Every Web Designer Needs 5 Tools

Every Web Designer Needs 5 Tools

 From experience, I know there are tons of web design tools out there, and finding the ones right for what you need can be time consuming. Here’s a toolkit of sorts that I compiled to help you get back to the drawing boards and spend time designing. Hope this helps!

1) Sketchpad

That’s right, plain old paper and pen. This is for putting rapid thoughts down in initial planning phases. Having these sketches and outlines on paper really lets you get a visual of the design you’re looking for before jumping right into the code. Be sure to snap a picture of these sketches with your phone so you have a copy just in case they get lost in the shuffle.

2) InVision App

Because we have a fair amount of employees working remotely, I do need to put work online so the rest of my team can see what I’m working on and provide any feedback or suggestions they have. My favorite design collaboration tool is InVision, which allows users to maintain conversations around interactive screenshots, complete with versioning control. They recently added a feature for powerful real-time collaboration – think screen sharing specifically for designers.

3) Photoshop

More powerful than a legal pad, albeit a bit more time consuming.But it’s important to create mockups to see what these sketches will look like on the screen. My favorite Adobe tool for design remains Photoshop. To note, it integrates smoothly with InVision so it’s easy to share these mockups with my team before digging in to the code.

4) Sublime Text 2

As I mentioned above, designers really do need to know how to code; and a nice editor always enhances the experience. Turning your sketches and mock ups into prototypes and making sure you have a good foundation to work from is an important next step. While there are a lot of text editors out there, my favorite one Sublime Text 2, which works great on my Mac.

5) Forums

It’s always good to stay up to date with design trends and to pick apart issues with other professionals. Blog posts are powerful ways to get bits of information, but interactive discussion forums add an entirely more valuable level. My favorites are UX.Stack Exchange and Stack Overflow. There’s tons of info on both from live discussions to archived Q&A’s. If you ever have a question or just want to see what’s new, these sites are the place to go.

Hopefully my toolkit will help you on your way to completing your next project or at least help you get ready for whatever you need to tackle next! Feel free to add your favorites web design tools in the comments below!