6 Things to Add to Your Design Toolbox in 2018
There’s always new things to add to your design toolkit to make your life a little bit easier while you’re working. From streamlined photo editors to apps that make GIFs, the internet has a vast wealth of useful tools for you to take advantage of. Here are some worthwhile tools for you to check out in 2018:
Toby: Tab Manager
People are constantly judging me for the amount of tabs I have open when I use a web browser. Tabs are a super convenient way to have multiple windows open at the same time but they can get out of hand quickly. That’s where Toby comes in handy.
Toby is a Chrome extension which allows you to group collections of links or tabs together and save them like bookmarks. It’s by no means a cure-all to overflowing tabs but it’s a great way to organise pages into categories for specific uses. Just open Chrome, select your ‘social media’ collection, and you’ll have all the tabs you need to schedule that next tweet right in front of you.
Sticky AI: GIF App
In a world of memes, GIFs, posts, snaps, and tweets, it’s important to stay fresh and creative with your content. Sticky AI is a fun app that lets you convert selfies or pictures into GIFs or stickers. Why use stock emojis when you can a custom experience so easily! Save your created image and share it on Facebook Messenger, Instagram, Snapchat, and more. You can try out the Sticky AI app for free on iOS and Android in their respective app stores.
Sketch: Digital Design Tool Kit
Sketch has been around for awhile now, but in recent years it’s positioned itself among the top design tools available. Even diehard Adobe users have started to adopt the program over Photoshop for it’s system and product design capabilities. Sketch is definitely something worth trying out this year if you’re looking to streamline your design process.
Toggl: Time Tracker
Keep track of your work patterns and find out where you’re wasting your hours with Toggl. It’s not hard to track your hours during a project but Toggl’s visual reports helps you monitor exactly how long each task takes. These visual representations are an extremely straightforward way to see where you’re spending too much time in your workday.
Plus, it’s website offers a really great way to waste time with a two button Startup Simulator game.
Kinesis Advantage: Ergonomic Keyboard
Far too many designers suffer from wrist and hand conditions, such as carpal tunnel and RSI, usually brought upon from repetitive keyboard actions and long hours spent on the computer. The Kinesis Advantage2 LF is the best ergonomic keyboard to help reduce the risk of RSI. If you’re spending lots of time on the keyboard each day, it would be a mistake not to invest in something to minimise strain on your wrists and fingers.
Stretching out your hands during the day is also a great way to fend off those pesky cramps while you work. Take a look a few easy wrist and hand stretches you can do right in your chair!
Fontstruct: Custom Typeface Maker
Sometimes if you want the right font you just have to do it yourself. There’s lots free tools to create your own font out there today but FontStruct continues to be a powerhouse on the scene for almost a decade. FontStruct lets you quickly and easily create fonts that can be downloaded, for free, as high-quality TrueType files. Share your custom fonts, explore the Gallery of typefaces made by other users, download them, copy them, and make your own variations. Fontstruct is a powerful platform to for you to start designing fonts and the best part – it’s completely free!
By Harlen Malkowich