3 Upcoming Design, Marketing & Organisation Tools You Should Be Using
The phrase Get Shit Done as overused as it is the backbone of our business, built into each step of our work process at OneRoof Agency and engraved so deep into our brains we’re borderline obsessed.
You see, our mentality is that these days there are enough tools to complete and simplify almost every action, from building a logo, to making a to do list and even for creating click bait headlines. We believe that (most, not all) new founders and business owners no longer need to spend hours/days/weeks learning a new skill like web development or to hire someone to do their branding. Instead, they can take a ‘shortcut’ to achieve similar results by using one of the 1000’s of tools out there. And it may be ironic us saying this since I use to run a coding school in London and Camille, my co-founder, studied and worked as a graphic designer in Switzerland. But since we began our own business together we know that time is your most important asset when starting out, so why not utilise all the tools and tricks you can to get ahead.
We’re constantly testing new tools out there that sound like they could be useful to our community & courses. Recently, we stumbled upon a few greats that have now become essential tools we use to run our business and teach our participants. To help you save a whole load of time (and money) here are 3 tools you should be using to build your logo, share great content and organise your work load.
Logopony — The Best Free Online Logo Maker
One of the workshops we use to run at OneRoof Events was called ‘Create Your Brand Identity Without A Designer’, where over the course, participants learn the essential design theory they need, choose their typography & colours and end the workshop building their own logo for their businesses. Previously we were using Graphic Springs, probably the most popular online logo maker out there. But honestly with its limited features, outdated templates, lack of font and image choices, it really didn’t make the cut.
Then only a few days before our next workshop whilst scrolling through BetaList we stumbled upon Logopony. Like a shining star sent from above polished off with an odd sounding name we were curious and hopeful these guys would be the answer to our logo making needs. After watching their promo video on their landing page we were sold and knew we had to get our hands on it, and quickly. It was a long shot but we dropped them an email asking if there was anyway we could get early access before our course and one of the founders Eugene came to our aid working full steam overnight with his team to ensure we had access in preparation for our course.
Pulling out all the stops, Logopony shipped the most basic version of their service which still proved to dominate over all the other competitors out there. During the workshop, 7/8 of our participants preferred using Logopony over Graphic Springs and some incredible designs were built. With a huge selection of fonts, easy to use interface, wide selection of icons we’re glad to have now made the change to feature Logopony as our go to logo maker.
These guys should be launching soon, there are a few bugs to address and changes to be made but no doubt they’re game changers. Just to show you how powerful this tool is, take a look at what I built in 1 minute when I got a little carried away with one of participants projects. Please bear in mind I’m not the designer on the team 😂
Plan — Powerful and Easy To Use Organiser
I’ve spent so much time testing out different organisation tools that I had to use a separate tool just to keep track of it all. After committing to Trello whilst simultaneously seeing Basecamp, flirting with Evernote and occasionally seeing a whole list of other tools, I was still left feeling like I hadn’t yet found my true love. Until I met you, Plan. At first look you satisfied my needs, with a built in calendar, easy to use drag and drop interface and powerful insights I knew we were a match. The story only gets better for plan with every new update, and they’re clearly doing a great job at standing out in a crowded market.
Though it’s not all sunshine and rainbows with Plan. The platform still has a few bugs that need to be addressed and the team behind it seem elusive. After sending out a few joyful tweets to them with no response I was left heartbroken but still hopeful that this relationship can last.
Quuu — The Best Way To Share And Find Content
Quuu is probably on the tipping point between upcoming and mainstream. We’ve written about them before, tweeted our love at them and had the love returned to us by their active and amazing founders Matt & Daniel. Before we met Quuu, sharing great content was a huge hassle and the amount of time spent searching for decent & relevant articles wasn’t worth the pay off. But now content marketing is a breeze, just sign up, pick some topics you’re interested in and let Quuu do the rest.
On the other side for publishers, Quuu Promote is an extremely powerful and underrated tool. As we mentioned Quuu in our previous article, ‘10 Steps To Launch Your Business Online’ they were kind enough to share it through Quuu promote and even now after a month has passed we still get people tweeting our article every day, have lost track of how many times it’s been shared and how much traffic its brought us.
One thing we’d love to see added to Quuu is support on other platforms. Don’t get me wrong, I love Buffer, but recently I’ve been digging Agorapulse and interested to make the switch. But unfortunately Quuu doesn’t support their platform and as it’s such an essential part of our marketing strategy we’re tied down to Buffer. (P.S. Don’t take this the wrong way Buffer, you will have a place in our hearts)
That’s the full list, give one or all of these tools a try and we’re certain you’ll love them as much as we do. If you enjoyed the article and found some of the tools useful please Hit ❤, Share it, Tweet it, Facebook it and pass it onto your friends who keep saying they’ll start their business but never do. Any tools you’d like to recommend? Comment & let me know!
Disclaimer: We have absolutely no affiliation with any of the tools mentioned, other than the fact that our informal tweet chats between ourselves and Quuu may highlight we’re now friends (or an overly attached admirer) it’s simply part of our job to find and recommend the best tools to use!
Written by Arman Anaturk
Knows how to cook a Ratatouille. Occasional writer. Co-Founder at OneRoof.Agency.
