Mind Maps for design workflow

I have recently discovered this invaluable piece of software by Edrawsoft called mind map.
This outstanding piece of software allws the user to create mind maps which are in their simplest form a graphical expression of a thought process.
This is particulaly useful when brainstorming with clients and also for explaining how a work process flows and the stages which must be put in place.
One of the main strengths of this bit of software is that data can easily be moved around as ideas change and blocks can be assigned different shapes or colours according to their priority.
I have used mind map a lot since i discovered it and it is very effective for outlining stratergies and decision processes to clients.
Whats more it is absolutly free. Go ahead and try it and feel free to give me your feedback.

Using colour schemes

As designers we all use colour on a daily basis and we often take it for granted that we can choose the perfect colour scheme.
What happens when a creative block occures? or when we cant find that ideal pallette?
Well there is help at hand.
Firstly there is office slayer an online offering that helps us to choose an ideal pallette from a base colour we can define. We choose a hex value for our base colour and office slayer presents a colour pallette based around this selection.
It will create 10 shades of the base colour at varying shades of opacity. The top row emulates opacity over a white background, the bottom over black (or colors of your choosing as of v1.4). The opacity values are 100% opaque, 75%, 50%, 25% and 10% on the top row. The bottom row begins at 85% rather than 100% and continues on as the first.

If you require somethin a little more sophisticated then there is Adobe Kuler pronounced colour this is also a free online application for selecting colour pallettes. However Adobe has a huge range of pre ordered pallettes for us to choose from we can also search for particular pallettes by tag or even upload a picture to act as the basis for our colour pallette.
Adobe Kuler is without doubt a fantastic resource as it also has a forum with many helpful members and an ever growing community of like minded members.

Fantastic file sharing

Sorry for my recent absence I have had many domestic duties to perform. However I am now back and hoping to be posting every week.

I have just been sent a link to a new piece of software called Get Dropbox whilst still in it's beta stage it is available for sign up.

Get dropbox is a free application which allows the user to place files in a particular folder and be able to retrieve theses files from a remote login via a web browser. Not only this but it also allows you to share files either with others subscribed to dropbox and assigned shareing privilages by you or by sending out a link to particular files within get drop box.
I thouroughly recomend this bit of kit so head over to Get dropbox for their tour and sign up today.