Settling into a job that allows you to be creative as a designer and organizer is something I never saw for myself so soon. But here I am contentedly working on marketing plans for clients through my employer and reinvigorated with creativity planning for my freelance work.
Of course, I'm not exactly working at full speed on shiny calibrated gears, but I've assessed my toolbox and know what exactly I need to excel my productivity.
In fact, in the past two weeks, I've learned more through just sitting in a focused environment and not having to inhibit my creativity than I have in the past few months while I was freelancing in my free time. Granted, I'm still freelancing, but it doesn't have to be a skill I worry about training and completing in the dark hours of the night when I would sacrifice sleep for one to two side projects.
Recently I've come across a few tools I didn't have the chance to research before, but now I'm all about getting my hands on to excel my projects!
1. Leadpages - As a backend and frontend developer, I should be negative about this, but honestly, I'm not. This drag and drop page builder meant to help manage and track incoming customer leads is quite amazing and versatile. At this very moment, I'm so thankful my boss has allowed myself and my marketing partner to create our own sub-accounts for our independent projects. Current clients and prospective clients, be on the lookout for this!
2. Workfront -So I'll just tell ya, project management software is everywhere and it's kinda hard to narrow down if you just dive right in not knowing exactly what you're looking for, but after testing a few, Workfront has got to be the best I've used, or at least been the least overwhelmed and/or frustrated with. My favorite thing is the storage, I think people really don't value storage outside of their phones nowadays. As a designer and marketing coordinator, this is probably the most valuable thing outside of my design tools.
- I've actually been seeing a bunch of start up ones pop up in my Facebook and Instagram feeds lately, and if I didn't have this one for work and the type of projects I work on with my day job team, I'd probably give one of the indie ones a shot if my multi-person side projects were functioning at a pace necessary for a planner.
3. Multiple Screens - no, thats not the name of some weird software or platform, I'm literally talking about using the HDMI and DVI ports and using multiple screens/monitors to organize and view your work. Yes, it's an "ancient" concept, but it's something that I don't see really being utilized when it comes to computer work. I don't mean multiple screens like your laptop, an iPad, and your smartphone. I'm talking split that screen, bish. Trust me, you'll be thankful. Whether you're coding a webpage, illustrating a logo or graphic, or just want to keep tabs on your social feeds....having that extra screen is such a blessing.
Now only if there were a tool for coming up with a clever closing paragraph to a blog post.....
What tools do you use for managing your digital work and life?
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