My Top 10 Tools for a Graphic & Website Designer
Ready to organize your business operations? Marie Kondo style? When it comes to tools that help my business run smoothly, these 10 are woven into my operations and enable me to offer a red carpet design process to my clients.
SKILLSHARE
Want to dabble in a new creative skill? Skillshare is an online learning platform with thousands of creative courses and classes taught by experts to help you learn new skills. As a self-taught graphic designer, I rely on Skillshare periodically for a specific skillset in Adobe Illustrator of Photoshop. It has been so helpful for me.
FRESHBOOKS
Numbers ain’t your thing? Lucky for you Freshbooks has you covered with its web-based invoicing and accounting software.I personally use Freshbooks the hourly time tracking, invoicing, payment processing, and expense reporting modules. But there are so many other features including estimate templates, tracking payments, payment reminders, etc. You can try Freshbooks FREE for 30 days and then choose a payment plan that fits your budget and business needs.
ADOBE CREATIVE CLOUD
Adobe Creative Cloud is my hub all things graphic design. I use Illustrator, InDesign and Photoshop every.single.day. If you wear a graphic designer hat in your business and want more flexibility than what other design programs can offer, check out Adobe CC. Whatever you want to create, it has what you need to make it amazing. (And if you need to learn how to use any Adobe CC apps, remember Skillshare is available to help!)
SQUARESPACE
Did someone say custom website? Yes, please! I’ve made it my job to learn the ins and outs of Squarespace in order to provide custom designed templates for my clients. Whether you’re just getting started or have an established brand that needs a website refresh, Squarespace’s powerful website builder has excellent features with beautiful template designs and is incredibly easy to learn and use.
MOYO STUDIO
Moyo Studio is my go-to for gorgeous, high quality mockups and still photos. When I present brand designs, I need mockups to show my clients what their designs will look like in real life applications. I have accumulated a library of mockups from this husband/wife team, at my fingertips. I highly recommend using Moyo Studio for your mockup needs.
ZOOM
Ok, if you don’t know what Zoom is, you’ve been living under a rock. Aside from my horrible lighting setup and realizing my face isn’t as symmetrical as I thought, I now rely heavily on Zoom to connect with and present designs to clients all over the country.
SHINOLA
When I sketch, I grab my Shinola linenjournal. These high quality, durablenotebooks are so pretty to look at, especially when you stack several different colors on top of each other. Aside from their practicality, these notebooks are a creative way to liven up your workspace.
COOLORS
Whether creating a color palette for brand or web designs, or designing a room of your home, Coolors is the most loved color palettes app and website and your ticket to inspiring color schemes. I probably use Coolors 3-5 times per week and I love its functionality. I can upload an inspiration photo to Coolors and pull colors from the photo to create a color palette. I can generate a new palette or play with different color hues with the simple click of a button. It really has been a lifesaver for me, especially with website design. I can pull HEX codes directly from the generator to use directly in Squarespace or I can download an entire color palette and import directly into Adobe Illustrator. It really is easy to use.
LOOM
Loom is a video sharing platform thatI use to record website tutorials for my website design clients. I can record using my computer camera, microphone, and desktop simultaneously, or I can opt to just record my desktop and leave the camera off. These are instantly shareable videos that live in my Loom account. I can share via email or text or I can send a direct link to the video.
PLANOLY
Planoly helps you plan out your future Instagram content while simultaneously seeing your grid, which is an important feature if you want to make sure your grid has a cohesive look. You can plan your stories, schedule auto-posting or set a reminder to post manually at a specific day and time. And with their premium plan, you can plan out future Pinterest posts as well. I have been using Planoly consistently for one year and the auto-posting is huge for me. I can batch create and upload to Planoly and the app does the rest for me. PLUS, a huge bonus is their content calendar they provide with important national dates and additional tips and tricks for creating content. It’s a great product and worth the investment.
If you need a partner to help you elevate your brand or website, book your discovery call today or read more about my signature package Elevate here → Elevate Signature Duo Package.
