20 Apps for Designers

I recently got a new iPod and realized there are some good and fun apps out there for design, so I thought I would share some that I came across in my search.

iBlueSky: $9.99
Use this app to map your brainstorming. Create a collection of ideas, thoughts, and suggestions and email them as a PDF or PNG.

FontShuffle: Free
This app is great for typographic inspiration, and it can introduce you to new typefaces. It shuffles through fonts with a shake of the device.

iCheatSheets: Free
This app is a good quick reference for web designers for coding. I like it because it covers CSS, HTML and PHP, but it offers much more.

FedEx Mobile for iPhone: Free
It offers an easy way to track your FedEx shipments. The cool feature is the ability to assign nicknames so your tracking numbers are more recognizable.

Easy TimeSheet Lite: Free
Use this to track your time. It is helpful for job costing or for billing if you are being paid by the hour. There are several time tracking apps available, so check around to find one that will fit your needs best.

Eastern Drawing Free: Free
This is actually a nice drawing program. It allows you to get a painterly quality. If you are sketching fanatic, try it out. Purchase it if you want to remove the watermark.

Doodle Buddy: Free
This is another drawing app similar to Eastern Drawing, but more chalky in style and it allows you to do peer to peer drawing.

Whiteboard Collaborative Drawing: Free
This is just like Doodle Buddy, but marker board style.

ZeptoPad: $19.99
This is a vector drawing app. It has the added benefit that you are not limited by screen space because you can enlarge your screen whenever you need to. Plus you can cut and paste pictures, texts, and graphics too.

Think Ink: Color Unleashed: Free
This is a new app from Neenah, which lets you create color palettes from images and aligns them to the Dewey Color System (a personality color-based system). So in other words, this will take the new color scheme you created and describe how the average person will interpret it. Since the app was developed by Neenah, you can also order coordinating paper samples from them.

Palettes Lite: Free
Palettes is a great app that allows you to create color schemes. You’re able to sample colors from websites and photos, and the nice bonus is that you can also import and export palettes to Photoshop. You can purchase the full version for $9.99 and receive a few more options.

CliqCliq: $2.99
This app allows you to find the exact colors of images and websites on your device and converts them to a variety of scales and formats.

ColorExpert: $9.99
It makes it easy to grab, identify, capture and showcase your chosen colors. You can then email the colors. It has lets you search through Pantone swatches too.

Kern: $0.99
It is a game that tests your typesetting skills.

Type Drawing: $1.99
You can draw with letters!

Typography: $0.99
It allows you to send typographic messages pulling letter forms from Labwork’s Flickr account.

The Typography Manual: $4.99
60+ page book, a pocket resource on typography including history, the basics, how-tos on setting special characters, font specimens, Font Size Ruler, EM Calculator and more.

What the Font: Free
It’s just like the web site. Submit an image with text and the app will find the typeface that best matches.

Dexigner: Free
This application allows you to view the latest news, events, exhibitions, conferences, and competitions having to do with anything regarding design.

Oblique Strategies: Free
Oblique Strategies was a set of postcards published by Brian Eno and Peter Schmidt in the 1970’s. Each card contains a phrase, or suggestion that may help to overcome a creative block. Stefan Sagmeister was known to use the cards when doing his work.

Do you have any others that have become your favorites?