Video:

Instagram Hyperlapse

Hyperlapse is fairly new and many have discovered it’s great for a polished look, or at least a video that feels like it’s been professionally edited.

If you sell a product that has to be assembled or want to show the making of something, this tool is perfect.

Here’s Econsultancy founder Ashley Friedlein on our recent Marketing Cycle charity bike ride in Dieppe.

Reflector

Reflector allows you to mirror a mobile device on your computer screen over a WiFi network.

It’s great if you want to record an interaction on your smartphone or tablet. Say you’ve just created an app and want to encourage people to download it from your website, this tool will allow you to shoot some video and then you can investigate how to turn it into a GIF or edit it in iMovie.

Alternatively, it’s handy to have on your laptop for meetings, if you want to show something from your mobile without crowding round a small screen.

Reflector costs $12.99 but it’s simple to use, effective and much better than bothering to jailbreak your phone.

reflector 

iMovie and YouTube

Two obvious choices but invaluable ones. Youtube for its small and useful edits as well as how easy it is to host and share, iMovie for its ease of use and wide functionality.

Images:

Video to GIF creator

There are a number of websites that allow you to upload a video file (in several formats) and will convert it to a GIF for you, often emailing you the resultant file.

Whilst some of these sites don’t look promising, they’re often easier for the novice than converting in Photoshop. I’ve used Zamzar before and it worked well.

spiderman

imgur

If you’re embedding images, it’s often advantageous to use imgur to host. The links are more likely to remain, longer term, than one you’ve taken from elsewhere on the web and you shouldn’t see any images go missing.

One of the advantages of the Chrome extension of imgur is that it adds a ‘rehost image’ button to your context menu, allowing you to stash images quickly.

Of course, make sure you’re not taking anything that is copyrighted.

imgur on context menu

Awesome Screenshot and Mac shortcut

We often recommend Awesome Screenshot as the best way to screengrab and annotate.

Note, though, that it doesn’t always work on websites with lots of HTML5 or obviously those that block screen capture. In that instance it’s easier to hit shift+cmd+4 on your Mac to access the snip tool.

On Windows, I often simply take a screen capture using the keyboard button and then crop/annotate in MS Paint. I don’t profess to be an expert.

Very meta 

awesome screenshot

Infographic creator

Piktochart is a good one. Get stuck in if, like me, you are pants at Adobe. 

Text:

WordPress

WordPress is more than just text, I understand. But for ‘distraction free writing’ it really is the best.

I often use the CMS just to draft text, so it saves to the cloud and I can access it anywhere, before using it somewhere else.

Check out Christopher Ratcliff’s beginner’s guide to WordPress.

Notepad

If you’re not that great with HTML and can’t work out why your text is all wonky, just paste it into notepad and then back into your CMS.

That’ll successully remove all the formatting and allow you to regain your sanity.

notepad

Hipster Ipsum

Why settle for Latin on your marketing mock-ups? Use Hipster Ipsum.

You probably haven’t heard of them Tonx typewriter Truffaut kogi. Bespoke roof party Etsy, leggings pug organic food truck small batch street art Schlitz post-ironic raw denim keffiyeh sustainable. Tumblr swag church-key cardigan put a bird on it. Stumptown 8-bit Neutra distillery, art party Pitchfork whatever PBR bicycle rights. Gluten-free kitsch +1 four loko. Meh McSweeney’s 3 wolf moon selvage. Pinterest kitsch heirloom, cornhole 8-bit sustainable chambray normcore Carles Wes Anderson.

Agency name generator

Ok, I’m finishing with tongue firmly in cheek. If you are thinking of starting your own consultancy in any field or even an agency, maybe you should simply generate it. It’s got to be better than those Apprentice team names, right?

The AdAge generator is probably the best.

agency name generator