Ten Good Ideas that make this Designer's Life Easier

Here are just a few of the tools which allow me to do this along with my trusty laptop and mobile phone.

Cloud working

The suite of online tools available from Google - especially Google Docs - means I can store documents online, which I can share with clients and colleagues and access from anywhere from either my laptop or iPhone.

Evernote
The ability to capture notes, to do lists, web clips, photos, thoughts and store them online again to access from anywhere - a brilliant way to de-clutter your brain.

Pantone Library for iPhone
Not 100% true to a printed swatch but great for working with clients to visualise and also quickly assess which colours they like. Used to need eight volumes of swatches - now just one app.

Kuler
Great for seeing what colours are trending on line from swatch palettes that other designers are using - you can also share your successful colour palettes of course!

Colour Expert
Another useful one - allows you to take photos then pick colours to make up colour palettes, which you can then specify for web or print.

Mind map software
Invaluable for breaking down and planning websites and complex projects. Basic available for iPhone app - the more powerful software, which exports to project management software on laptop.

Project Management Software
If you have a software for mind mapping that feeds into project management software you can break the mind maps into tasks and apply tasks to the team - and work out the costing/invoicing - saves hours of work and you never miss a little task - as long as it’s on the mind map.

Yousendit
Big files to send - too big for email - online ftp services like Yousendit are invaluable - you can also track sends with an iPhone app to see/check the file has been downloaded.

Skype
Brilliant for collaboration, whether in message/talk/video mode - also ‘screen share’ facility is great for sharing visuals, talking through issues and giving assistance.

Mobile broadband stick
If you can use your mobile phone you can use one of these and work from anywhere. Neat if you are travelling and are away from your network - also allows you to access your cloud working seamlessly.

So what’s next? It will be interesting to see where the iPad goes as it develops. It is already a very neat tool for client presentations/web/email and the bigger screen will make mind mapping easier…

Hmmmmm - Dear Santa…

What makes your life easier? Let us know, we’re always on the look out for great ideas and, if they’re as great as you say, we’re very happy to recommend them to others.