10 Essential tools for graphic designers

The idiom ‘the devil is in the details’ fits exactly to this graphic design profession. The art of bringing a context or idea or meaning into a single visual form is what graphic design is all about. The one who creates such creative outstanding designs is the graphic designer. This involves more creative and smart work than hard work. A good graphic designer uses or puts images, typography, symbols, fonts, etc together to convey multiple ideas to give one meaning.

Nowadays companies are keenly looking for graphic designers who can reflect their ideas in one design. Be it from creating logos, brochures, pamphlets, product design, etc allows a graphic designer to be lucrative.

1. Notebook and Pencil:

Those who think that only gadgets can make their brain spit creative ideas will be in shock now. Only rough sketches will turn out to be good ones. You have to start with a stroke to develop it into a meaningful design. This notebook and pencil combination will lead to a creative workflow where you can turn your rough sketches into ideas to satisfy the client. This serves as the base for any creative graphic design.

2. Wacom Pen Tablet:

The digital book is now taking the world by storm where every graphic designer wants to have one. It has its advantages, but this won’t give the feeling of drawing in a physical notebook. Drawing on a notebook and then working on it on a digital platform consumes a lot of time. This can be avoided through a digital book.

You know how tough it is to draw in creative software using a mouse. This digital notebook allows you to draw digitally in real-time in designing software. The pen tool is almost perfect where you hardly find any latency while drawing; from shading to colouring it’s so fast.

3. Powerful Software:

You need to have powerful software to turn your idea into a perfect design. You may have come across designing software like Adobe In-design, Illustrator, Photoshop, etc. It may seem easy but it involves a lot of work. The tools used in this software are like the ones used in our daily life in the real world. You have to understand these tools to create exactly what’s on your paper or mind.

4. High Definition Monitor:

This may sound weird, but actually, it’s not. This should be on your list if you are into designing or already in designing. The higher the pixels in your monitor the more the accuracy of colours will be. Each monitor’s display resolution differs according to the number of pixels. So if you want to view your work with utmost accuracy you should prefer high definition monitors.

5. Importance of Communication:

Almost 50% of your work will be over if you understand the client’s requirements. The most important aspect is the communication where the budding designers fail at. The graphic designers think that they should limit themselves from asking questions. What the designers fail to understand is that they should get more information from the clients’ side and should discuss with them whether that idea may work or not.

6. Behance:

If you run out of ideas or are a budding designer, then you should check this portfolio which consists of large collections of works shared by other creative designers around the world. This will help you to get inspired and start the project again where you would have got stuck over a time-frame. You can even share your feedback and ideas with the other designers. Who knows? If you are good, you may even get a client through this social media platform.

7. Cloud Storage:

No need for physical storage devices because, if you are a designer already then you know how painful it is to get a new one more often. This doesn’t mean that you should stop using external hard disk drives to store your work. Cloud storage offers you more secure and space free storage where you don’t have to rack it up in your cupboards or storeroom. Say suppose, you face an act of nature then it’ll be tough for you because all your work will go in vain.

8. Pantone Swatch Book:

If you have decided that you are going to be a full-time graphic designer then you should get this digital book. Though this book has been around for 10 years, this never gets old because this helps visualize the colour when you are about to print in a CMYK format. Instead of spot colour inks, this book helps view the output colour in CMYK format. You can also use RGB and HTML equivalent values instead of searching for them in the net or by placing the cursor at the desired colour.

9. Best Antivirus Protection:

Since you’ll be working online most of the time it’s better to have good antivirus protection. There are more hackers nowadays, you may not know when you’ll be attacked. Since the files which you work on are confidential, you’ll be in trouble if the design got leaked to other sources. Say suppose your system got attacked by a virus; the worst state will be loss of entire data.

10. Time Is Money:

As a graphic designer, it’s very easy to lose track of the time. It’s not that you are lethargic but it’s the pile of work that you have on your desk. Even if you delay by a day, the clients will think that you are too slow. You can’t keep peeping at the wall clock hanging right in front of your eyes every 1 hour.

Time tracking application allows you to add people and track their activities without even moving from your place. And also there are features where you can receive your payment by sending your invoice directly to your clients.

Conclusion:

It may seem a lot to take in if you are a budding designer. As time goes by you’ll realise that these things are essential. So it’s better to add these things to your list instead of regretting it later.

Designpluz is a full time service-based graphic design agency in Sydney. We create a meaningful perception using thought-provoking, eye-catching, unique graphic design. We’ll make sure that your brand reaches every nook and corner creating tough competition among the competitors. Communicate your brand with exciting and market-leading design concepts like never before.

Established in 2014, Designpluz has steadily matured from a passionate graphics design start-up, into a full service digital agency.We have pushed the boundaries of design & development and everyday strive to deliver products which forefront industry