A list of 7 Apps that will help you improve your creative skills and expand your knowledge of design while maintaining a professional view.
 

Being up to date with brand new disciplines can be exhausting if you are working as a creative professional, and lack the time and energy to dig into the wide variety of options available on the internet.
However, no matter how much you read online, the development of apps for Iphone and Ipad brings a whole new world of innovation to simplify and speed up the creative process just at your hand.

These apps amongst many others that we didn't include in this case, will help you enrich your experience of web design, while having fun creating and interacting with new platforms.

#1 "The Typography Manual"
This app is available for Iphone and it's of great help to learn the fundamentals of typography in short bursts. You will find instructional content on how to properly set text to kerning and grids, as well as the history of type. The Typography Manual's platform has some handy interactive features, including visual type anatomy glossary, a font size ruler and an em Calculator.

#2 "Code School"
A very popular app to learn code through instructional video, that's available for Iphone, Ipad and web browser. This app gives you access to more than 50 courses and over 200 screencasts on topics like Ruby, JavaScript, HTML/CSS, Phyton, IOS, Git and databases. The app includes some free taster videos, but you have to pay for the courses and you have the possibility to download the videos for offline viewing.

#3 Manga University 101
This app was created by the Japanese publisher of the bestselling "How to Draw Manga" series of books and it's a guide to learn Asian style comics. You will find free drawing tutorials for beginners and be able to actively interact by drawing on the screen. As a support it gives you access to Manga University Books via IBooks, and a series of video tutorials on Youtube. The app is available for IPhone, IPad and Android.

#4 "Blendoku 2"
Learn colour theory with Blendoku 2, an app that's available for IPhone, IPad and Android for free. It has 500 levels of puzzle games that will help you improve your ability to pick good colour combinations based on the colour principles.

#5 "The Great Photo App"
Learn the Foundations of Photography with this dynamic app that's available for IPhone and IPad. With The Great Photo App you will learn by doing and gaming while keeping progress. The techniques comprehended include such fundamentals as exposure, aperture, shutter, speed, image noise, white balance and depth of field.

#6 "LetterMPress"
This singular IPad app enables you to design letterpress within a virtual environment as if you were using vintage wood type and art cuts. Every step in the printing process is replicated, to give you an experience that's as close to the real thing as possible; from placing and arranging type on the press bed to inking and turning the hand crank to make a print.

#7 "Typography Insight"
This is a typography teaching tool focussed on the difference between typefaces and how to combine them. The app is available for IPhone and IPad. Among it's main features are "Juxtaposing Comparison" and "Overlaying Comparison" that help you understand the subtle differences betwe

That's right! Pinterest isn't just for wedding planning and DIY tutorials anymore. Companies are using the free online pinboard to build traffic to their websites and drive sales. Below are some tips on how you can use a Pinterest business page for your own business.

So What Can You Do to Create an Effective Pinterest Business Page?

Pictures are deal makers and deal breakers

Pinterest is all about using eye-catching images to get users to click on and re-pin your pins. Don't be vague and post a simple picture. Make it attractive and interesting! The old saying goes, "a picture is worth a thousand words. Make them count! Use high quality, interesting pictures that display your products or services. If your picture isn't clear about what your product is, add text to it! You want to make it eye-catching and memorable.

Create engaging and organized boards

People are most likely going to repin your pins if they are interesting, relevant, and perhaps most importantly, organized. Users don't want to endlessly search for things that interest them; they want it to be easy to find what they're looking for (think of how disastrous Google would be if every time you searched for flowers, you'd have to go through 3 pages of trees first).

Clearly titled boards with a detailed description will not only help Pinterest users find what they're looking for, but they also help to spike interest in your Pinterest business page.

Appeal to what your target wants

As of 2015, approximately 81% of Pinterest users are female and 19% male. Tweak your pins so that they engage women, to get shared quicker. This is not to say you can't tailor your pins for men, but know your audience, and whom you want to appeal to. Women definitely outnumber men on Pinterest, and so if you want your Pinterest business page to be effective, you should be creating boards with women in mind.

According to Pinterest, 93% of Pinners shopped online in the past 6 months, 93% of Pinners use Pinterest to plan purchases, and 96% use Pinterest to gather product information. Pinterest users are heavily into online shopping, so ensure your products are tagged/pinned on Pinterest, and each pins has current, relevant information, and links back to your website.

Check out more interesting Pinterest statistics on this infographic!

Pinterest's most pinned categories are Food & Drink, DIY & Crafts, Home Décor, and Holidays & Events. Pins in these categories get re-pinned more often, so use that to your business's advantage. If it makes sense, make your service or product relate to these categories. i.e. If you have a retail product you think would make a great gift, it can be pinned to Holidays & Events with the right caption! Your pins will be more likely travel further on Pinterest because they're in categories where more people pin.

Pinterest users trust brands more than reputable people

Statistics show that 83% of active Pinterest users prefer to follow a brand than a notable celebrity, 73% of active users prefer to follow a beauty brand than a notable makeup artist, and 70% of active users prefer to follow a hair care brand rather than a notable hair stylist.
Use these stats to your advantage as there are a high percentage of people who would prefer to hear from brand than a person on this social media platform! Get your brand out there!

Ensure all pins have working links

There's not much more disappointing than finding an amazing product you need in your life, only to discover there's no link to give you details about it. Make sure all your pins have links that work properly, to ensure no one will get that dreaded "404 link not found" page. On a similar note, don't forget to add a call to action on every pin that relates to the product or service, and encourages pinners to come to your website to buy or learn about the product.

Stay involved and engaged in your Pinterest business account

Invest time into your Pinterest business account. Don't just pin your products and services, but re-pin other relevant pins and "like" and re-pin pins from users who follow your Pinterest business page.

This will help to make your followers (and potential customers) feel connected to your business. Consider creating a guest pinner board where anyone can add pins or repin to your account. If you do this, make sure to keep it monitored, or set it up so you have to invite user to avoid any issues.

Just like the colours of rooms in our homes or offices, website colours evoke emotions and feelings. Your website colours schemes should reflect what your business does, who your target audience is, and what emotions you want your customers to feel and associate with your brand.
Below we briefly explain the importance of colours on your website and what they mean.

Colours And Meanings On Websites: Warm Website Colours

Warm website colour schemes include red, orange, and yellow.

Red on a website usually signifies something of high importance, but it's often associated with danger, passion or excitement. We suggest not using red on your website unless something is incorrect, for example, if your client is filling out a form and missed an important area.

Orange, on the other hand, is energetic, healthy, and friendly; however, orange is often seen as young or immature, so unless your business involves children or it's an important colour to your brand, avoid using this colour too often.

Yellow is also energetic and happy, but unfortunately yellow is sometimes hard to see on screens. It's a very bright colour, which can be hard on your customer's eyes. Yellow, like red, is used to signify importance (think a yellow highlighter), so we suggest using is sparingly and only in small sections.

Colours And Meanings On Websites: Cool Website Colours

Cool website colour schemes involve green, blue, and purple, which are common website colours, for good reason.

Green represents wealth and nature, so businesses involved with finance, like banks and loan companies, or food stores that want to emphasize health and nutrition, almost always incorporate green into their websites.

Blue evokes calm and trustworthy feelings and is extremely easy on the eyes, which is why popular social media sites like Facebook and Twitter choose blue for most sections of their websites and branding. It's also associated with professionalism and reliability.

Purple represents wealth and luxury, but also creativity and spirituality, so it can be used for many different types of business. That being said, purple can sometimes looks harsh and intimidating, so be sure to find the perfect shade to represent your business.

Colours And Meanings On Websites: Neutral Website Colours

The final website colour schemes involve neutral colours. Neutral colours are often used in the background of websites while warm and cool colours are the focus, but they still mean different things.

Black represents things like modernity, trendiness, and sophistication. While fashion designers may claim this or that colour is the 'new black,' it's unlikely black will ever go out of style on your website. Making text on your website black is a classic, easy to read choice you can't go wrong with. Just beware of inverted site that use black as the main page colour, and light coloured text. This is hard on visitors' eyes.

Grey is often associated with a high level of neutrality and professionalism. It's a very non-intimidating colour. However, it can also seem boring or bland, so be sure to select other, brighter accent colours to complement a grey website.

White is associated with cleanliness, so hospitals, dental offices, and businesses of similar nature often use white as a primary colour for their website and branding. However, white space is a must on most websites in any industry. It inspires a fresh, modern feeling that makes customers think your business is cutting-edge and innovative.

Brown reflects warmth and comfortable and is highly associated with trades such as carpentry or construction.

So, how does this help your business?

By utilizing the five Google Analytics reports listed below, you are able to track and analyze digital data, boost your ROI on digital channels, and gain a better understand of how your customers interact with you online.

1. Top Traffic Channels

Google Analytics provides you with 5 default channel groupings in your reporting. The channels are: Organic, Paid, Direct, Referral, and Social. When you identify the quality of traffic from these channels, you can effectively determine where your marketing efforts and budget should be placed.
If your paid search campaign has a high bounce rate, this is an indication that traffic coming from paid search is not being directed to pages that are relevant to their search query and/or the ad they clicked on. Similarly, if your social media traffic has a low bounce rate, users are viewing lots of pages on the site, and converting, this suggests that more effort should be put into growing your social presence and driving that traffic back to the website.

2. Popular Landing Pages

Google Analytics identifies what pages are the most popular on your website. More likely than not, your home page will be number one. However, your top ten pages with the most visits can give you insights into what products or services your customers are most interested in. With this information, you can begin to highlight these pages on the website, and make it easier for clients and potential clients to find what they are looking for.

3. Goals and Conversions

Goal tracking is one of the most important tools on Google Analytics. By setting up goal tracking on your shopping cart, contact form, or applications, you can track, not only how many people are completing your goals, but also what digital marketing channel led to the conversion.
Goal tracking is crucial for the evolution of your strategy. It is important to analyze, review and track every aspect of your digital marketing strategy in order to effectively determine where your marketing dollars and efforts should be placed.

4. Keyword Traffic

Google Analytics provides keyword traffic data for organic and paid search traffic. It is crucial to have Google Search Console (recently renamed from Google Webmaster Tools) installed on your website in order to get the full scope of keywords being used to find your website.

When you access your organic keyword traffic and search queries, you are able to determine two things:

1.. The top organic keywords that are driving traffic to your website
2. The top keywords that result in your website showing up on the search engine results page.

With this information, you can fine-tune your SEO strategy to target these keywords more aggressively, and drive more traffic back to your website.

5. Device Traffic

Another essential report on Google Analytics is the Device Traffic Overview report. This report details whether your customers are access your website through desktops, mobile phones, or tablets. In addition, you can gage the user engagement on each device by looking at the bounce rate, time on site, and pages/session.