Rock-Your-World Interior Designer iPad Apps
By Jay Johnson
Tablet computing is rocking our world, and it’s beginning to change the way the interior design industry conducts business. Can you remember what life was like “B.O.i.2,” or “Before Our iPad2”?
iPads do everything a regular computer does, but they’ve slyly taken the apps (applications) from the iPhone and built them into their computing workflow. Think of an app as a free or inexpensive piece of software that you can download from the iTunes Store online - and each app allows you to do at least one thing extremely well.
Interior design apps are becoming more and more plentiful, but for our firm, they boil down to the following categories: creativity, management, client tools, and vendors. We haven’t tried all the following apps, but all are on our list to explore further.
Remodelista is filled with daily content, inspiring architecture, DIY projects, and info on remodeling, project planning, and space refreshing.
We use the ArtRage app as a drawing tool. We use a stylus or finger to quickly sketch design details onscreen, add color or softening effects, draw over a photo or blueprint to show suggested changes or additions, and instantly email it to the client.
Look at the many design industry vendor apps that are available. A few examples: match paint colors to photographs you take and create project color palettes with Benjamin Moore’s Color Capture and Sherwin-Williams’ ColorSnap; look up fabrics with Kravet/Lee Jofa’s eDesign Assistant; and reference DuPont Corian and Zodiaq surfaces in mySurface and stone and marble tile and flooring with Lapicida Design-in-Stone.
Keeping things organized is a challenge to the designer. Penultimate is a nifty app to import photos and write notes around them when you’re in a client meeting. Jot down notes, make quick sketches, and organize and store materials like clients’ room photos and measurement dimensions in folders according to project. We hear good things about other note-taking apps, too, and want to explore EverNote, Simplenote, Things, Sundry Notes, Task Pro, and Task Cards. Some of these apps are supposed to help organize project workflow and task management – even giving you warnings about upcoming deadlines.
When you’re in a client meeting, there are a variety of tool apps that will blow everyone away. Try using Flashlight if you need to shine a light behind an armoire to locate a switchplate, look under a sink, and walk a job site that’s without electrical power. Magnifying Glass for iPad helps you blow up the fine print on contracts or look carefully at tiny details like a signature on a signed piece of furniture. Use the iHandy Level app to make sure you’re hanging pictures level or properly shim furniture pieces. Converter for iPad helps you convert all units like area, length, weights, and many more. Photo Measures will take a photo of a wall or details like built-in kitchen cabinets and appliances, and you can draw all measurements and notes on the picture elevation.
Finally, Apple’s Keynote app gives you PowerPoint presentations on steroids! Show your clients a presentation that’s filled with photos, animations, and important talking points on project budgets, specs, schedules, room proposals, and costs. Instead of juggling pieces of paper, give your clients an impressive proposal. They can have a copy of it if you drag the file into Dropbox, a nifty app that lets you share large files with clients and your staff. Put every file you need into Dropbox – from videos and photos to presentations and notes – so you can access them from any computer, mobile phone, or your handy iPad.
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In November 2006, Manhattan-based blogger Jay Johnson and his partner Irwin Weiner ASID applied the popularity of watching videos on the Internet to the house-and-garden arena. The idea for Design2Share was born. On D2S, they share their insight, tips, and strong opinions about how people design and decorate their homes, entertaining over 300,000 visitors a year; their syndicated original videos had over 22 million video views in 2010.
