10 Things No Graphic Designer Should Live Without

Although we doubt any creative would turn down a strong cup of coffee, there are a number of other essential things no graphic designer should live without. Whether it’s tools to bring your ideas to life or ways to fuel your creativity, here are 10 things that make work so much easier.

To get you started, we’re offering a fantastic Creative Starter Kit worth £1,000, which includes a number of the items on this list. Simply fill out the #DoWhatYouLove survey before the closing date at midnight on 31 July 2015 to enter.

But for now, whether you’re a budding graphic designer or an established creative, add these things to your kit and you’ll wonder how you ever lived without them…

1. iPad Mini

An iPad Mini sits perfectly beside your iPhone and MacBook, letting you handle business queries and sync designs on the go. Its amazing touch technology makes it so much easier to create, network, stream music, and seek the latest design inspiration wherever you are. It’s a definite lifesaver if your phone battery goes when you’re travelling, and it’s lighter to carry than a laptop.

2. 53 Pencil

Letting you think with your hands, the Pencil by FiftyThree makes it easy to create design work on your iPad. With surface pressure, erase, blend, and palm rejection features, it really is a handy little tool. And its beautiful wooden design is crafted especially for your hand so it feels like a normal pencil.

3. Wacom Tablet

A Wacom tablet gives you the best of both worlds: the same precision of drawing by hand and the high quality results of a digital platform. Transform your creative ideas instantly into digital form by painting or sketching directly onto the tablet’s surface and connecting to your laptop. It’s a must-have sketchbook for designers, speeding up and streamlining the whole design process.

4. Moleskine Notebooks

It’s good to take some time away from a screen so a traditional sketchbook is essential. Moleskine offers a massive range of sketchbooks in all sorts of sizes. Having pen and paper handy whilst you’re out and about ensures you can get your ideas down as soon as inspiration strikes. Moleskine’s quality paper makes the sketchbooks perfect for home use too. Don’t forget to leave one by your bedside…

5. Rucksack

It might seem basic but you’re going to need a suitable bag to carry around all of your design kit. There are so many sleeves for MacBooks and iPads but it’s useful to keep everything in the same place. We’d recommend Herschel’s range of trendy backpacks. Their Pop Quiz backpack has a padded and lined sleeve designed to keep your tech safe when you’re on the go, as well as a number of other pockets for everything else.

Those are just the first five! Want to see the full list? Click here to see the originally published post over on Creative Boom.