Are you taking advantage of some of the great tools and resources available to graphic designers? They can save you time, help you work more efficiently, and even enhance your creativity. Below are a few things that I wouldn’t want to do without. Are there any tools or resources not listed that you find useful?

ESSENTIAL TOOLS:

• Digital Drawing Tablet: If I could pick one tool to have in my design arsenal (other than my computer of course), I think this would be it. While there is no substitute for pencil to paper, drawing tablets definitely have their place. I own an Intuous Wacom 8×10, and use it frequently. The built in programmable buttons make an already awesome product, even better. If you don’t already own a drawing tablet, make it a goal to get one. You won’t regret it.

• Pantone Swatch Guides: These books full of color swatches and values will allow you and your printer to specify and control colors for print projects. Your clients will appreciate the ability to pick colors as well. The bad thing about swatch guides is that they are pretty expensive, they need to be replaced every so often, and the colors vary slightly from book to book.

Despite the downfalls, I still think it’s wise to own a decent set of color guides. Most designers will tell you the same. There are many guides to choose from, so the buying process may become a bit overwhelming. Here is a good place to help you narrow down your choices. 

• Monitor Calibration Device: These little tools don’t run cheap, but they sure will save you a lot of  headaches. If you are into photography, graphic design, or anything that requires accurate monitor profiles, then get yourself a decent calibration tool. There are a few on the market, so shop around, and check reviews. I was able to get a better deal from an authorized dealer on Ebay than I was from the manufacturer themselves, so that’s always something to consider.

• Scanner: A scanner is a necessity, and the great thing is you don’t even have to spend a lot of money for one. I’m still using a 10 year old mid-grade “Epson Perfection”, and it does a fine job for what I need. I’m sure the newer scanners do a much better job, but if you are like me; you just need it for scanning in photographs, documents, and sketches from your sketchpad.

CREATIVE + INFORMATIVE SOURCES:

• Internet (creative): We all feel uninspired or uncreative from time to time. Thankfully, there are many sources of inspiration and creativity just a click or two away. Here are some of my favorite sites to check out when I’m in a slump or just want to see some nice artwork:

DeviantArt.com – Huge social art site with a lot of talent.

LogoPond.com – For logo designers looking for a bit of exposure, critique, or inspiration; this is a great site to check out. At the time of this writing, the logopond site does not function properly in the Safari browser.

TheBestDesigns.com – This site offers a good compilation of some of the best designed websites found across the web.

Istock.com – The ability to download stock images for your blog or project is invaluable. What I really like about this site is the ever improving quality of the vector artwork. It’s nice to check out some of the creative designs people come up with. Istock also offers a free downloadable image every week, as well as a free vector image monthly.

• Internet Informative: You can never have too many sources of information. Here are a few of my favorite “go to” sites:

Adobe.com – You will find some of the best advice online, in the adobe forums. The responses are fast, there are plenty of experts who are willing to help answer your questions, and they just recently improved the forum structure. You can also learn more about your adobe products in the knowledge base.

PSD.tutsplus.com – Some of the best Photoshop tutorials online can be found on this site, and the best part is that most of them are free.

Kuler.com – This site offers hundreds of different color combinations to use in your projects. You can even save your favorites.

Google.com – It’s very rare that you can’t find an answer to a question using a search engine. Learning how to search properly will give you better results. Check these pages out (1) (2) to learn more.

DesignerToday.com – Keeping up on the latest trends, gadgets, and software can be a good thing, and this site will allow you to do just that. I personally try not to stress over this type of stuff, but it is nice to check in and see what’s going on in the world of graphic design from time to time.

• TV, movies, advertising: Some of the best artwork and design come from Hollywood and the advertising industry. Since many trends often originate here as well, it’s a good thing to stay current. This can help you better avoid using a cliche typeface or overused element of design. If you are into following trends, then I guess this could be helpful to you.

One useful thing to do I’ve found; is to clip out those well designed ads from your magazines. Perusing these pages when you’re feeling stumped, can help jog an idea. A great resource for inspiration is a publication called “Archive”. Non-designers may think that spending $14 on a magazine which consists only of advertisements; is a crazy idea. But I personally find it quite inspirational and useful. $14 is a bit much though.

• Wall art: If you haven’t yet, consider adding some artwork and color to your workspace. When you are sitting back in your work chair, pondering a thought or resting your eyes; wouldn’t you rather have some cool artwork to look at rather than a blank white wall? I was able to find this print from one of my favorite artists, Zdzislaw Beksinkski, on ebay. While adding artwork to your workspace is not a priority or even necessary, I personally just think it makes since. It’s sort of the same reason a band plasters their practice room with posters and artwork; it helps put you in the mindset.

• Books, Magazines: There are some very good books on various design related subjects, and most of them can be bought fairly cheap on sites like Ebay and Amazon. Magazines can be great sources of inspiration and information as well. I would have to say my favorite design magazine is “Advanced Photoshop”. It’s articles are well written, the artists they showcase are amazing, and the tutorials are very interesting and thorough.

Here are some books I’ve read and recommend:

• “Color index 2″ by Jim Krause
• “Starting your career as a freelance illustrator or graphic designer” by Michael Fleishman
• “You call the shots” by Cameron Johnson
• “Design matters: logos” by Capsule

• Music: Your overall mood can play a large role in how you project yourself. Music has been proven to subconsciously effect your mood. So it only makes since that the music you listen to while working, will have some effect over your creative process.

If you are drawing or Photoshopping a scene that is anarchistic or dark in nature; why not play some music that resembles that feel. The same goes for if you were creating a flyer for a church group; play some music that feels more upbeat or puts you in a more positive mindset. I’m not trying to say there are rules to listening to music, i’m simply pointing out that music can aid in your creativity. If music can start riots and make babies, I’m sure it can have some influence over your creative process.

I keep my guitars nearby when I’m working. While I don’t play them nearly as much as I would like to, they do come in handy when it’s time to rest my eyes or take a break away from the computer. I often find it difficult to take breaks when I get deeply involved with a project. If I have cool toys around me, it makes it easier to step away. Or maybe it just means I have an attention deficit problem.

• Drawing Tools: Having a light table can be very useful. I use mine quite often when sketching logo ideas. It’s a great tool for piecing together those sketches. I find having an electronic eraser works well at getting at small areas a pencil eraser can’t quite reach. I have also found that having a good set of drawing mannequins can be very helpful when sketching human bodies and movement.

ORGANIZATIONAL TOOLS:

• File Cabinet: Not being organized = wasting time = wasting money. A file cabinet is a great way to keep your client’s files in an easy to find folder. I believe computers make much better tools for organization, but for actual paper files, sketches, and documents that are not in digital form; a file cabinet will do just fine.

• External Hard-drive: That 320 gig internal hard drive may be big enough for the average user, but not for most designers. When you start adding up the many software applications, font collections, mp3’s, stock image collections, and project files; that hard drive will fill up quite quickly. Get a good external hard-drive. If your computer supports firewire, go that route. Your files will transfer quicker than with usb. Some newer computers come with esata, which allows for even faster transfer speeds.

• DVD Burner: Once every few months, I like to backup all of my very important files onto dvd. I then create doubles of those discs. One set stays with me, and the other gets taken to my brother’s house. Call me paranoid, but there is always that slim chance of losing everything to fire or theft.  If you can afford it, get a dvd burner that supports dual layer discs. You will be able to back up practically double what you can on a regular dvd disc. If you have the money, go with a Bluray burning drive. These are quite expensive, but their discs hold up to 50 gigs of data!

• Address Book: It’s good practice to keep record of all of your client contact information. I’ve found the easiest way is to save a profile for each of my clients directly on my computer. Since I use a mac, all of this information is easily and quickly added to my “Address Book” application. It even gives the option to categorize the contacts (i.e. potential clients, current clients). Windows users have a similar program (also called “Address Book” in XP), and called “Windows Contacts” in Vista.

• Delicious.com: I just recently started using this site, and I must say it’s great. My safari and firefox bookmarks/favorites folders were getting massive. Trying to track down a particular url was becoming more and more time consuming. “Delicious” allows you to easily save and tag your favorite sites, and the best part is that you can access them from any computer. You can visit the site here.

• Font Management Program: I personally have used both Suitcase and Font Agent Pro. I liked them both, but would have to say I’ve had better luck with the latter. If you work with a lot of fonts, there is no reason to not be using a font management software. These programs allow you to view your fonts as well as activate and deactivate them as you need fit. All active fonts will then appear in your Adobe applications.

• Image Management Program: There are numerous applications that can help you with managing your images and photos. I use Adobe’s “Lightroom“. It allows me to view, tag, and edit my images, as well as Photoshop and Illustrator files. A great time saving tool.

I hope you found this article helpful. I would like to know what tools or resources not mentioned above, you find useful.