Resource Roundup

Today I thought I would share just a few of my favorite apps that I use for my business. Do you use any of these below, or found a better alternative? Please share!

TeuxDeux

I’m sure most of you have heard of

TeuxDeux

, but if you haven’t you should definitely check it out! I have tried my fair share of to-do list apps, as well as created my own in excel, but finally landed on TeuxDeux for my go to app. It is very simple to use, which is what most of the other apps lacked. Tina Roth Eisenberg, aka

swissmiss

, created the app… so you know you are in good hands!

Little Ipsum

If I ever need some dummy copy for a mockup to send to a client,

Little Ipsum

is my go to. It is really simple to install, and it lives in your menu bar for quick + easy access. You simply click the icon, and then select the number of words, sentences or paragraphs you need and it generates latin placeholder text for you.

Fount

Fount

helps you identify which web font is in use on any site. It even tells you the font weight, size and style. Once you add the bookmark to browser, you simply click the bookmarklet, highlight any text on a site, and Fount identifies which font is in use. Pretty simple!

Google Calendar

I use

Google Calendar

alongside my TeuxDeux app. I set up recurring weekly goals on Google Calendar. I like to have at least one goal per day (write blog post, update quickbooks, etc.), on my Google Cal, and then fill in client or personal work from there. TeuxDeux is more for daily activities that aren’t recurring weekly. You could also set up client deadlines in Google Calendar, however I use Basecamp for that.

Basecamp

I have tried a few different project management systems, but nothing compares to

Basecamp

. Their customer service is unparalleled, and their functionality is simple to use, yet offers a lot of features. I have tried free apps similar to Basecamp, but something was always lacking. It is easy to communicate with clients through a message board system, you can set to-dos with deadlines & reminders to clients when a deadline is approaching. You can forward emails to Basecamp to reference. You can also distinguish which items in a project a client has access to, and which items they can’t see. They have thought of everything. Even if I weren’t a designer, I would consider using it for personal projects!

Evernote

I am a huge fan of

Evernote

as well. Evernote is an app where you can collect notes, images and articles. There are several ways to use it, however I just create a few notebooks, and have notes within there with tags on each. It may seem complex, but once you get going it is fairly easy to use. For instance, I have a “Spruce Rd.” notebook, and within there I have notes such as “Blog Post Ideas”, “Goals”, “Referral Lists” as well as other brainstorming ideas. You can also clip articles from blogs, and save to your Evernote. Evernote copies the URL, but even if that page is pulled off of the internet, or falls under a different URL, Evernote keeps the original article you clipped. I save resources that other designers publish to their blog, pricing that other design studios offer, services pages, etc. Basically anything that I find useful. Once you clip the article, you can tag it with words like “freelance”, “resources”, “pricing” etc. so it is easy to find!

I not only use it for brainstorming for my business, but also for storing all of my recipes. I have one “Recipes” folder, and from there I tag each recipe “entree”, “side dish”, “chicken”, etc. This is the best way to store your recipes! It syncs on all devices, so I just use my iPad while cooking to find the recipes.

Bloglovin

After Google Reader discontinued, I found

Bloglovin

. I really like Bloglovin because you can see all of the blog design + graphics as they are intended, and not in a simplified way through an RSS reader. I have also found several blogs to follow through Bloglovin!

Follow Spruce Rd. on Bloglovin

!