Every Graphic or Web Designer NEEDS To Have A Smart Phone

In the event that you don’t have your own computer with you or internet access, and you still haven’t manged to print your work, you still have some options for showing your work on the fly. Modern day cellphones can browse the internet and render web sites almost as well as modern day laptops. Imagine that you are in an elevator with someone and you start talking them about your design work, only for them to comment “I’d love to see your work sometime”, why wait? With the right tools you can seize the moment.

If you can afford to pay for a data plan you’re in business, all you have to do is make sure you’ve designed your website to be compliant with mobile devises, or designed a mobile version of your website for showing clients your work on the go.

This may seem like a daunting task, but it is actually easier than you think, some primary concerns you should think about are the file size of images, limiting or avoiding using Javascript and Flash, as well as animated GIF images. Most modern mobile devices do a good job of rendering websites that have a vertical layout. I’ll try to write up a basic tutorial for designing a simple mobile web site a bit later.

Another consideration is that if you are out and about and you see something inspiring like street art, you can grab a quick picture of it right away instead of lamenting over it later. Another great idea for designers using the camera on their phone is to take pictures of textures they come across in real life and bring them into Photoshop later, the same for custom brush material and swatches based on colors in nature.

Finally, smart phones can help you be productive about Social Networking. When waiting in a line, the bus, train or elevator is the perfect time to get little things like “tweeting” out of the way, without distracting you from something more important. You can also go ahead check or update you facebook and myspace status while your at it. I think this is the best way to get a handle on the addiction of Social Networking, during time that would be otherwise wasted. It just means that when you get home or back to office you don’t have to feel compelled you log in and see whats going on. Once this becomes a habit you will probably find yourself waiting till your on a bus or an elevator to see what people are “tweeting away about”

Now personally I use the Samsung Gravity I did a graphic for above. I love this phone, since before having it I had a phone from the stone age! It has all the features I need and is convenient to use, and I got it without a contract with an affordable unlimited data plan through T Mobile. Now what I will say about it is that I can’t get it to let me watch videos on Youtube. I’m looking into a work around for this, but it is just as well as I could see myself killing precious time and batter power if it did! This phone at the time was the best I could get for my money to suit my purposes and I’m fairly happy with it.

Features You Should Look For In Your Phone:
Bluetooth Capability
Internet Access
1.3 or Better Mexapixel Camera
Expandable Memory Slot
IM and Email Notification

The Best Smart Phones for Designers, in no particular order: (Feel free to suggest a phone for this list!)

IPhone
BlackBerry
Motorolla MOTO Q
Palm Pre
Palm Trio
Sidekick
Samsung Gravity
Samsung Omnia