Apple iPhone Applications & iPod touch Apps of interest to graphic designers – mobile design tools.

iPhone Apps for graphic designers, mobile design applications

Many designers – Mac and PC based – have been taken with Apple's iPhone 3G and iPod touch. And ever since Apple opened up its App Store to sell iPhone-based applications, the appeal has grown.

There is no denying that there are many different applications for the iPhone and iPod touch. But how many of these are useful to those of us involved in the creative industry?

Below we feature a few iPhone apps that may be of use to graphic designers and those in creative industries. Some looked to be useful organisational tools, others we thought might help inspire or motivate creativity, whilst others we have included simply because captured our imagination.

Whilst researching this, in many cases we found that there was more than one App which performed a similar function. We have simply listed the ones which appealed to us most. So it may be advisable, when at the iTunes App store, to do a search for similar Apps, as there may be one which is better suited for one purpose over another. It is also, of course, always worth reading the Customer Reviews on iTunes, both positive and negative. What works for one person, may not work for another.

Anyway, in no particular order, here are some Apps that we liked the look of from the iTunes App Store.

Oblique Strategies

Oblique Strategies was a set of postcards published by Brian Eno and Peter Schmidt, initially in the 1970's. Each card contains a phrase, or suggestion that may help to overcome a creative block. This App contains five editions of the cards and can be used on both the iPhone and iPod Touch.

 

Ruler

Very simply, Ruler is a… ruler and it's on your iPhone or iPod touch. Works in centimetres and inches and can save your latest measurement.

 

 

Palettes

Palettes is an iPhone App for creating color schemes. With Palettes, it is possible to sample colors from websites, iPhone photo album images or other color schemes. It will import and export color palettes to and from Adobe Photoshop and supports a number of color modes, including RGB, HSV, HSL and CMYK.

There is also a Lite version of Palettes, which does not cost anything, but has some features removed (such as importing and exporting palettes from Photoshop, Paint Shop Pro and other programs.

Things

Things is a productivity application, or task manager. Things allows the creation of to do lists and allows the prioritisation of items. For example lists can be created for items to be done today, next, or at scheduled times or dates. May be useful for freelance and self-employed designers, or those juggling multiple projects at once.

 

Color Expert

Another color-based app, which functions by providing a swatch library and interactive color wheel to help enable creatives to select, showcase and identify colors. Color Expert includes various Pantone swatches, web safe and HTML colors. It is also possible to add custom colors and email Adobe Swatch Exchange (ASE) files.

 

PhotoWizard

PhotoWizard is a photograph processing application to add special effects to iPhone camera photos. OK, this isn't going to replace Photoshop, but someone may find a use for it.

 

 

Caliper

Caliper is another measuring tool for the iPhone, but this App uses caliper jaws to enable measurement. The upper and lower caliper jaws can be moved independently or together and measurements can be taken in pixels, as well as centimetres and inches.

 

CameraBag

CameraBag allows users of the iPhone camera to simulate a number of different camera styles. For example, current effects include a fisheye lens effect, 'infrared', 'cinema' – a wide screen stills effect and effects that simulate old style cameras.

December 2008