On-the-go web designers can use their phone’s library of software applications to handle simple tasks when a computer or Wi-Fi connection is unavailable. Here’s a short list of helpful apps for the iPhone and the Android.

iPhone Apps

What the Font

You see an intriguing font on a billboard — you wonder what its name is and where you can find it. Take a picture of the font with your iPhone, start up this app and you’ll find out immediately at the MyFonts website.

CSS Cheat Sheet

Cascading Style Sheets are one of those areas of knowledge all web designers know, but not in as much detail as they might need. Buy this 99-cent app from iTunes and you’ll have an instant look-up for any CSS code.

Palettes 4.0

Discover palettes with this iPhone app or use the app’s tools to build your own palette. Export or import colors from email. This app can let you organize your color palettes by CMYK, RGB, HSL or HSV — you can even work in gray scale.

Ego

A web designer’s reputation depends on the statistics and this app provides those stats with such measures as feed subscribers, website visitors, Twitter followers and many more. The current version of this iPhone app can import stats from Google Analytics, Tumblr, Feed Burner, Mint, Vimeo, Squarespace and Ember.

FTP On the Go

This iPhone app lets you access via FTP whatever server you need to access. The app will let you download/upload files, edit text, perform file management functions and do just about anything else possible through FTP.

Photobucket

This iPhone app lets you access the Photobucket website and its vast image collections. You can sample the image content or browse by category for photos; you can also upload photographs to the website.

Reader

Feeds are the lifeblood of the world to a web professional, whether an aggregated RSS feed from Internet providers or a simple ATOM feed from a fellow designer. This iPhone app will let you categorize all the content flowing through feeds into your life

Android Apps

Dropbox

This Android app gives you access to Internet storage. You can store files or images and use them later. Use the app to grab an image of your newly-created web page off your development network and show it to a client later.

The Adobe Photoshop Express Android App

This app brings Adobe Photoshop to your Android phone. Perform just about any Photoshop function on images and photos, from touch-ups to croppings to rotations to color adjustments to artistic effects to uploads and downloads.

Flubble

Flash designers will love the simple interface of this ActionScript stub creator, which will allow you to create outlines and shell classes for your own Flash applications. You can save or email the result as an ActionScript file or in XML format.

WordPress Mobile

Blogging on WordPress is one more way for a web designer to keep the world informed about their accomplishments. This Android app lets you maintain your WordPress blog, edit entries and respond to comments.

Thinking Space

This Android app lets you upload a file while in one location and download it from the Internet cloud elsewhere. Use it as a backup to any other online data storage systems you may be using.

Mobile GA for Android

When a new web site is deployed or an old one re-designed, Google Analytics delivers the stats. This Android app lets you monitor the relevant Google Analytics stats while you’re on the go.

Color Palette

This palette app for the Android provides the knowledge of color and lets you pick colors for a palette and indicates the hex color values and the hues for any specified color.

Note: Photo courtesy of midiman via FlickR Creative Commons.

Note: Photo courtesy of ivyfield via FlickR Creative Commons.

In the time leading up to a shoot, there is a lot that goes through the mind of a photographer. What if there was a device that could carry out dozens of the functions necessary to professional and amateur photographers in a single mobile platform? There are in fact two: Apple’s iPhone and iPad. These cell phones and tablet PCs can utilize thousands of apps for every single shoot. We have boiled down the half million or so iOS apps to these 7 that were built with the photographer in mind.

PosePad (iPad)

On top of getting all the supplies ready for a shoot, the creative end must also be taken care of to streamline the shoot itself. PosePad for the iPad was created to give serious photographers an edge. This app offers users a step-by-step program to organize every aspect of a photo shoot. The day’s work can be broken down pose by pose to include descriptions and even sample photos of what the photographer or designer is wishing to accomplish. Symbols, such as lighting equipment, can be attached to each diagram to help photographers remember what supplies will be necessary for every shot.

Easy Release (iPad/iPhone)

As a photographer makes that tough transition from amateur to professional, there are some behind the scenes steps that must be carefully navigated throughout every photo shoot. One of toughest aspects to organize during a shoot is the liability and legality issues. Contracts, agreements, and permission forms must be signed by all parties, and that is why Easy Release was created.

This app is available to both the iPhone and iPad and offers a streamlined digital alternative to stacks of paperwork. Within a simple interface, photographers, models, and property owners will be able to create, sign, and forward contacts to their email. It also can be used to keep an updated contact list of each of the parties involved on any particular shoot.

Filterstorm (iPad)

Most serious photographers will gawk at any app that claims to be a decent editing program, but Filterstorm is starting to change this mentality. This iPad app has begun to blur the line between professional editing programs run on desktop computers and the amateur programs that can be run on mobile devices. Filterstorm is one major step ahead of most editing apps as it includes everything from curves and brushes to color balancing and noise filtering.

Photoshop Express (iPad)

Photoshop has come to dominate the world of photo editing, and a transition to a fully mobile program has had many graphic designers and photographers skeptical. Luckily for iPad owners, this free app does in fact have a handful of features that make it exceedingly useful to the average photographer.

Photoshop Express utilizes all of the basic editing functions as the traditional Photoshop programming including cropping, lighting, and tones. This is not where this app begins to shine though. The standout feature of Photoshop Express it the ability to access a photographer’s entire library of work almost anywhere in the world. Instead of using the iPad’s precious memory, photographers can look up their pictures to get ideas about poses one moment and then show off their work to a potential client the next.

Scott Kelby’s Photo Recipes Live: Behind the Scenes (iPad/iPhone)

This app has been built for relatively new photographers, with cell phones, and a genuine interest in the intricacies of their trade. Scott Kelby has been a leading voice in the world of photography for over 20 years and is now sharing his knowledge with the rest of the world. This app can be used on the iPad or iPhone to cover video lessons on lighting that range from shooting flowers to deciding on the correct filter.

Instagram (iPad/iPhone)

The beauty of Instagram is in its simplicity and quality. Instagram is an iPhone and iPad app that can be used to create interesting photos right off of the device’s camera. Once installed, pictures can be taken with a wide array of colors and filters. These interesting photos can then be sent to Flickr, Twitter, or Facebook with a single tap of the screen.

Bonus App

Tattoo Shop (iPad/iPhone)

Tattoo Shop is another iPhone and iPad app that is not meant for the professional photographer, unless they have a good sense of humor. This silly app is used to superimpose tattoos onto willing or unwilling victims that have had their picture taken. While this app may not find its way into the world of high-end photo editing programs, it is fun, interesting, and a good way to crack a smile on most anyone’s face.

Last week we picked our winner for the UPrinting.com contest which we had here at prodigalconcepts.com last May 9 – 15, 2011, and our lucky winner is… “drum roll goes here”

Ms. Dolly Coffman

We sent you an email notifying you of being selected and confirming your email address. The representatives of UPrinting.com will contact you regarding details of your shipping preference.

I would like to thank each and everyone who have participated in this momentous occasion, I hope that you could all check back often to read our latest articles and join our future contests. To get the latest updates of what’s going on at prodigalconcepts.com please like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter.

I would also like to thank the guys at UPrinting.com for their support and for giving prodigalconcepts.com the opportunity to be a big part in their online promotions. Cheers!

Update: May 16, 2011

Contest ended, winner will be announced!

This is a very exciting day for us here at Prodigal Concepts, because we have teamed up with the guys from UPrinting.com a leading company for online printing services based out of Los Angeles and Van Nuys, CA. to give away some US$80 worth of die cut Business Cards or Postcards to one very lucky visitor.

Postcard prints from UPrinting.com

About UPrinting.com

UPrinting.com is an online printing services company, that has established itself as a major player in the industry with its distinct vision and clear approach to helping small businesses grow. They have earned customer loyalty by offering more customizable options than other online printers. The company is popular for its Free File Review, a complimentary proofing service which requires no upfront payment.

And aside from online printing services they also offer convenient marketing support such as design services and direct mailing to help the small or medium-sized businesses grow. They are committed to social responsibility and eco-friendly initiatives that support non-profit organizations and environmental sustainability.

Business card prints from UPrinting.com

How to win

1. All you have to do is leave a Comment on this post letting us know which set of prints you would like to win. And make sure you leave your name and a valid email address so we can contact you. Simple as pie!

2. Then you can either subscribe to our RSS feed, “Like us” on Facebook or follow us on Twitter so you can get updated when we have picked the winner and news of future contests.

This contest will end on May 15, 2011 (one week), winners will be randomly chosen.

What you can win

The winner can choose from a set of Business Cards or Postcards

100 Postcards
5” x 7” 14pt Cardstock Gloss
Front Only printing 2 Business Days Print Turnaround Time

OR

250 Die Cut Business Cards
1.75” x 3.5”, 2” x 3.5”, or 2” x 2”; 2.5” Diameter (Circle)
Die Cut Business Cards (Rounded Corners, Leaf, Rounded Single-Corner, Half-Circle Side, Circle);
14pt Cardstock Gloss / Matte / High Gloss (UV), or 13pt Cardstock Uncoated
on a 6 Business Days Turnaround; Front Only or Front and Back printing

Disclaimer: This giveaway is sponsored by UPrinting, no monetary compensation was given. For more information about postcards or business cards, please visit UPrinting online printing services.

Restriction: Limited to US residents 18 years old and above only.

Which brings me to (LOL) “10 Photoshop keyboard shortcuts Saturday” issue #1. Starting today I will post 10 Photoshop keyboard shortcuts that I know of every Saturday. It will benefit those who likes to dabble on some personal Photoshop projects over the weekend. This will help you guys reduce the time it takes you to navigate through Photoshop. Be warned that it takes some getting use to if you’ve been smitten by “the mouse”, but if you learn this it will immensely help you in the long run, especially on large projects.

I’m not sure how to effectively categorize the list because I know we all have different ways of filing things by importance. I suggest you make a soft copy file cheat sheet that you can save somewhere for reference as I post them here.

(Disclaimer: As I’m using CS3 there could be some slight difference with other Photoshop versions reactions, also I’m on a PC so MAC users just change some of the combo keys on your side. ex. Ctrl on a PC = Cmd on a MAC etc…)

Love tech? Check out IT online courses.

A very special “thank you” to freevector.com for the Photoshop tool icons we will be using in this guide.

Starting alphabetically:

A

This will open your

Path tool

Direct Selection Tool

Shift + A

By holding the Shift key you can switch between Path tool and Direction tool as you click on A.

Ctrl + A

Will Select All, when activated is usually represented by marching ants around the canvass.

Alt + Shift + A

Applies the Blending Mode Linear Burn

B

Opens your trusty and very useful,

Brush tool

Pencil tool

Shift + B

By holding the Shift key you can switch between Brush tool and Pencil tool as you click on B.

Ctrl + B

Opens your Color Balance option screen

Ctrl + Alt + B

This will show your Color Balance last settings

Ctrl + Shift + B

Applies Auto Color to your image.

Ctrl + Alt + Shift + B

Will open your Black & White control options.

*Bonus

Alt + Shift + B

Applies the Blending Mode Color Burn

Well there you go, 10 + 1 Photoshop keyboard shortcuts, I hope this would help you minimize the time you spend on your projects. See you again next Saturday for another set of 10 Photoshop keyboard shortcuts. And remember “it’s all about the end result”.

Visit other prodigalconcepts.com tutorials…

I’ve compiled 10 web resource sites of free fonts that houses some of the best and latest font styles available for personal and commercial use.

(Disclaimer: Do keep in mind that some of them may have some form of reserved rights attached so be sure to read the Terms and Conditions before downloading for any commercial purposes).

And if the font really helped you it’s always a good idea to donate to the font authors and designers, this will help them to continue giving away their awesome font creations for us to devour. Or simply give them some credit, we all know how it feels not getting credited for something we worked so hard for.

Hope you guys find these useful, continue reading and enjoy!

dafont.com

One of the most popular and my favorite source of free fonts is dafont.com it holds a huge collection of very cool fonts. What I like about them is the way they’ve categorized each font by theme, this allows you to view related fonts without wasting time going through the entire font archive because it’s really tough to search for the right font if you don’t even know the font name. I find it convenient that their latest added fonts get their own category listing, you will find their latest font additions displayed on the first page. And it also has this neat option that you can type any word you want and it will be displayed using the styles of the font themes they have . So if you are just looking for some visual suggestions of how your text will look this is a feature that will work wonders for you. For me that’s just awesome!

neatfonts.com

This is probably one of my earliest font resource discoveries, and as their name suggests neatfonts.com carries a library of pretty neat fonts. Like most font archive websites neatfonts.com has a large inventory of contemporary fonts. A little harder to navigate compared to dafont.com because they’ve archived their fonts alphabetically, and unless you already know the name of the font style you’re looking for it’s really time consuming to get through each one. But on the other hand if you’re not in a hurry it’s exciting to discover new styles along the way, because like dafont.com, neatfonts also allows you to view your chosen word or title in the style of the fonts you are currently browsing that makes searching for the right font quite fun.

urbanfonts.com

If there will be a rival to dafont.com in terms of usability and ease of use then it could be urbanfonts.com. Like dafont.com, urbanfonts categorized their font resources by theme. And they also have a featured font category.

fonts2u.com

This latest addition proves to be a contender for the the best font resource website, not only does it support multiple languages it also has a font converter to support the following formats.

- TrueType (.ttf)
- OpenType (.otf)
- PostScript Type 1 (.pfb)
- Macintosh OS X Data Fork (.dfont)

fonts2u.com even has a list of font designers linked to their set of work. This is something new for me and should be given extra points. It enables you to browse the font designs by author. Check it out for yourself and let me know what you think.

fontsquirrel.com

This looks like fun, fontsquirrel.com finds all of the quality freeware that is licensed for commercial work, and then they manually select typefaces and presents them in an easy-to-use format. They’ve done the hard work for us and put it in one place so that we can take our picks hassle free. That’s so nice of them isn’t it?

And then there will always be the “Others”

Not as exciting as my chosen top half of this roundup in terms of design and usability but a font resource nonetheless. And you will never know what exciting font styles you will find hidden in these next set of free font resource websites.

1001freefonts.com

simplythebest.net

acidfonts.com

actionfonts.com

ele-fonts.com

fontgarden.com

fontspace.com

If you have a font resource of your own that’s not included here and you would like to share it with the rest of us please use the comment form below this post so we could check it out.

Special thanks goes to

Dominic Le-Hair for the tribbon font I used for my excerpt image.

noupe.com for providing a free downloadable copy.

As an enthusiast “image trapper” I’ve compiled some of the textures I was able to capture in the past few weeks and I’m sharing it with all of you totally gratis, yup it’s free for your personal and commercial use (some rights reserved). If you happen to find these textures useful a comment or a link-back to this post would really be much appreciated. Thank you and Enjoy!

(Disclaimer: Use with caution not all are very good quality, some needs tweaking. Perfect for practice though.)

Related readings

How to Create a 3D Leaf from a Texture Photograph

Photoshop Tutorial: How to Apply Textures to Photos

Using Light to Create Texture in Your Photography

How to add texture to a photo using Photoshop

Add Stock Textures to Images for extra ‘Oomph’

FREE Assorted Textures

Working sample

Textures can add a lot of character even to the simplest layout like a poster, here is one I created using the grayish textile texture that’s included with this set. Love it or hate it, just leave your comments…

Food for thought

Before I wrap this up, one of the best sites to get quality textures is at “graphicriver.com”, they provide some of the best quality textures online at very affordable prices. But if you want to make some extra cash instead, grab your camera and take pictures of your very own textures because “graphicriver.com” will also help you sell them. Who knows your texture could end up on the next blockbuster movie poster or the web site that will topple the Facebook empire, “You are only limited by your own imagination”.

Texture photography tips

10 Texture Photography Tips

10 Tips for Shooting for Graphic Textures

How to photograph textures

Ultimate Guide for Creating High Quality Textures

Aside from comments and link-backs, donations are now being accepted.

Having worked for a phone development company as a user interface designer made me appreciate icons even more. With a small area to work with, I found how icons can boost a regular message of a mediocre button, and tell the user what it represents, and why people should click on it.

Here are a few cool sites that are generously sharing their icons to all of us, it’s a mixed round-up of web and phone icons. Don’t forget to link to them to say Thank You, for their creativity and hard-work.

Vintage Postage Stamps by dawghousedesign

Who let the dogs out? dawghousedesignstudio.com has been actively giving away some really cool icons, check out her latest offering of vintage stamp inspired social media icons.

Function Icon Set by wefunction

Its like Christmas at wefunction.com with this 128 set of assorted icons for your web design projects. Now that’s just amazing isn’t it?

Vector Social Media Icons by icondock

Nick La of ndesign-studio.com has a passion for creating beautiful icons, his passion is so great that he put up a separate site to hold all his masterpieces and he appropriately called it icondock.com where designers and website owners usually go to buy icons for various projects. And from time to time the rest of us lucky ones gets a piece of the action totally gratis.

Turqua – 3D Isometric Icons by monofactor.com

Clean looking icons for your minimalistic web designs from monofactor.com

Rockin’ Emoticons by skirozeng@deviantart

A lot of emotion, hard-work and creativity went into this set of icons that would make some cool gravatars, or avatars.

30 Vector Icons (iPhone ready) by dezinerfolio

I have been following the guys at dezinerfolio.com like a mad stalker who hasn’t taken his medication for sometime now and it just so happened I had a project that was a bit challenging for me and it was a good thing that they have what I needed to get the job done.

Just a short run through, iphone tabbar icons are a bit tricky, the iphone’s tab application can’t read colors, instead it reads alpha transparencies and it converts solid colors to black or white like film negatives. I had to learn this the hard way, with a lot of research and thanks to the educational resources I got from osmorphis iphone and itouch development guides part one and part two I was able to swim through the challenging waters of GUI in phone development.

That’s all we have for today…

But if you’re hungry for more free iPhone tabbar icons? Then head out to phodder blog’s tabbar twosdays where they’ll treat you to two designs of iPhone iCons every Tuesday. You can even make a request if you happen to hit a wall or in need of a particular iphone icon (I’m speaking from experience), just remember to ask nicely and don’t forget to link back, comment, share or say Thanks. Cheers!

So please download with care and allow me to present a few wallpaper source sites that I’m hoping will give you inspiration and add some character to your “hohumn” screens. Most of them are wallpapers that I personally love, or I’m a fan of the genre. So in a kind of selfish way these are all designs that I personally like but which I’m generously sharing with all of you, right? So enjoy!

Fringe Wallpapers

I featured Fringe’s web design in my article Inspirations: Cultural themed website designs, and it was during my research that I discovered they were giving away some really cool wallpapers (which instantly put me in the sharing mood) and the best part of it is you need to play a Hidden Object Game (like the popular Ravenhearst from BigFish) before you unlock all the freebie wallpapers. You have 60 seconds to find 10 hidden objects, the more hidden objects you find the more wallpapers you will be able to unlock for download, awesome right? It may be up for a limited time only so better hurry up. Don’t worry if you’re not able to unlock all the wallpapers on the first try because you can always hit “Play Again” then it turns into a hybrid memory game. Sweet!

Le-BD-Vore Collection

Growing up I was conditioned not to buy comic books because I was told it’s a waste of money, sad part is I listened. And now I’m trapped in a neurological jail cell that prevents me from just going for it. But my interest in comic books did not totally die out. I still love them but not enough to collect them I think my brain needs to be re-formatted to remove that early childhood programing. I do love DC’s Justice League characters! Batman’s my favorite, of-course Spider-man and Wolverine makes it on my list too. The back story of the characters delivers an interesting read, and the graphics never fails to wow the inner child in me, from Bob Kane to Jack Kirby to Stan Lee to Alex Ross to Frank Miller to Georges Rémi (The Adventures of Tin Tin) to Takeshi Obata (Death Note) the list just goes on and on. I found this site lebdvore.com some time ago while looking for a background to use on my social network profile (*hint the customizable one…), it houses a superb collection of comic book super hero wallpapers, the only kicker is that its in French, par les vous Francais? Well even if you don’t the images can definitely speak for themselves.

Alex Ross Originals

Since were on the subject of comic book graphics, Alex Ross is also giving away some of his original works for free on his website alexrossart.com, pay him homage by using his artwork on your lap/desk-top monitors. You can also buy prints from his website, so if you’re a hardcore fan or an intellectual lover of the arts, or just a regular guy who likes the work of Alex Ross don’t forget to check it out.

Deviant Design Blog’s Retro Compilations

OK so you’re not into weird science TV programs, you’re also not interested in comic book graphics, but if you are looking for some old school inspirations then the Deviant Design (not to be mistaken for deviantart.com) compilation might just do the trick. Its a design blog resource from the Federal Republic of Germany and they have 25 retro inspired wall papers gathered from all over to share with all of us.

End credits

Thank you for dropping by and I hope you will enjoy the free wallpapers and appreciate the talents that went in designing them. Till next post, keep on sharing!

Special thanks to the source sites and to the people behind them:

www.fox.com/fringe

www.lebdvore.com

www.alexrossart.com

www.deviant-blog.de