10 Useful Apps for Organising Your Work Day

Whenever you get busy at work, things can pile up. When that happens, important tasks can fall through the cracks. But it can feel counterproductive to take time out of a hectic day to plan out the things you need to do. Luckily, there are plenty of apps out there to help you organize your tasks and manage your time quickly. With a little bit of planning, you will be able to tackle all that work and even have some time left over for a cup of tea.

Timebox

Timeboxing, also known as the Pomodoro Technique, is a time management system where you set aside a certain amount of time to focus on work, then reward yourself with a break. The Timebox app helps you implement by tracking your time. Once you've completed 25 minutes of work, it lets you take a five minute break. After doing that four times, you are rewarded with a 15-20 minute break.

 Because tasks are broken down into manageable chunks of time, you can focus on getting on with one section, rather than worrying about how much is left to do. You also keep yourself fresh and energised, so you can work more productively throughout the day.

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Toodledo

Toodledo is a to-do list application, but it is much more than that. It allows you to create a workspace where you can invite others to manage the workflow of a project. You can categorise, edit and prioritise tasks. You can also see what other people are doing and amend their to-do lists to delegate projects more easily.

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Google Calendar

Google Calendar is one of the easiest, best organisational tools out there. You can connect to it from anywhere, and you can easily pop in appointments, share your calendar and see other people's schedules. That way, you can see when everyone has a free time, and Google Calendars will let them know – and remind them via email – that you want to meet.

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Mozilla Sunbird

If you use lots of calendars, you may prefer using Mozilla Sunbird. It is one more calendar app, but it will let you import other calendars and export your Sunbird calendar, so your whole schedule will always be in one place, no matter where or how you update it. Having one calendar that syncs with everything is a great way to stay on top of your many tasks and demands.

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Gleeo Time Tracker

When time management experts consult, they start by reviewing existing time management behaviours. You can do this to yourself with the Gleeo Time Tracker. It is optimised for touch screen devices, and it allows you to track your time with practically no effort. You can even switch between projects quickly and easily, so you don't have to waste a lot of time or mental energy to ensure you can track your time accurately. Once you've done this for a few weeks, you can audit your time management, then you can improve your habits.

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Wunderlist

Wunderlist is a list app that can be used with all smartphones and Mac, Windows and Linux operating systems. You can enter tasks in via the desktop, mobile or online apps, and Wunderlist will update your lists across all platforms. It keeps you organized no matter where you are or which device you're using.

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Evernote

Evernote is the best place to jot down any notes or thoughts you might have. You can type in a thought, save a doodle or keep an audio note. This note-saving app helps you manage your time because you don't need dig through slips of paper, notebooks, sticky notes or try to remember that great idea off the top of your head. You just need to jot it down in Evernote, let it sync across your devices, then retrieve it whenever you want it.

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Priorities

Priorities allows you to set tasks like most to-do lists. Unlike other task apps, it allows you to break tasks into smaller items. From a time management point of view, this allows you to separate a project's tasks into step-by-step elements, which allows you to focus on small accomplishments. This in turn makes you feel encouraged because you can easily see how much you really are getting done.

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Remember the Milk

Remember the Milk is one of the most well-known list apps out there. That is because not only is it as functional as any other to-do app, but it also lets you add tasks and appointments wherever you are. Of course, plenty of other apps sync across devices, but Remember the Milk is the only one that lets you add a task whilst you are doing something else entirely. You can tell it to add a task by sending an email, clicking on a bookmarklet, tweeting or through Siri. By not interrupting yourself, you stay on task and keep yourself organized.

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Todoist

As functional as all the list apps above are, they can have so many bells and whistles that you feel overwhelmed. If you just want a simple list app that can be accessed across all your devices, Todoist is perfect. Once you get used to the straightforward, simple layout, you can start digging into the really impressive features. You can set up projects, break those down into tasks and then break the tasks into steps. Each of those can be assigned a deadline, which will allow Todoist to help you prioritise. If you want more features, like email reminders and syncing with your calendar, you have to pay $29 a month.

About the AuthorThis is a guest post contributed by Juleit Pena on behalf of printerinks.com and printerinks reviews centre. Julie works in marketing and has a passion for design and art.

Infographic: The Color Blue

Whether we realize it or not, colors have an impact on our lives. As a rule we are intuitively looking for colors we need. When you wake up in the morning and feel really tired, you may not realize it but you'll definitely put on clothes of warm and vivid colors like: orange, yellow or red. People with fine mental organization choose colors more accurately. Usually these are women; because men are more reserved with social limitations and often suppress their need to put on clothes of a desired color. The colors are divided into basics: red, blue and green, and additional ones – yellow, orange and purple. In this blog post we are going to speak about the blue color. From a psychological point of view blue brings a sense of peace and infinity; thus, it helps people relax. There are many shades of blue. The deeper, the darker blue becomes the more it calls for endless, wakes hunger for purity and super sensibility. Extremely dark blue gives an element of peace. Carried to the limits of black – finds overtone of sadness. Becoming, by contrast, lighter it becomes more distant and indifferent, as the blue sky. The lighter it's, the more silent it becomes, until it comes to a complete silence becoming white. These are the most essential psychological nuances of the color blue. Each UI designer needs to know these basics when creating websites since the more attractive web pages you build, the better user response will be. And even if many articles have already been written about the use of color and user interface design, there are still some interesting resources that are worth your attention. While surfing around the web I came across one interesting interactive infographic dedicated to the use of Blue in web design. This Infographic will give you all necessary information about the color blue and everything that comes with it. Now let's speak about what's inside: examples of websites that use blue as their "alpha color", the power of blue color in branding, 55 shades of blue, popular mixes of blue with other colors, gender preferences and cultural meanings of blue – this knowledge will definitely help you make the right choice and build a stylish and attractive website. What you see on a screenshot is just a tip of the iceberg, please follow this link to get deeper into the essence of blue web design.

About the Author

Alex Bulat is a Blog Columnist working for TemplateMonster. What he likes most is writing inspirational and "How to" articles. Find Alex Bulat on Google+.

4 Famous Brand Wars: How it made the World a Better and Interesting Place

With the release of the much awaited iPhone 5, Samsung being one of Apple’s fiercest rival came out with a full page ad in New York times yesterday. Samsung gave a vicious swipe at Apple by claiming that the Samsung Galaxy SIII is way better than the fruity one’s latest offering and that it doesn’t take a genius to know that Samsung was first to release a revolutionary phone.

via: @infamousguy6

This latest swipe on Apple’s iPhone 5 is a classic example of Direct Comparison Ads. By the name itself Direct Comparison Ads employs witty and sometime vicious tactics to undermine a competing product or service.  This is also to sway the current patrons of the competing product to change their views as well as to influence the views of potential clients.
Not only did these kinds of adverts spark public interest and commentary but it also helped to push both competing brands to innovate and to come up with something new and better to topple the competition. With that said, we here in YTD would like to showcase for you guys some of the most creative and outrageous Direct Comparison Ads that not only shook and entertained but influenced the world as we know it.

Coca-Cola vs. Pepsi

Either you are too young or you are living under the rock for the past century if you don’t know a thing or two about the fizzy war between Coke and Pepsi.

One of the most famous Pepsi advert back then was this one:

Pepsi Godfather

The war between the two soft-drink giants started with the Pepsi Challenge back in the 70s, where people are asked to take a sip and decide which is a better cola between Coke and Pepsi.  Of course being a Pepsi Challenge, Pepsi declared themselves as the winner since people back then want their soft drinks to be sweeter. Coca-Cola on the other hand came back with a subtle if not non-direct attack to Pepsi with the launch of “Coke” which boasts that it tastes better than before but this was sadly halted since people preferred the original taste of Coca-Cola.

While Pepsi seems to always make fun of Coca-Cola, Coca-Cola never really tried to attack Pepsi in a direct manner but instead the company chose to improve their products and go for the emotional approach rather than fight Pepsi in its terms.

Coca-Cola Mean Joe Green

Up to now no one really knows who is the better soda maker, but one thing is for sure both Coca-Cola and Pepsi will sure quench that thirst.

Billboard War Between BMW & Audi

Things are much more interesting in the automobile world. Car companies such as BMW, Audi, Mercedes and the likes have been seen trying to out-stage each other. Whether in billboards or in magazines these car magnates produced some of the most creative and hilarious one line taunts against the competing companies. One of the most famous battles was between Audi and BMW which all started in a simple billboard in Los Angeles C.A.

It all started with this innocent ad and was later changed into…

and BMW’s response was…

Audi turned onto its fan-base in Facebook and asked its fans to come up with a witty comeback to answer BMW’s counter. The fan’s responses were amusing at its best. Some of the hilarious counters-punches are:

and

Just when everyone taught that the war is over Audi gave the eager followers of the billboard war a new piece to talk about:

but as soon as Audi’s latest rebuttal came out BMW was quick to respond with something mightier than a billboard and as it turns out BMW tied a blimp  to Audi’s billboard.

 

 Most think that this billboard war is one of the most exciting if not outrageous things that has ever happened in the world of advertising, while there are other people who think that both campaigns are childish but it will not deny the fact that both BMW and Audi had a significant increase in sales thanks to this interesting match of machines.

Mac vs. PC

Even before the world famous Get a Mac advert series came out, Mac and PC (in this case  IBM) is already dishing out serious attacks on a white background on why should you chose a PC or a Mac.
On the first half of the video IBM claims that it can churn information way better, while Mac attacks IBM with the premise that Mac is easy to use since you don’t have to go through binders of instruction.  Fast forward to modern times when Apple produced the hit TV spot Get a Mac campaign which gave the Windows a serious run for its money. The 66 TV spots ran for four years and has been highly lauded as one of the most funny if not creative TV spot that came out.
Of course Windows does not want to go down without a fight and it came out with the Laptop Hunters series.

Mac and PC still continues to one-up each other but it seems that Apple’ is being targeted by several companies other than Windows to topple Apple’s current market standing. Such companies like Samsung and Google’s Android OS (vs iOS). Passionate fans of  both sides continue to try and prove their supremacy over the other in forums and youtube comments.

Avis vs. Hertz

Considered as one of the classic examples of Direct Comparison Ads is the Avis vs. Hertz campaign. Going back in 1962 Hertz is the undisputed car rental service of America while Avis was slowly sinking down the mire of financial ruin since they only have 11% of the market share, and add to the fact that they hadn’t made a profit in 13 years.  Bill Bernbach was given the task to create an ad that not only will save Avis but will also put it in a steadier footing. Bernbach enlisted art director Helmut Krone and writer Paula Green in the project and what they did was simple. They told everyone the truth.  Avis admitted that Hertz was the no. 1 in  the car rental industry but Avis say that they always try harder.

Not only did Avis told the truth but it also made Hertz look complacent, indifferent and a big mean corporate giant which aid Avis to have a steadier foot hold in the industry.  After the launch of the infamous “We try harder” campaign Avis’ market share increased by 35%  and it got them into the minds of the consumer as a hard-working and earnest company.

 The Avis vs. Hertz campaign only proves that sometimes being brutally honest is enough to drive a point home and  also to change people’s minds when it comes to service.

No one is really the clear winner but which ever side you choose there is only one thing for sure, without this competition between brands. Humanity would be stagnant in developing newer and better products that will make our lives easier and interesting. The very same thing goes for design, as designers we should always try our very best to innovate and make interesting things whether it is a simple poster or a business card.

Logo Design Inspiration for Moon concept

Today i am sharing some inspired logo design in moon concept. It must be helpful for everyone to see the different approch of designers. Please share with your friends to reach all the designers.

Amazing “Fluid Animals” 2013 Calendar by Ben O’Brien

Calendars are probably one of the most popular print products when the year is about to end. Having a nice and unique calendar companion for the following year whether at home or office is a simple wish for everyone. So to help you out in your search for the most uniquely designed 2013 calendars out there, I bring you one amazing calendar project created by an extremely talented artist from UK – Ben O’Brien.
Popularly known as “Ben The Illustrator“, Ben O’Brien has been making various contributions in the design world with his many projects for a wide stretch of clients including BBC, Honda, The New York Times, Nickelodeon, Pixar and much more! One of his recent project which caught my attention over his Behance page is the set of amazing animal illustrations compiled in a calendar. It is called the “Fluid Animals” 2013 Calendar which features simple, smooth and transparent illustrations of different animals which is truly one of its kind.

The illustrations which came by after playing around his sketchbook with a simple drawing style, has a distinct feel and look with the presence of simple shapes and curves giving life and character to each of the animals.
You The Designer is very fortunate to be given the opportunity to ask Ben few questions regarding this amazing project. Check out the short interview below:

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YTD: Why and how did you come up with the name “Fluid Animals” for this project?

BEN: I actually have to thank a couple of friends for this.  When I started producing these illustrations I was doing them fairly quickly, for enjoyment, before starting a day’s work.  I started calling them ‘quick illustrations’, but my friend Chris Thornton said that using the word ‘quick’ felt a bit throwaway, but then another friend Jon Woodward suggested the word ‘fluid’ seemed to fit everything I was doing, and that stuck, Fluid Animals.

YTD: The illustration style is so unique. How did you develop this kind of style?

BEN: Through experimentation and play!  I had been doing a lot of quick animal sketches in my sketchbook, and started to try and simplify the animals to as few shapes as possible.  I tried to vector a few of them in Illustrator, and considered that by having each shape as semi-transparent, then you can add extra shapes and lines very simply.  It all developed from there.  I do them all on a black background because the transparencies can get a real glow off the dark background.

YTD: Can you share us the creative process behind these illustrations? From where did you start?

BEN: It really is very simple, I always start with a pencil drawing, not a rough sketch, but a finished drawing, then I scan it and trace it in Illustrator, then it’s just the simple process of choosing colors and getting those transparent effects perfect.

YTD: Aside from the calendar, are there any other products created using these amazing animal illustrations?

BEN: Yes!  I have a set of Christmas cards featuring some robins in this same style, and there are 3 sets of postcards, with 8 cards in each.  Each set is based on a theme, Earth, Air and Water.  I’m aiming to produce more products in 2013.

Christmas cards set featuring illustrations of robins.

“Earth” Fluid Animals postcards set

“Water” Fluid Animals postcards set

“Air” Fluid Animals postcards set

YTD: Which among the animal illustrations is your most favorite?

BEN: Oh that’s a tricky question, perhaps the Orca Whale, I adore these creatures, they are so perfectly designed, I am very proud of the Orca I illustrated, I think it suits the style brilliantly.

YTD: Where can we grab a copy of this wonderful 2013 calendar and the other products?

BEN: The calendar, Christmas cards and postcard sets are all available from www.FluidAnimals.com, shipping worldwide!

There you have it folks! Isn’t it an amazing project? Check out more amazing works from Ben The Illustrator in his official website and Behance page.