFX shots, six bespoke boss designs, and remote VFX supervision via Gaussian Splats and Insta360 cameras to blend live action and CG. A community competition let fans design the ultimate boss, with the winner flown to set to collaborate directly. Backed by Hanumankind's "Big Dawgs" and extended into DOOH "Pile of Bosses" builds recreated at Gamescom, the campaign generated over 157 million views and 34,000 hours of watch time, becoming Legion's biggest campaign yet.

Little Dish – Happy Healthy Mealtimes, by Derek&Eric

Bronze Award: FMCG

Little Dish had become one of the UK's most-loved children's food brands, but its identity hadn't kept pace as the portfolio expanded beyond its original meals — it needed something more distinctive and scalable that could support innovation while keeping parents' trust. Derek&Eric's strategic idea, "Happy Healthy Mealtimes," shifts the focus from nutrition alone to the joy of feeding children well, and became the foundation for the whole rebrand.

The team evolved the existing Little Dish icon into a more expressive asset, added a playful illustration world and bespoke typography, and built a flexible system that balances warmth, appetite appeal and clear navigation across packaging, digital, retail activation and innovation work. Rather than a cosmetic refresh, it's a brand system designed for growth – one that leans into the happiness of family mealtimes in a category dominated by functional nutrition messaging.

Lost and Found by King's Culture, by Alphabetical

Bronze Award: Culture, Education

Lost & Found is a year-long programme of art, film, photography and public discussion built around displacement, belonging and sanctuary, reflecting King's Culture's status as a University of Sanctuary at King's College London. Rather than a static identity, Alphabetical built one that behaves like the stories it represents: bold letterforms from the words LOST & FOUND disappear, fragment and reappear in altered shapes, graphically expressing journeys of displacement and resilience, while individual letterforms double as flexible frames for artists, events and stories.

The identity launched alongside Es Devlin's installation Congregation and ran through a year-long festival across exhibitions, talks, films, performances and public installations throughout Strand Aldwych and King's College London, opened by the Mayor of London and featuring artists including Es Devlin, Tiffany Fairey, Susan Aldworth, Liz Hingley and Aman Aheer. Rather than simply promoting events, the identity became an active storytelling device, continually embodying the idea of sanctuary as the programme evolved.

Moncler x Gilga Farm, by Moncler / WeSayHi / ManvsMachine

Bronze Award: Motion

To launch Donald Glover's capsule collection with Moncler, the team reinterpreted one of the brand's most distinctive heritage assets — its 1960s care-label comic strip featuring mascot Monduck – drawing on Glover's Ojai-based creative hub, Gilga Farm, and his interest in lucid dreaming. The resulting dreamlike film follows Monduck mischievously guiding Glover through a series of wardrobe transformations via a radio dial, each station revealing a new look, before Glover wakes on a mountain in the collection's sleeping bag jacket, tying the collaboration back to Moncler's mountaineering roots.

When production moved from live action to animation, the team treated it as an opportunity: the comic strip was recreated as a physical care label sewn inside the jacket, just like a real Moncler label, blending hand-drawn animation with 3D cloth simulation to bring it to life. Every choice reinforced the link between Moncler's heritage and the new collection, resulting in a campaign defined by originality and craft.

Nordeste, by Design Bridge and Partners

Bronze Award: Transport & Travel

The Brazilian Northeast is usually sold on postcard clichés — sun, sea, beaches — but "Nordeste Além" (Northeast Beyond) set out to reveal a region as diverse as it is exuberant, representing nine independent states through one distinctive symbol while avoiding generic tourism tropes and stereotypes. Design Bridge and Partners' solution is a bird built from geometric shapes and colours drawn from local festivals, dances and artistic traditions — singular yet plural, synthesising diverse cultures and geographies into one identity. Its graphic components can be broken apart and reused as a modular design language, keeping visual consistency across every touchpoint. By translating recurring patterns and symbols, from cordel literature to visual art, into a contemporary visual language, the brand moves the Northeast from a landscape to be looked at into an experience to be lived, giving all nine states a shared, proprietary voice on the world stage.

NYCFC – The Five Borough Flight, by Tavern Agency

Bronze Award: Experiential

When the FIFA Club World Cup landed in the New York area, New York City FC found itself shut out of the conversation in its own hometown, unaffiliated with the tournament while the world's attention turned to nearby MetLife Stadium. Tavern Agency's brief was simple: get New York talking about NYCFC. The solution drew on the club's unofficial mascot, the pigeon, building a guerrilla activation around a 700-pound, five-storey inflatable pigeon that floated past all five boroughs.

In the weeks before launch, smaller pigeon-branded content and real pigeons kitted out in NYCFC gear teased the stunt across the city and social feeds. During the Club World Cup finals, the giant pigeon launched from Staten Island, passed the Statue of Liberty, headed up the Hudson past MetLife Stadium, looped up to the Bronx and back, then finished at Etihad Park in Queens – NYCFC's future home — with thousands tuning into a livestream of the pigeon's-eye view.

Plymouth City Brand, by DNCO

Bronze Award: Public Sector

Plymouth's history of exploration, from Charles Darwin to Dame Ellen MacArthur, earned it the nickname "Britain's Ocean City," but that heritage only told half the story. With major national investment underway and 25,000 jobs to fill over the next decade, DNCO's brief was to build a brand that went beyond tourism, raising the city's profile and drawing talent to live and work there, not just visit. The central idea, adventure, drew on Plymouth's unique position between a national park and a national marine park, its high quality of life, and its legacy of exploration, distilled into the tagline "Make life an adventure."

Visually, the team mined the city's navigational heritage – maps, trails, compasses – into a bespoke arrow logo symbolising horizons and optimism, with a nod to Smeaton's Tower lighthouse, alongside a flexible pattern system built from historic contour-line maps. Typography and colour draw on local landmarks, from historic metal signage to the lighthouse's red bands and the rusty orange of Antony Gormley's pier sculpture. Rather than running separate tourism and talent-attraction identities, as most cities do, Plymouth brought both into one system, launching with support from the city's key institutions.

Saboteur, by Saboteur

Bronze Award: Self-Branding

The original saboteurs threw their wooden clogs — sabots — into industrial machines to resist automation, believing that handmade work from small businesses would outlast mass production. Saboteur, an independent brand studio, has always shared that rebellious, freedom-first spirit, but had never had an identity that reflected it — until the studio realised the idea was hiding in its own name, sabot being the French word for clog and the origin of "saboteur."

The clog now runs through everything: the website, launch film, social presence, email signatures and daily culture, expanded into a whole collection of clogs to reflect the studio's range of ideas and people. Where much self-branding in the sector plays it safe with palette refreshes and manifesto language, this identity is built on a real piece of industrial history, applied with enough range to genuinely set the studio apart.

Saudi Now, by Alphabetical

Bronze Award: Culture, Public Sector, Not-For-Profit, Typography

Saudi Now is a new international platform for collaboration between Saudi Arabia and the UK, spanning arts, film, photography, dance, music, fashion, ideas and education, commissioned by the British Council as a space for two-way cultural exchange. Rather than building separate English and Arabic identities, Alphabetical created a single bilingual wordmark that gives both languages equal weight, expressing dialogue rather than translation.

Working with Arabic type designer Shaqa Bovand ensured the identity was shaped by both cultures equally – Bovand introduced the subtle angle of traditional Arabic calligraphy, and together the team identified the rhombic Noon dot (representing the Arabic letter N, echoing the "N" in Now) as a flexible graphic device that extends into pattern, motion and animation. The brief called for a youthful, accessible identity that would work across digital platforms, and the result lets two languages and cultures coexist as genuine equals rather than one being a translation of the other.

Somer Valley Brewing, by Supple Studio

Bronze Award: Wine, Beer & Spirits

Somer Valley Brewing grows its own barley using rotational cropping alongside a herd of heritage cows, moves the harvest a short distance down the A36 for traditional floor malting in Warminster, and draws its own water from an on-site bore hole. Supple Studio evolved the brewery's logo and built a visual language around the idea "From our land, to your hand," creating brand assets on the farm itself in collaboration with Bath-based illustrator Simon Spilsbury, who built a suite of textures by printing, rubbing and inking everything from hay bales to tractor wheels before layering in farm-based illustrations. Beer names draw on farmyard sayings and West Country slang, giving the brand a distinct regional voice that carries through packaging and social content – and now the brewery's first taproom, The Welly, launched in 2026.

St John's College Rebrand, by Kit Studio

Bronze Award: Education

St John's College, Durham needed its own independent visual identity and digital presence, distinct from its parent institution but still true to over a century of history. Rather than compressing that history into a single logo, Kit Studio built a considered system of assets anchored by a coat of arms restored by hand with master craftsman Nathan Yoder, recovering detail that had gradually been lost through years of digital reduction. Alongside the coat of arms sits a refined shield, an SJ monogram, and a wider visual language drawn from the college's architecture and traditions. Archive research, staff and student conversations, and time spent on campus shaped an identity informed by an institution defined as much by warmth and curiosity as academic achievement, extending across the website, social media, print, signage, merchandise and events.

SZCZĘSNY | Amazon Prime Video, by Studio Sutherl&

Bronze Award: Entertainment

SZCZĘSNY is an Amazon Prime Video documentary following the career of Polish goalkeeper Wojciech Szczęsny across Arsenal, AS Roma, Juventus and FC Barcelona. Studio Sutherl&'s identity and motion graphics are built around Szczęsny's physical ability to fill the goal, using Podium, a variable typeface from Polish foundry Warsaw Capitalics, which expands, compresses and shifts weight to fill the frame as it displays match locations, milestones and title cards.

The wordmark's italicised "Y" nods to a diving save frozen mid-motion, while interstitial graphics turn career statistics into visual textures, giving the identity the feel of both a statistical record and a portrait of a footballing icon. The documentary premiered on Prime Video on 10 October 2025.

The Creative I for Imperial College London, by The Click

Bronze Award: Education

Higher education is under financial and reputational pressure. Half of UK universities face deficits, and a third of people doubt a degree is worth it, yet the sector still leans on interchangeable heritage crests as shorthand for credibility. Imperial College London, often called "the MIT of Europe," wanted to stop borrowing credibility and own what actually makes it Imperial. The Click's task was to make that repositioning work across 24 independent departments spanning three faculties, historically fragmented after years of working in isolation, while convincing sceptical scientists, engineers and medics rather than marketers.

The solution, The Creative I, was already hiding in the institution's name, carrying a double meaning of "I" the institution and "I" the individual. The team met every department to develop 24 bespoke marks, each abstracted to evoke a feeling rather than illustrate a subject literally, sharing a geometric footprint and single-colour discipline that holds them together as one family across avatars, buildings, patterns and motion, scaled through Frontify so any department can use it.

UEFA EURO 2028, by VML Branding

Bronze Award: Sport & Leisure

Hosting UEFA Euro 2028 across the UK and Ireland is a statement of intent around social cohesion and passing the game on to the next generation, and VML Branding's central idea, "We All Speak Football," uses the sport as a universal language to unite communities and export those values globally. The identity is born from fans themselves, translating their chants and voices into a flexible visual system built around stadium key visuals and logo "shout" backgrounds, alongside a secondary dynamic sound-wave pattern. The logo itself shows a roar emanating from the trophy as a visible wave of passion, and the colour palette represents the host nations, running from stadium takeovers to digital screens. The project marks the first time a major football brand has used kinetic typography and sound, rather than traditional graphic devices, as its primary visual driver.

Where there's a tree (WWF), by Johnson Banks

Bronze Award: Copywriting, Not-For-Profit

This project moves WWF UK into new territory, speaking directly to trusts, corporates and philanthropists about its work on tropical rainforest deforestation, now the charity's top strategic priority. The challenge was that most people associate WWF with the orangutans, elephants and pandas that live in these forests, so Johnson Banks needed a new story explaining the link between species and habitat, why it matters to both wildlife and indigenous people, and what's driving deforestation through global supply chains. Rather than the category's usual "doom and gloom" messaging, the campaign opens with just four words: "where there's a tree…", leading with everything a tree, and then a forest, is home to, before pivoting to a punchier message, and showing what's lost, when needed.

Zudo, by DNCO x Victory

Bronze Award: Illustration

Victory Group and development partner LMTD set out to convert the former ABN AMRO headquarters in Zuidas into a 207,500 sq m site of homes, workspaces, streets and gardens across seven buildings and five towers, completing the district's shift from business zone to city neighbourhood. Once the team landed on "a village for Zuidas" and the name Zudo – a blend of "Zuidas" and the Dutch word for village, "dorp" – the question became what that village should look and feel like.

DNCO and Victory Group worked with illustrator Luis Mendo, a 20-year Amsterdam resident, to build a multi-layered illustration of village life: the neighbourhood baker, the butcher, a local brown café, tulips at a flower cart. Individual scenes can be lifted from the wider illustration for flexibility across hoardings, digital platforms and print, and the system is designed to grow with new scenes and seasonal moments as Zudo develops. Local details only a longtime resident would recognise such as Amsterdammertje bollards, a barrel organ, kids in Ajax kits, a nod to Mayor Femke Halsema and to Rembrandt, root the development in the city's actual culture rather than architectural renderings alone.

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