Author: Todd Austin

Being a designer, running my own design studio, I find that I am increasingly turning to the web to help me run my business. There are, it seems, eleventy billion web based applications out that do just about everything. From billing, to banking, to collaboration on projects, to even online office productivity.

I’ve made a list of the top online applications I use on a daily basis. Which ones do you use? I know with the multitude of applications out there, I must be missing some. If so, what are they, and what are their pros and cons?

1. Basecamp – Basecamp is a web-based tool that lets you manage and track projects (or simply ideas) and quickly create client/project extranets.


2. Concept Share – ConceptShare allows you to easily share designs inside Workspaces that contain designs related to a certain topic or project. It’s easy to invite people into a workspace. Invite team members, managers, clients, and consultants to add and reply to comments, chat and markup designs.

3. DropSend – Email large files easily and securely. This comes in handy for sending large print designs over the web. Have you ever tried to send a 300mb file to someone?

4. Picnik – online photo editor. Edit photos online from your browser. I tend to use this if I am away from my office to edit photos. My wife uses it quite often and loves it.

5. Kuler – Adobe’s online color scheme generator

6. BlinkSale – The easiest way to send invoices online. I do send invoices straight from PayPal from time to time, for certain clients.

7. Google Apps – Google’s “powerful communication and collaboration tools for your organization”. I use gmail and Google Docs the most out of their suite of applications.