There are a few tools that you’ll find in any professional web designer’s arsenal that enable them to produce the project deliverables. Whether is creating website design mockups, prototypes or the finished article there is a specific tool (or set of tools) to produce said deliverable.
Pen and paper
As more and more work is done digitally, the humble pen and paper is often overlooked but it’s a great idea to start any design project on the white stuff. Pen and paper allow designers to quickly draw ideas out without fussing over tools within a computer application. They are also great tools to use casually in a meeting and to kick off the wireframing process.
Image editing software
There are a number of companies that develop software made to edit and create images such as website design mockups, icons or graphics. The most popular software house for these applications is Adobe. They have a huge range of software and they are certainly the leader in this market. Adobe create the world renowned Photoshop application which is popular for web designers. Their lesser known products Illustrator and Fireworks are also favourites amongst the designer community. Illustrator allows designers to create vector images and Fireworks is an application aimed specifically at those who design websites.
Browsers
Whether it’s Chrome, Safari, Internet Explorer or Opera the browser is a fundamental tool for web designers to be able to see how their designs look and function in their intended environment.
Code editor
Any web designer worth their fee should be at least able to port their website design to static website. For this they’ll need to know HTML and CSS and feel comfortable using a code editor. Popular code editors include VIM, Sublime Text and TextMate although a website can even be created using Notepad.
