Graphic design is a field that takes talent, creativity, and drive. But it also takes some tech and graphic designers tend to have a lot of cool toys.
Check out the top 5 hottest tech gadgets that graphic designers are loving this year.
Wacom Cintiq 22 HD Large Drawing Monitor
A drawing monitor is a pretty essential tool for most graphic designers and Wacom has long been the leader.
They keep improving and the value and the large Cintiq HD drawing monitor is unmatched. It has a lightning fast response rate and is both pressure and tilt sensitive.
This lets you digitally mimic drawing and painting with a variety of tools and brushes. A tool like this is something that once you experience it, you never want to look back.
According to Hereon.biz who have compared the best drawing monitors, this one is on an entirely different level. It’s a big investment but offers so much value it is more than worth it.
Pico Portable Color Digitizer
Color is a vital part of graphic design but sometimes finding the perfect color is a challenge.
When trying to perfectly match a color from something in the world to use digitally, graphic designers used to have to spend a lot of time using the trial and error method.
Pico is an incredible tool that you use along with an app that lets you find out the exact color of anything you point it at.
It has an advanced micro color sensor that measures reflected light to determine the specific shade.
You can also use the app to save favorite colors you might like to revisit in future work.
For a graphic designer, building a library of colors like this can be invaluable. Better yet, this tool is surprisingly affordable.
Moleskine’s Smart Writing Kit
Moleskine, the company behind those beloved little notebooks favored by many creatives and doers of all stripes, has been dipping their toe into the tech waters of late.
And now, with their revolutionary Smart Writing System, they are making a huge splash. This writing kit consists of a Pen+ Ellipse smartpen and a paper tablet with special paper.
Every pen stroke is digitizedin real time. The free Moleskine Notes app will then allow you to save, edit, and share your content.
This could certainly streamline some elements of the work process while also helping you stay organized.
Pantone Capsure
Like the Pico, this is a portable color capturing tool. It’s pricier but it is also a bit more accurate than the Pico.
Not surprisingly, this tool was created by a company that is all about color. Pantone is, in fact, the global authority on color.
Colors can be defined in a number of ways but many graphic designers already rely on the Pantone color catalog.
Rather than describing a certain shade of yellow, they might describe it as Pantone 116. The Capsure has image capture technology that offers great accuracy.
This tool specifically matches real-world colors to the more than 10,000 shades in the Pantone library. Someone who already uses and relies on the Pantone color system will likely find more value in this over the Pico.
Scribble Pen
A pen may be one of the least technologically impressive tools we use today, at least your typical pen.
The Scribble Pen is anything but typical. It really elevates what a pen can be and offers freedom and flexibility.
The pen, like the Pico and the Capsure, has the ability to scan and recognize a specific color.
The difference is that the pen can then immediately draw with that color of ink. There is a refillable ink cartridge that will last for an impressive 30 miles of writing.
You can also save favorite colors and then cycle through them with easy controls. There is also a stylus version of the Scribble Pen.
It can still scan and recognize color but it is for digital use and doesn’t have any ink. With the stylus version, you get two different tips and it features lag-free response time.
The makers of this super cool pen call it “unapologetically awesome” and that’s totally appropriate.
Most graphic designers would be happy to have any or all of these tech gadgets. They can increase productivity, streamline certain workflow processes, and just make various tasks easier. Plus, they are all just fun to play with!
Have you used any of these cool gadgets before? What did you think?
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