A Designer’s Tool Box

Just as any tradie would have, most designers or creative professionals will have a “design tool box”.

In all reality this tool box is probably not a 3 dimensional, jam packed, higgledy piggledy heavy duty pull-open box as most tradies would have, but rather, a variety of carefully selected “virtual” and real world apps, tools and gadgets that are utilised when a creative idea needs to be recorded, conveyed or fleshed out.

Granted, every designer will have their own preference and ways of doing things. I know many designers that will spend hours with pen and paper before even touching a computer. Other designers are digital whizzes and can have something vectorised in Adobe Illustrator at the drop of a hat. The process is as individual as the designer and no two designers will have the same toolbox.
 

Design Resources

I have spent the last few years learning that the importance of the design process should never be undermined by fancy gimmicks and technology – but heck technology can make the difference to aiding a fantastic design process!

I believe I have fine-tuned my design resources now after several years of trial and error, using only what I feel is efficient, stream lined and essential to my design process. The following items are what you would find in my personal design toolbox, and what I use day to day at OnQ.
 

iPad Mini

So this conversation cannot go much further without me introducing my one true love – the iPad mini. Since the introduction of tablets the design industry hasn’t quite been the same – neither has my life. I use my iPad mini everyday as part of my job. I use it to preview websites, take screenshots, interact with social media and a whole lot more. A lot of the following resources that I will refer to are iPad/tablet friendly and as a result have made my (design) life vastly mobile and instantaneous.

I realize that Apple is not everyone’s cup of tea, so please forgive me. If your preferences are more Android inclined, most of the following design app resources are available on Android too.
 

Paper by 53:

Paper by 53 is by far one of the better sketching tablet apps. It has simple functionality and a beautiful “notebook” user interface. It has easy sharing capabilities allowing you to send sketches instantaneously via email and share on Twitter, Facebook and Tumblr. Paper is not only functional but will also satisfy your inner designer’s need for beauty. If you combine this with a fantastic stylus you’re well on your way to having a highly advanced interactive creative base for all your conceptual and creative needs!
 

Wacom Tablet:

Not only am I the Design Guru at OnQ but I am also the illustration addict. As one of my personal favourites for computer based illustration work I use the Wacom bamboo tablet. I realize there are probably much more sophisticated graphics tablets available but I find this to be a great all rounder option for illustration jobs. It’s sensitivity is quite decent and I much prefer this size to any other larger models. Not to mention the price is pretty decent too!
 

Kuler

It goes without saying that designers and illustrator’s alike are in the business color. I know from personal experience that color palettes can often make or break the effectiveness of a design. I am constantly seeking new color palettes and unusual color mixes. Cue Kuler – a wonderful color mixing and inspiration tool. Kuler which is designed by Adobe, allows for fantastic RGB color mixing. Users can sign in and save their color palettes and can even name and share their pallets. When I am lacking inspiration in the color department this is where I head to. You can find kuler at https://kuler.adobe.com/create/color-wheel/ . There is also an iPhone app available for color mixing on the go!
 

Communication and Organisation

With the different roles and responsibilities of of our team, communication can often be tricky. So we have taken to using several online tools to help connect us instantly and remotely.
 

Evernote

Evernote is only a recent discovery for me, but I have fallen in love with it already. Evernote is a note taking app which I have installed on every device I own – smartphone, tablet and laptop. Much like Paper by 53 Evernote has a “notebook” layout which allows for easy organisation, and syncs via the cloud allowing you access to your notes on all your devices. I find it’s a great tool for a designer on the go, and have found myself pulling it out during several meetings with On.Q staff and clients on my smartphone and tablet.
 

Dropbox

As a designer, there is nothing I hate more than trying to compress a file in order to email it. There are some files that quite simply cannot be compressed. Thus, Dropbox has proven to be a lifesaver when trying to get quality high resolution files to clients and other team members. For those of you who are not familiar with Dropbox, it is an online file sharing system which can be accessed within your computers own folder directory. This folder can be shared with other users and files that are pasted into your dropbox folder are automatically uploaded to any other users dropbox folder that is connected to yours. Dropbox uploads and downloads files automatically once connected to the internet and runs quietly in the background while you continue working on your laptop or desktop. There are also tablet and smart phone apps available for dropbox making file sharing easy and mobile.
 

Yammer

Communication within a marketing organisation is obviously an essential part of success and one tool we’ve been trialling is Yammer. Yammer calls itself “The Enterprise Social Network”, and acts more or less like a social network for corporations. It is set up very much like Facebook featuring many of Facebook’s sharing abilities. We’ve found it particularly useful for sharing ideas and inspiration on public notification boards. As a team we tend to keep Yammer as our “chat” location and brainstorming center. With apps for desktop, phone and tablet this is a great tool for team members out and about.
 

Asana

Following the thought of communication, task management is just as important. It is often the case that in organisations task and jobs can get lost in translation and bogged down in hundreds of emails. Thankfully we’ve found a great solution, and it’s free for up to 15 team members – Asana. This is an application that allows you to create online tasks and projects. Each task allows you to fill in a brief and has a “chat” functionality within each task if a discussion is needed about the task. Tasks can be grouped within larger “tabbed” projects allowing for ease of organisation. Asana also has a feature allowing you to attach files for visual sharing. As much as I love Asana my only gripe is that it does not have a tablet app. The smartphone app works great, but it would be nice to see this wonderful app applied to the tablet sector!

I hope this insight into my personal “design toolbox” has proven helpful. Just remember find what works for you and run with it. Everyone has a different process and will need different tools as a result. However use the above tools as a start – play with them, test them out, put them through their paces. Happy designing!

If you do have other tools in your ‘toolbox’ please let us all know in the comments below.