As designers, advertisers or marketers we essentially have tools at our disposal that we use to get the job done.  Tools like Photoshop or Illustrator are key for designers, while some marketers see Excel or Google Analytics as a tool for them. Not unlike the past when painters and sculptures used brushes and chisels, we too today rely on a great many tools to help us get the job done.  Some artists back in the old days had secret items they would use to give there piece of art or item a special look or even function.  Take for example my old Sculpture classmate in college. We both would build our models in wax and styrofoam before casting them in metal. And like most models the more detail you can attain early on before you casts the metal the less grinding and welding you would be doing later. This is where my friend would blow everyone away.  He built an heat adjustable soldering iron and wire cutter out of a screw driver, a car battery, an avocado, and a bunch of other McGuyverism he found. This enabled him to create specific detail using controled heat at the end of a metal rod or wire to carve or texture.  I on the other hand had to find other ways to create detail or use his when he wasn’t looking.

I find that we all have our special tools that we use to get the style or look we call our own.  Some designers have specialty photoshop brushes. While others create their own font for a special type treatment. I find that the tools that us advertisers use are even more vast today than ever before.

With the rise of Social Media into mainstream. Its shown itself as a proven way to reach a certain audience. You can’t deny thats it’s become a way for us in advertising to reach people and even craft our creative in a different way than before. Claiming social media is as useful of a tool as Photoshop in creation might be a stretch, but when you look at Twitter and the power of 140 characters has on mass amounts of people. It’s hard to say it’s not a powerful device to build from.

Here at Fusioncorp Design we are always thinking of what new or special tool we can use for every project that comes our way. We like to keep leaving our mark on the world as the past artists have left for us. So next time you look at creative work…whether its a print ad or web site… think for a moment about the people and the unique tools they used to create something that caught your eyes or spoke to your mind.

Share with us you special tool of the trade! We promise not to steal them… not without your permission of course.

Drew Lewis