Top 10 Must-Have Tools For Graphic Designers Working From Home

As a graphic designer, you know how working from home is an excellent way for people to achieve their career goals when they cannot go to their traditional offices for any reason. It would help if you had the most relevant tools to accomplish this. Many people have likened working remotely to fighting a battle since you have to work extra hard to overcome some distractions and collaborate with your teammates to finish the projects. Otherwise, you can lose your job and health.

Graphic designers spend a lot of time sitting, and so, if you do not have a standing desk, your health can suffer. Your productivity can also drop if you cannot have the work done by qualified artists on time.

For you to mitigate these risks, read on for the top 10 must-have remote tools for designers.

1. Standing desk

You need a standing desk to be productive and safe. These desks have been around for several years. However, they have never been as popular as they are in 2022. The COVID-19 pandemic has made remote working a practical option for many. Studies have shown that you are likely to reduce your chances of using a standing desk if you are using a standing desk suffering from type 2 diabetes and heart disease, which is killing many people who sit for long hours. The other reasons you need the right standing desk setup are to reduce the risk of back pain, obesity, and weight gain. Besides, it can boost your productivity and mental health if you use it rightly. 

2. Slack

Since graphic designers and other artists value teamwork, you may be wondering if an efficient communication tool is designed for you. Over the last few years, several online communication tools have emerged. However, none of them is as valuable as slack. You can take advantage of this instant online messaging and collaboration tool. It gives many integration options and empowers you to set up as many channels for privacy as you desire. Besides, you can use it to share your files with your teammates. What’s more, slack is available to designers who use several platforms, including Android and Windows phones, desktop apps, mobile apps, and more.

3. Ergonomic chair

When you hear someone talk about an ergonomic chair, remember that they are thinking about the benefits you can get from your ideal standing desk setup. According to a recent study, these chairs also play a role in supporting your posture. Moreover, your ergonomic chair can reduce your neck pain and help with your back pain. Besides, it relieves hip pressure and improves blood circulation. As such, your ergonomic chair has the potential to boot productivity and protect your health too.  

4. Trello

Trello is a free management tool that you can use to organize your projects in your flexible office space. As a professional graphic designer, there is no doubt that you are interested in keeping everything organized. How can you do this? You can write simple notes on what you want a specific member of your team to do. You can also know the task that particular artists or groups are handling and appropriately guide them.

5. Goggle Drive

Google Drive is the top cloud storage service that we have today. It offers you 15 GB of free storage space, so you can safely store your ideas, graphic design templates, images, recordings, drawing, projects briefs, and much more here. Other than that, you or your permitted team member can access the files from anywhere

6. RescueTime

With this must-have tool, you do not have to worry again about how you need to spend your time. This app helps you to track, understand, and optimize how your team of designers, including you, spends their time. The other good part of this tool is that it silently tracks the usage of the computer in the background. Besides, once you install it, you do not have to do anything else to get useful data. As such, it can help you in a big way if you care about your team’s productivity without much effort. 

7. Photoshop

As a graphic designer, there is no doubt that you work with graphics. Photoshop is one of the tools that experts like you need to create well-designed documents. As such, if we ignored it, we would say this list is technically incomplete. Remember that this term “photoshop” has become so popular among designers and other artists for a good reason.

8. Evernote

As a responsible remote graphic designer who works from home is always on the go, you require a reliable tool that you can use to take down notes and record your creative ideas. If you are in a meeting or bathroom and you notice new ideas, it can help you to preserve the thought. Remember, a graphic designer that lacks creativity cannot stand out in the present competitive marketplace.

Apart from using it to project details and record important ideas, Evernote can help you communicate and collaborate with your team within no time. What’s more, it is also available on several platforms, including Microsoft, BlackBerry 10, OSX, webOS, Android, and Chrome OS. It also offers a reliable backup service. 

9. JIRA

 This customizable tool helps graphic designers and web developers to manage their projects. You can use it to assign different tasks and track them. Since it uses a pre-determined work follow model, JIRA is the best project management tool to use when you want to make your work more visible and keep all members of your remote team informed.

10. LastPass

Some people are concerned that if they create all the above accounts, they may forget all the passwords within a day or less. The truth is that no one who has several strong passwords can remember many of them. Doing this for all the services can prove too much for you. Besides, you have other important things to do than keep trying to figure out different secure passwords.

LastPass has been created to solve this problem once and for all. As an efficient and password manager, it can generate and lock your login details in a secure vault. You can also use it to auto-fill your web browser as well as logins. For you to benefit from this service, you need no other thing other than your LastPass master password. 

Conclusion

We have covered the top 10 must-have tools that any graphic designer can find incredibly useful. If you want to improve your remote office’s aesthetic value and mitigate health risks, do not forget about your standing desk and ergonomic chair. You also need the other tools to have the job done. This list is not exhaustive, but it offers you the best place to start wining your career battles at home and becoming your better you.