Graphic Design on the Go with Adobe Comp CC

Traveling and working as a graphic designer means having a flexible mobile workflow. It’s a pain to have to lug around an entire design studio around in your backpack, but you won’t have to if you put the right system in place.

For example, in my business travel bag, I typically take the following: my Dell XPS 13, DSLR Camera, iPad, and iPhone. With Adobe Comp CC I can work freely and produce layouts from my iPhone or iPad.

With Comp CC, I can use the assets that exist in my Cloud library, letting me share them seamlessly between all of my devices, including my laptop. When shooting with my camera I can use Wifi or an SD card to transfer my images to my laptop and Creative Cloud Library for later use. I try to take advantage of this quite a bit during travel.

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Adobe Comp CC allows me to use actual photos and logo files for designing my initial drafts, which is more efficient than just producing wireframes. Comp CC also has the added benefit of letting me use Adobe Typekit. With Typekit, I can take advantage of a variety of fonts that I can use across other Adobe applications and truly get a sense of what design will look like when it’s finished.

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As someone who uses InDesign often, this is convenient since I can send the mockup of an idea developed over coffee or chatting during an Uber ride, directly to InDesign to fully develop it later.

In fact, I used this method to produce some of the recent lead magnets for my email newsletter, while having a conversation about it with a fellow designer during a trip.

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One of the other features that impressed me about Comp CC was the fact that it has easy-to-use sharing options for collaboration. If you want feedback on a layout before sending it over to InDesign, you can share it just a few clicks, via email or even through text message.

Overall the Adobe Mobile Apps are convenient for improving your mobile workflow, particularly when it comes to ideation and creating your foundation assets. Getting started on a project no longer requires you to pull out a laptop and drawing tablet when it might be inconvenient.

With Adobe Comp CC I can use assets that I already have in the Creative Cloud Library, my mobile device, or even new assets I’ve generated using other apps like Adobe Capture, Lightroom Mobile or Illustrator Draw. By combining the suite of mobile apps in the same way designers take advantage of the full desktop applications, we can build on our ideas in unique ways.

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As a graphic designer, traveling doesn’t feel like the compromise anymore when it comes to getting work done and I have more flexibility. Up until now, mobile apps didn’t seem practical for getting my work done while maintaining my Adobe workflow. Comp CC and the other mobile apps (especially Lightroom Mobile) make me feel more comfortable with that balance and have helped me increase my travel productivity.

If you find yourself traveling this conference season, especially with PePCon 2016 not that far away, I would recommend you explore how Adobe Comp and the other free mobile apps from Adobe can help you with your work on the go.

Roberto Blake is a graphic designer helping entrepreneurs and small businesses improve their branding and presentations. He also teaches graphic design and Adobe tutorials through his YouTube channel and community. See robertoblake.com for more details.
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