Now here’s a little something for all you Fashion Designers out there…
Most designers have heard of Photoshop and Illustrator, but I have discovered that few are aware of any other nifty applications available, that not only have a fit for fashion but are also either cheap as chips or better still, free. Admittedly, many of these tools are originally aimed at the graphic design world, but as tools I have been working with, for in some cases years, I have found them incredibly useful for the fashion world too. For the past few months I have been sharing these with Fashion Designers I’ve met on my travels and all have been pleased as punch with them, so for your viewing pleasure only, here are my top picks….Enjoy!
SnagIt
SnagIt and I have been bosom buddies for many years now and it’s a friend I wouldn’t be without. SnagIt it’s a simple application for capturing any part of your screen and saving it as an image file.
Key features:
- Can capture whole screen or just a part of the screen by dragging a box over area you want
- If you can’t fit it on the page, SnagIt auto-scrolls capturing everything in the window
- Can edit any image you capture, resizing and adding annotation such as text and arrows
- Can send captured images by email, IM or Skype with the click of a button
Why it’s useful for fashion designers…
So you’re browsing a website with the latest catwalk images, or on WGSN and just want a single image, part of an image or a selection of images. With SnagIt you no longer have to print screen then crop out the piece you want in Photoshop, or have to right click on every single image you want on a page. And if you don’t have/use Photoshop, not only will SnagIt capture any part of the screen you want, you can also annotate the captured image instantly then save/print an image to add to a mood board.
http://www.techsmith.com/screen-capture.asp
Price: Free trial / £37.95 / $49.95
Pixie
Pixie is a dinky little app whose usefulness far exceeds its size. Incredibly quick and simple to use, Pixie will tell you the RGB/CMYK/HTML/HSV reference of any colour you hover your mouse pointer over.
Why it’s useful for fashion designers…
Ever seen a perfect colour combination in a picture and want to know what the colours are so you can recreate them in your favourite art applications? Well Pixie’s your man. Yes you could screen grab and launch Photoshop to extract the colour information but this is somewhat longwinded and not even an option for those not using Photoshop.
http://www.nattyware.com/pixie.php
Price: Free
Adobe Kuler
Adobe Kuler is an online application for creating and sharing colour themes. With an online community that has created thousands of complimentary colour themes, it’s a fantastic resource for colour inspiration.
Key Features:
- Experiment quickly with colour variations and browse thousands of themes from the Kuler community
- Save/view your own colour themes
- Integrated into the Adobe Creative Suite (incl. Photoshop and Illustrator)
- Create colour themes around a base colour
- Create palettes with colour rules, i.e. complimentary, shades
- Numeric values for the HSB, RGB, CMYK, LAB, or HEX colour models
Why it’s useful for fashion designers….
Great for experimenting with colour for either collections or even make-up and styling ideas. The colour rules are great for finding colours that work well together and the access to other user’s themes provide excellent inspiration. Again this is great for those that don’t have access to or work with the behemoth art applications.
Price: Free
She has a detailed understanding of the apparel product development process and the supporting systems including PLM, PDM, CAD and 3D garment design.