We all have certain tools we use to do our jobs. Here is peek at a few of my favorite things I like to have on hand – beyond the obvious, such as InDesign, my Mac and chocolate.
Pencils :: First up is a sharpened pencil. I cannot have enough pencils to jot down a note, write copy or quickly sketch out an idea.
Images :: Starting my career as a photographer, I have a deep love and appreciation of images – from visual inspiration to art directing photography – and I will always have a need to create my own images.
I have my eye on this Canon camera I’ve been pining for but until I hit Powerball, I use my iPhone app, Instagram, everyday. I use it for work to capture ideas, colors, compositions and to document our studio adventures for sharing with all of you.
Color :: Patterns, hues, tints, palettes, gradients, saturation …. I love colors. After images, colors are my favorite source for inspiration. If I ever have “creative block”, I can often jump start ideas simply by thinking about what colors I might use. Designers may be famous for wearing black, but we need color. I enjoy getting my hands dirty by breaking out the watercolors, colored pencils, paints and markers whenever possible.
Moodboards :: Recently, Allyson showed you our new Elements Tackwall. The notion of using oversized cork boards that we can move and re-hang on our library wall was born from how we work and our need to sort, combine, arrange and visually organize our ideas. We gather bits and pieces of ideas, colors, images, fonts, words and any other scraps of inspiration and post them to a moodboard one at a time for each project we’re working on. When we combine our findings and put all of our reference materials together in one place, we begin to make connections and are able to discover relationships and visual directions surface.
The idea of creating moodboards is not a new idea, of course, but the folks who developed the app Pinterest helped designers and other visually creative types move our moodboards online. I still prefer tactile, physical moodboards to virtual ones, however, there is no denying that (a) I’m addicted to Pinterst because it helps me quickly round-up every bit off online inspiration I stumble upon and (b) it has allowed me to organize categories that interest me even if it is not related to a specific project.
For example, I have boards such as “Fonts”, “Packaging”, “Colors” and so forth all grouped in a visual feast. Pinterest is my dream app because so many projects and ideas have stemmed from this app that would have never put together without a virtual place to gather and organize all the things that I see floating around the internet.
Your turn. What tools do you use to do your job that you absolutely love? Perhaps its something less obvious that we wouldn’t have guessed? Maybe some are similar to mine? Share it with us!
~Amy
