Kristop's Top 5 Mobile Apps For Designers

As an Interaction Art Director, I'm always looking for visual inspiration on the web. Inspiration comes from everywhere so I utilize a variety of sources. Here are my top 5 mobile apps for designers.

1. Pinterest
I am obsessed with Pinterest. I use it on my iPhone via the Pinterest App and on my iPad using Safari. Pinterest is an online pinboard. It allows users to organize and share things they love, and more importantly, follow people that pin content in relevant categories of interest. The way Pinterest displays a wall of images looks amazing on my 27" iMac display and I find myself obsessively keeping it up to date.

2. Mixel
Another cool app is Mixel. Touted as the World's First Social Collage App, this iPad-only app is really fun to use. As a user you can create art from simple images or take someone else's collage and remix it. I find inspiration in people recreating new art with the same ingredients. Users can also comment and like/love other people's collages and follow users that they find interesting. It's a great community to be a part of -- even my 5-year-old son participates!

3. Cool Hunting

Cool Hunting provides daily updates on ideas and products in the intersection of art, design, culture and technology, and features weekly videos that give an inside look at the people who create them. I use their iPad app to watch videos and search for other artists in different disciplines. Cool Hunting is synonymous with seeking inspiration, I discovered them through their website, but I find the iPad app much more visually appealing and easy to use.

4. Mocking Pad

When it is time to get to work, Mocking Pad makes constructing and sharing wireframes fun and easy. It has a Rich Editor that allows users to quickly jot down ideas and share them with the rest of the team. I use it in conjunction with Dropbox to keep copies of all my work synced to all my machines/devices. 5. Procreate For drawing, sketching or painting, I use Procreate. Exclusively for iPad, this professional painting and sketching app is so responsive and precise. Since upgrading to an iPad2, with Procreate I can now paint and sketch in HD -- to me, this combo makes for the definitive iPad sketchbook.

Have any other design apps or tips you would recommend? Until next time, happy designing!

@kristop