Nowadays that doesn’t mean that you have to walk around with a colourful paint palette, beret on your head and an easel in sight (though that would be pretty cool). Now that we’re living in the digital age, there are heaps of articles on the web about the must-have apps for creatives, software and gadgets you can’t live without
The Creative Tool Kit: Some Unexpected Things Every Creative Should Have
Post-its
Never underestimate the power of the post-it. Forget Pinterest, these babies are what it was originally all about. They’re great for working in a team, they get you moving and their mobility can help you to visualize temporary ideas and organize your brain, whether just unscrambling ideas or organizing a sitemap, I don’t work without a colorful stack next to me at all times.
Old Magazines
Old magazines are full of surprises. Chop them up, throw them around, make paper planes out of them. They’re great for moodboards, textures, comparing typography, looking at trends (old and new) and layout inspiration. If they don’t serve you creatively, at least you have something to throw when your computer crashes for the fifth time, something to hide behind or a fan when those deadline beads of sweat start to roll.
Paper Catalogue
Objects that otherwise may have nothing in common, but that just have this one trait that brings them all together. Paper is one of them. Colors, textures, contexts, content, printed, folded, thick and thin, they all have something to express. Offline is not dead. Stand out from the crowd and get your projects noticed by all the senses.
Food picks, cotton buds and Blu-tack
If you are new to motion graphics, or just want to work out which axis you need to wiggle in After Effects, it always helps to have a little model. Cotton buds, food picks and Blu-tack can construct all kinds of simple geometric structures in a matter of minutes. Make them, hang them, look at their shadows. There’s more than meets the eye in that hexagon.
A pack of cards
They can be anything from Mexican lottery cards, story telling cards, or even random nouns that you stick on an old pack yourself. Flick through them, combine things randomly and watch how they make your brain tick. If all else fails, they’re quite handy for a light drinking game after work.
