Category : Apps

in Apps

Prevue – Concept Sharing for Web and Mobile

Prevue is a new web app that allows users to upload graphics and web designs to an account and easily share with clients. These uploaded designs are packed into a tidy little email and sent off to your client. The client can then view online or on their phone.

There are a number of other web apps out there that do pretty much the same thing as Prevue. However, Prevue has a few small tricks up its sleeve that I think are quite impressive. For starters, they have a really cool feature for web designers.

Web designers, I know you have heard this one before; “why doesn’t my design fill the whole browser window?” What is it about some clients that they dont understand that they are looking at an image and not a live website? I can’t tell you how many times I have had to add a 3000px wide background just to get them to shut up.

[sws_blockquote align="right" cite="Dumb Client" quotestyle="style01"] Why doesn’t my design fill the whole browser window? [/sws_blockquote] The point of that little rant is that Prevue gives web designers a tool to create a background for their mockups. You can add images and margins to the mockup so your client can see it as if it were a live site and not just an image flush left in a browser. Prevue also claims to have a smart crop tool that will create a background for you with witchcraft. Spooky.

The other tool that Prevue offers that might be cool is some basic analytics on your posted projects. I’m not entirely sure of what they report and how, but Prevue claims to let you know if your client has viewed your work or not. I don’t really know how useful this is, buts cool none the less.

Of course Prevue comes with all the other features you would expect in this sort of app. It allows for commenting on the mockups and basic annotation. The interface is mostly drag and drop, allowing you to easily setup and manage projects.

Final Thoughts

All and all Prevue looks pretty sweet. Its simple, stylish, and has few but awesome features. What more do you really need? As I said before, I really like the web design background feature. That in its self is reason enough to buy!

in Apps

Air Display Review – External Monitor with iPad

Air Display is a iPad app that allows you utilize the iPad as a external monitor. With a price tag of only $9.99 in the iTunes app store, it is far cheaper than any Apple monitor ever made. I have been playing with the Air Display app for a few days now. All and all I think its pretty rad, but it does come with its own set of pros and cons.

Recently I started working at an awesome co-working space in downtown Atlanta called Strong Box West. If you are a local reader, let me know and we can do lunch. I’ll Have my people call your people. As a result of working away from my home setup, I’m having to work from my 13in MacBook.

Working from the MacBook is ok on days that Im just blogging and browsing the web, but on days I need to design and do some real work, it’s a bit of a pain. Having to go back and forth between IM clients, Photoshop, and email is cumbersome at best. Even with the use of keyboard shortcuts and spaces, it is still a bit of a hassle.

This is why I decided to try the Air Display app. Having a second monitor, if only to fill with email and chats, makes a world of difference in my productivity.

How It Works

The Air Display app uses Bluetooth technology to wirelessly connect your iPad to your computer. You will need to first install a small server app on your main computer before the app will work. Once you have purchased Air Display it will walk you through the setup process, which is very simple.

After you get the app setup and running, you can manage your displays through the display settings on your Mac as if it were a dedicated second monitor. You can mirror your display or set it up as an extended display.

One interesting thing about the Air Display is that even as dual monitor it can still utilize a touch interface for clicking around.

[sws_yellow_box box_size="700"] While there is a touch interface on the iPad, the keyboard will not be available for use. [/sws_yellow_box]

Final Thoughts

The Air Display certainly does what it advertises to do and does it well. That said, it is a tad buggy and could never really replace a dedicated monitor. The Air Display is a bit sluggish and sometimes randomly refreshes both displays. Those two bugs are really the only drawbacks I can see.

As I said, the Air Display is perfect for use with laptops to give you a bit more screen real estate and improve your productivity.

in Apps

DesignScene App Launches Tomorrow

A while back we were asked by the creators of DesignScene if Outlaw Design Blog could be featured in their collection blogs that get aggregated through their app.

We of course said yes.

We are excited to announce that the app will be launching tomorrow. Here is what the creators have to say about the app:

We graphic designers are visual creatures. We get inspired by the world around us—the media we consume, the objects we desire, the designs we wish we had created ourselves. DesignScene is a real-time inspiration app for graphic designers drawing from myriad relevant sources, from art to architecture, illustration to fashion, photography to typography.

The creators of the DesignScene app our also throwing a contest to celebrate the launch of their new iPad app. Prizes include things like iTunes GiftCards, the entire Emashing Magazine eBook Collection, and a subscruption to COmmunication Arts magazine.

All you need to do to enter is send them something that inspires you. Check out the contest link for official rules.

in Apps

Courier Review: File Publishing Made Wicked Fun

I’m not going to lie, I decided to try this web app out just because it looked freakishly amazing as far as interfaces go. If you wantched my video a while back about the importance of good interface design, you probably won’t be surprised. Interface design aside, the app also has a pretty sharp website design. But, if it was done by the same people who designed the app, I would expect no less.

I burned through my free deliveries on this app almost instantly just because it was so fun to use. You know a app is doing something right when people get excited about using it. Job well done RealMac Software. This makes up for how much Little Snapper sucks.

Overview of Courier

Courier is a desktop based app that allows you to publish media to a variety online services in a fun and efficient manner. The application works off of a number of APi’s for many of the popular media sites. Currently the default application supports Flickr, Facebook, Vimeo, YouTube, Amazon S3, EmberFTP/SFTP. They are also constantly adding new services as APi’s are released. As of now, you can also get support for Cloudly and TwitPic.

As I have mentioned several times already, this app is just amazingly fun to use. Better still, it does a great job at what it does. It’s not just a fun app to use that serves little to no real purpose. It is actually a handy little tool to have if you upload a decent amount of media across various websites and services.

Pricing

As with most apps, there is a free trial download. This free trial doesn’t expire after a certain amount of days, but rather after five “deliveries.” Deliveries are what the app calls a start to finish upload. As in, the files have been delivered from your computer to the web via the courier service. All of this play on the postal system will click better once you see how the app works.

If you enjoy the app, it is available for purchase for only US19.95. The checkout form is painless and takes only a minute to fill out, pay, and license your copy.

Home Screen

The Courier homescreen plays off the bookshelf look that has become increasingly popular in many Mac apps, including the Books app for the iPad.

If you have yet to visit the website, this is where you get your first glimpse at why there are so many postal references going on here.

Sharing Files

Despite its un-conventional interface, the Courier app is pretty easy to figure out. You simply drag “stamps” of the services you want to send files to onto the envelope. There is of course some authentication you wil have to setup the first time around.

Once your envelope is created and stamped, you simply drag and drop files into your envelope.

Everything that has happened up to now has be fun, but was nothing really over the top. However, when you hit the “deliver” button is when the real fun begins. Upon clicking the deliver button, a map pops up showing the progress of your upload as well a cool in transit animation of your files moving across the globe.

Final Thoughts

I’m not sure, did I mention how much fun this app was to use? the only thing that bother me here was that I seemed to have some authentication issues where I was force to authenticate every time. Because I have used up all my free deliveries, I can’t say if this is a bug or just the way the app works. Either way, it’s nothing that would be a deal breaker for me.

This app is infinitely more fun than going to all of these websites and manually uploading media. Hands down.

in Apps

Ronin Invoicing App Review

If you have been a long time reader of Outlaw Design Blog, or even a reader of my stuff on GraphicRIver, you may have noticed that I have a thing for apps. I love them. If I had a dime for every demo I have ever downloaded I would be rich. On top of having a fetish for anything with the word “app” in the title, I also like things that help keep me organized. I am lucky enough to have so many clients and paying jobs that it is hard to keep track of all the paid and unpaid invoices. It’s a horrible problem to have, I know.

As a result of the need for a good invoicing system I have downloaded and tried just about every invoicing app out there. From online only programs to desktop apps, I have used them all. While I am a big fan of Freshbooks, a new invoicing app is really starting to grow on me, it is called Ronin.

What I like About Ronin

One thing that immediately impressed me with the Ronin app was the design and layout of the user interface. Not only is it easy and intuitive for me to use, but it is also very client friendly should you give your clients login access. On top of that, the developer is constantly striving to improve both the design and functionality of the application. The design almost seems Apple inspired with its very monotone color scheme and subtle use of icons.

The other nice feature I really appreciate is the “at a glance” feature in the design. At the top of the dashboard and invoice page you get a quick view of important totals, such as YTD payments and invoices sent, hours spent working, and other stats you would want close at hand.

I also really enjoy the well thought out use of Javascript to help make the application run smoother and keep the style and layout as clean as possible.

What the Ronin App Does

The Ronin app has all the basic features you would expect to have in a good invoicing system. For example, the app allows you to send and create invoices, send and create estimates, track time per project, and set up reoccurring payments. Aside from the main functions, the Ronin app also has some other smaller features that make invoicing easy like the ability to setup commonly used products, allowing client access to their invoices, and the ability to add your own logo just to name a few.

As one would expect, the Ronin app has the ability to let you accept online payment methods such as Paypal. In addition to PayPal, Ronin also accepts Authorize.net payments. On that note, I would like to see the ability to accept Google payments as well.

Although I rarely have any use for the time tracking feature, the implementation of the feature on Ronin seems to be very useful and straight forward if you have the need.

I mostly use the invoicing feature of Ronin over the rest of its features. Because many of my jobs and projects use the same “products” time and time again, it is nice that Ronin allows you to create commonly used products. This way I don’t have to manually add the product to every invoice. I can simply select the product from a drop down menu and then it fills out the entire line on the invoice or estimate.

in Apps

Proof HQ Review

Every designer who has ever got comments on a mockup from a client via email knows how unclear those comments can be. Some clients just don’t know how make themselves clear or how to get their point across. While other just tend to have no idea what they are talking about. How many times have you you got a client email that read something like:

Looks great! But we change a few things around that top part? I don’t really like how that thing above all of links looks. Maybe we should move it over by the other links for people to add…blah blah blah….

This is not a paid review and is based on my own experience.

A Note About Concept Share

It is because of too many situations like this that I decided to start trying out some of the online proofing apps out there. I originally started out with Concept Share. I could be wrong, but at the time I don’t think Proof HQ was even around. I had an early bate account with them, so I had been using it since day one. While Concept Share was great for collaboration with other creatives, designers, developers, and other web savvy people; I found that clients found it a bit complicated.

A complicated proofing system for clients is the last thing I needed to reduce headaches. So, after a few failed attempts with clients, I started looking elsewhere and came across Proof HQ.

What I like About Proof HQ

The one thing that really sold me on Proof HQ was how simple it was to use on the client end. As with any new program, there is a slight learning curve for your clients, but all in all its pretty intuitive. Just in case your client needs some hand holding, there is a tutorial/welcome screen that pops up the first time someone signs in that show sthem how the application works. Between this welcome screen and the simple interface most people, clients and designers, can figure out how to use it right away.

What Proof HQ Does

If you have never used a similar online proofing system, you might not be sure what Proof HQ does or what makes it so special. Let me see if I can describe it simply

Proof HQ allows you to upload images and mockups to your Proof HQ account. You can then add login profiles for your clients so that they can see the design. But the app doesn’t stop there. You and your clients can then use the tools to mark up the design with arrows, comments, highlighters, and more.

These tools allow you client to point to “the thing” with an arrow and then use another arrow to point where they want to move it to.

When clients select a potion of the design to comment on, a line from the area they are talking about leads back to the comment box. This allows you to make sure you know what area they are talking about.

Check out some of these screenshots:

Final Thoughts on Proof HQ

Since using Proof HQ I have noticed a decent amount of time saved from having to go back and fourth with clients about what it is they want to change about a certain design. I was worried that the amount of time I would save from using Proof HQ would be spent explaining to clients how to use it, but that hasn’t been the case. A few of my “special” clients have needed some help, but for the most part it has come in pretty handy.