Fresh

Part of being a designer for “new media” means constantly exploring new tools and techniques to get the job done. Right now I’m geeking out on LittleSnapper, a sweet little app from RealMac software. It’s not really a new tool, but it’s found it’s way into my workflow quite nicely. It’s essentially a screenshot powerhouse, giving you the ability to capture anything you see on your screen and save it in a beautiful gallery interface for reference later. It uses a system of tags and categories to help organize, and with it’s built-in browser, it can make documenting a website a snap (no pun intended) for things like training guides and case studies.

LittleSnapper from RealMac software

The other super convenient feature is the ability to mark up captures within the program with their easy set of tools, which makes this a great tool for designers that need to communicate something visual to others on their team.

LittleSnapper's markup tools are a big help

Recently I’ve gone back and forth between Evernote and LittleSnapper for a few reasons. Evernote, as you may know, is a KILLER app that uses OCR type technology to automatically make things you capture searchable. This can be used for web and email captures as well, but Evernotes ability in this realm is really lacking from my experience, because it can’t keep all the CSS styles and such to keep it looking beautiful. Web and email captures look disabled at best and massacred at worst. Although LittleSnapper isn’t as powerful with searching with OCR, it keeps the capture in it’s pristine state by turning it into an image. This is perfect for a designer, since I need to reference all the little details.

Ember web client for LittleSnapper

RealMac software also just released Ember, the web-based partner to Little Snapper, which allows you to view galleries of your snapshots and share them with others in yet another beautiful interface. Although there is certainly room for improvement here, the combo proves to be pretty powerful, and a good addition to your toolbox. How about you all? What solution do you use for referencing visual inspiration?