Print designers can’t do the job without the proper tools at their disposal. These tools include industry standard software packages, essential physical tools used on a daily basis and several online applications, which can give you a winning edge over competitors. We’ve compiled a list of these tools below for you to peruse.

Chances are if you’re serious about print design, you’ll already have some of these design weapons in your arsenal. If you’re missing any, however, you really should check them out as they’re bound to make a significant difference to your working life. On the other hand, if you’re a newcomer to the industry, these are the tools you should begin to amass if you want to be successful.

Software

1. Adobe InDesign CS4 ($699)

InDesign, first released in 1999, is the world’s leading piece of desktop publishing software. It’s the industry standard for creating everything from posters to flyers, magazines, books and pamphlets. The sky’s the limit when it comes to creating rich and complex page layouts. It’s not cheap, but it is more affordable when purchased as part of the Adobe Creative Suite Design Premium, which includes InDesign, Photoshop, Illustrator, Acrobat, Flash, Dreamweaver and Fireworks for a price of $1,799. InDesign’s nearest rival, QuarkXPress, costs $1,050 by itself.

2. Adobe Photoshop CS4 ($699)

Photoshop is the market leading piece of image editing, manipulation and compression software. The latest version, Adobe Photoshop CS4, which is the 11th major Photoshop release, features a new adjustments and masks panel, as well as enhanced Photoshop Lightroom workflow. Photoshop has the ability to read practically all file formats, but outputs .PSD files, which store information in layers including text, spot colours, duotone settings, clipping paths and much more.

3. Adobe Illustrator CS4 ($599)

Illustrator is the artwork program most widely used by graphic designers of all types, for both drawing and typographical work. It incorporates various industry standard drawing tools as well as flexible colour controls. The current version, Illustrator CS4, is the 14th generation of the product and is ideal for producing logos, as well as typesetting.

4. Adobe Acrobat 9 Pro ($449)

Adobe Acrobat lets you view, create and manipulate PDF documents, which are ideal for presenting information in a fixed file format, almost like a digital piece of paper. For instance, once you’ve finished creating, editing, and arranging design work in Illustrator, Photoshop and InDesign, you’ll probably want to save it as a PDF to circulate to colleagues or clients for feedback and submit for printing. Acrobat Pro offers various benefits over the free version of Acrobat currently available, including the ability to handle huge documents.

Online Tools

5. FreshBooks (free basic package)

FreshBooks is a browser-based app designed specifically with freelancers in mind. With FreshBooks, you can track your business expenses quickly and easily, as well as send professional-looking, personalised invoices to clients. Each invoice is saved and catalogued in a logical way, perfect for when you’re doing your taxes! FreshBooks is even accessible via your smartphone.

6. Harvest (from $12 per month)

While FreshBooks specialises in tracking money, Harvest specialises in tracking time. You can see how much time you’re devoting to different clients, projects and tasks. Choose to record time in your own way, as a weekly or daily timesheet, or in real-time. Like FreshBooks, Harvest is a browser-based app, which means that you can use it without downloading anything and your information is accessible from any computer in the world (provided it’s connected to the internet, of course).

7. Kuler (free)

Kuler, a Flash site created by the geniuses at Adobe Labs, has been designed to help you choose amazing colour combinations. Create, modify, mix and match colours (with RGB and HEX codes) until you find the perfect colour swatch, which you can then download for use in Adobe Creative Suite. Kuler lets you save and share swatches online and extract colour palettes from illustrations, photographs and Flickr.

8. WhatTheFont (free)

Ever find a font in a newspaper, magazine or advert that you want to use so much in your own work, but you can’t find its name anywhere? Thought so! WhatTheFont makes sure that you never have this problem again. Simply upload the font in question and let WhatTheFont find the name for you. On the rare occasion that your font cannot be recognized automatically, you’ll gain access to the WhatTheFont forum, where a font expert will surely be able to identify it. WhatTheFont is available for iPhone too.

9. Dropbox (free basic package)

Dropbox is the ideal online storage tool for print designers who work between several computers, letting you store files and share them between any number of computers, phones or team members. Install Dropbox on each of your machines and a Dropbox folder will be added to their respective desktops. Drag a file into the folder on any one of them and it will “magically” appear in the folder on all of the others, as well as in another folder on the Dropbox website, which you can access from anywhere.

10. Yuuguu (free basic package)

Yuuguu is a multi-platform screen-sharing tool, which allows print designers who work in teams to collaborate across all platforms (Windows, Mac and Linux). Click one button to start an instant messaging session and another to start sharing screens. The free Yuuguu package includes unlimited use with other Yuuguu users and 100mins/month use with non-Yuuguu users, as well as up to 5 participants in a single session.

11. Basecamp (from $24 per month)

When an online tool is endorsed by big name companies like Warner Brothers, Adidas and National Geographic, you know it’s going to be good. Without doubt, Basecamp is the best browser based project management app available. It lets you write communal and personal “to do” lists, store and share files (up to 75GB) effectively between team members, write on your group’s message boards, add milestones to keep track of what’s due and who’s responsible, and track your own and others’ time.

Equipment

12. Pantone Formula Guide ($125)

Image: jepoirrier

The Pantone Formula Guide, available as a fan-deck, chip book and software interface, is an absolute must-have item for everyone in the print-related industries. Using the Guide and the 1,000+ colours it contains, you can communicate your colour needs to professional printers without confusion and unnecessary expense. Pantone suggest that you buy a new Guide each year, as the inks become more yellow over time, but they would say that, wouldn’t they?

13. Sketch Book

Image: hanakoyo

Every self-respecting print designer uses a sketch book on a daily basis. While Moleskin notebooks, favoured by graphic designers and artists of all types, are the obvious choice, you can’t do better than the Classic Master Notebook A4+ by Leuchtturm1917 ($25 – also available in a slimmed down version). It has 237 pages of superior quality (100g/m2) and comes with a folder pocket, bookmark, elastic closure, table for contents, numbered pages and title and spine archiving labels. It’s just bigger than A4 size, so that you can store unfolded A4 sheets safely inside.

14. Pens and Pencils

Image: rintakumpu

There’s no point in having a fantastic sketch book if you haven’t got any pens and pencils to scribble in it with. It’s important to buy good quality, professional-standard writing implements if you want to achieve the best work. Every print designer has their own favourites and you’ll have to find yours, but I strongly recommend the Tombow Mono 100 pencil ($4 each) for sketching. It’s soft to the touch and sharpens to a fine point.

15. Scalpel, Metal Ruler and Cutting Mat

Image: moriza

Scissors can’t be trusted. For cutting straight lines, a scalpel is required, along with a sturdy metal ruler and cutting mat. British company Swann Morton make some of the best scalpels available. The X-Acto knife ($12) is also a very good choice. Just make sure you get one with a rounded handle (much more comfortable) and a flat-sided blade, which can easily be run up the length of a metal ruler.

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