Using mobile devices to create design assets!

​Additional Resources

During my presentation I referenced a number of resources that you can use to learn more about graphic design trends. To make your life easier, I've collected them all here.
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The Actual Slide Deck

Here's the slide deck I used for this presentation. The PPT file also includes my full speakers notes:

Video

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  • Adobe Spark Video: Probably the easiest and fastest tool I know of for creating animated videos. I ADORE this app.
  • Hyperlapse: This app by Instagram makes in incredibly easy to shoot time lapse video. It's definitely worth investing in a tripod for projects like this. Android users may want to check out Microsoft Hyperlapse Mobile instead or these three alternative apps.
  • Plotagon: This app allows you to create quick animated videos to upload to YouTube. It's technically free, but requires in-app purchases to unlock more characters and backgrounds. The robotic voices aren't ideal, but otherwise it's pretty nifty.
  • Composition Cam: An amazing guide for helping you master visually engaging photo and video layouts.
  • Quik (iOS and Android): If you've ever needed to put together a bunch of photos and/or videos into a single slide show style video, this app makes it super easy.
  • iMovie: The default video app on iOS is quite sturdy. If you're looking for basic editing on the go, it's a great fit. Android users may want to check out WeVideo as an alternative.

Photos

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  • Instagram (iOS and Android): It's not just for pictures of brunch! It's also surprisingly effective at easy to use photo correction. 
  • Microsoft Selfie: (iOS and Android) It's a horrid name, but the app is pretty decent for helping you quickly touch up photos of people. 
  • Camera+: This app both assists you with taking awesome photos and is a powerhouse of fast edits afterwards. Unfortunately it isn't available for Android, but thankfully this Lifehacker article has some other options that Android users can check out. Also, the next app is a great alternative.
  • Snapseed (iOS and Android): Good for taking photos, amazing for editing them!
  • Vivv: Ever wanted to highlight a specific item in a photo? Vivv allows you to instantly isolate one or more colors in a pic and turn everything else black & white. Android users can try Color Touch Effects instead.
  • ComicBook!: This app takes your photos and, using filters and pre-created effects, turns them in to comic panels. Another similar iOS app that's also enjoyable is Comic Life (which also comes in a more robust Mac/Windows version as well). The pickings seem to be a bit slimmer on Android, but Comic Strip It! Pro may be an acceptable substitute.
  • Typorama: Fantastic for adding text and effects to photos. If you're an Android user, check out PicLab and Quick as alternatives.
  • Retype and Wordswag: Both are similar to Typorama but cost a bit of cash. If you like creating these type of images though, it's worth the splurge for one (or both of) these apps as I find they have more versatile options.
  • Tangent: Want to do something a bit fun and artistic with your photos? Then this is your app. It's particularly useful for creating exciting slide images... or your indie band's new vinyl cover (hey, I'm not judging here). I have yet to find a similar alternative on Android, so if you know of one, definitely let me know.
  • Layout (iOS and Android): Want to put together a photo collage? This free app makes it incredibly easy.

Bonus content!

Drawing

  • Assembly: This app allows you to put together graphics using premade shapes, so even if you couldn't draw a stick figure to save your life, you can still make amazing images with this.
  • Paper by 53: Wow, do I love this app! The company also put together a nifty Vimeo site to share videos explain the app features. If you want something a bit more tutorial-like, check out the very helpful Mastering Paper blog. Android users should check out the app Paperless as an alternative to this and then next app.
  • Tayasui Sketches: The user interface for this app is just charming!
  • Forge: This app was built for quick, iterative sketch brainstorming. Create collections of different sketch ideas, photos, and notes.

Bonus content!

Audio

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  • Anchor: Allows you to record and host your own podcast (and even allows multiple people to contribute to it). The best part? recording it is pretty much exactly like making a phone call.
  • Recordium: You can use this app to record voiceovers or basic audio. You can ALSO add highlights, tags, notes, and photos to the recording, making it a perfect audio note app as well. An Android equivalent is Voice Recorder.
  • Garageband: Apple's entry-level audio recording and editing software has its own app version. Obviously it's good for recording instruments and creating audio loops, but it's also solid for recording voiceovers and podcasts too. Android users may want to check out Stagelight as an alternative.
  • Beatwave (iOS and Android): Want to gently dip your toe into making your own audio loops? This app is a great place to start. It's simple to use (and easy to use well).
  • Figure: This app is slightly more complex than Heatwave, but not by a lot. The music loops and songs you can create with this are more complex, without a substantially more complex app. Also, the thing is just super attractive to look at.
  • Auxy: This app allows even non-musicians to build audio loops that can easily be played and recorded. Do you need a soundtrack for something that sounds like Tron? Then this is your app. Android users may want to check out the slightly similar app NodeBeat.

Misc

  • Adobe Comp CC: Perfect for fast mockups of pretty much anything. Use the mockups as is or import them in to InDesign, Photoshop, or Illustrator to finalize.
  • POP - Prototyping on Paper: This app allows you to create fast, lightly functional prototypes of apps, websites, eLearning, and anything else with interactions using just photos.
  • iFontMaker: Making your own font is simple and fast with this app. It's also available for Windows.
  • ​Snapguide: An easy place to make and find step-by-step DIY guides. There's no Android app currently, but if you don't have an iOS device you can still access and create guides on their website.
  • Timeline 3D: This app allows you to create interactive timelines that incorporate text, photos, and video. Can be exported as a slide deck, printable file, movie, or web interaction. There's also a Mac version.
  • Haiku Deck: This deck creation app has templates that practically force you to design beautiful, simple slides. Plus, you can leverage a wide library of creative commons licensed images for your slides. It's also available though a web version.
  • PowerPoint (iOS and Android): It's a simplified experience, but still useful for viewing, creating, and even projecting decks. An Office 365 subscription unlocks more feature. Warning: if you have an iPad Pro, you have to have Office 365 in order to create decks on your device... which is a kinda lousy deal if you ask me.
  • Keynote: This is the app I used to create this presentation. This was also the first time I'd ever tried to use this app to create something from start to finish. My impressions? It was less robust then my Mac version, but still exceptionally useable. It took a little bit of time to figure out where all the features were, but once I figured that out I was all set to go. Note: be sure to avoid the older templates... they're oddly dated.
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Extras

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