I design on a MacPro, or a MBP “on the go.” Ive tried to dabble on my iPad, and it just doesn’t work for me! I’ve noticed a huge push toward mobile OS based design. Is the software simply following the hardware? Meaning, hardware is becoming smaller, more compact, more…mobile? Has mobile OS based design moved past the point of “it’s just another tool?” What are you doing on mobile OS for design work, if any?
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I just added a second 32-inch monitor to my desk to augment the other big Retina display that’s sitting next to it. If my desk was big enough, I’ll likely buy a third one. I’m seriously considering upping the RAM in my computer to 32GB because I need more horsepower
There’s no way I’ll ever be doing any serious design work on the tiny display of an underpowered mobile device — even a reasonably large tablet. For me, mobile devices are good for making phone calls, taking quick photos, sending texts, listening to podcast and taking with me so I have access to the Internet as needed. My tablet is mostly used for reading books and watching movies.
It’s not that I’m not used to mobile devices, it’s that they’re unsuited for graphic design. Just what push are you seeing for mobile design? I know there are a few scaled down apps, but I don’t see anything serious being done there other than, perhaps some quick, simple things for mobile devices themselves.
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Same here. There is no way an iPad would do it for me. I have no idea how people work on laptops even. I have an iMac with two attached screens and need them all. That said, I do use an iPad for sketching an some illustration. Suits me to have a portable sketch book with me. Can’t see it ever doing the job for a 256 page book, even if the software allowed. Maybe some of the photo editing, but not the serious stuff.
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Yes, I can imagine doing certain types of illustrations and photo work on an iPad using a stylus, but not graphic design.
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I am not a designer but a photog.I have a 32 banked by a 29ish. I edit photos only on my HD 32. FYI I am not the norm
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Software will never replace the ocular.
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Trust me, you’re preaching to the choir @Just-B I get it. I don’t know if you have an Instagram account, but I follow several different design accounts on there. Most of them incorporate a mobile device (mostly iPad) into their design work.
As much as I don’t want to admit, I can see more and more of this being developed for a mobile platform.
I’ve tried three times now to sign up for an Instagram account. Varying errors in that process have made it not happen. It’s already an phone platform (can’t get on there without out) and of course there are designers doing web stuff with mobile devices.
I wouldn’t say “never” to anything, and with the current state of affairs in the Graphic design industry, it wouldn’t surprise me to see a lot of, for lack of a politer term, crowdsourcers, going that route. Sure there are applications you can use now on a mobile that augmnent design or illustration, but when you are talking the meat and potatoes of a multi-level marketing campaign, or all of or part of an entire museum exhibit, or anything involving crunching a lot of numbers fast, or any of the many other higher echelon fields, a tricked out laptop is about as low as you can go hardware-wise and still do your job in a money-making amount of time. And often that has to go into a docking station.
I am going to point out though that Microsoft is pushing a trend toward complete cloud computing, where your laptop doesn’t run any of the software, it is just a glorified computer terminal that interfaces with a cloudbased operating system. Think about that for some moments and…well…I’m sure a lot of people say “cool!” But is it? The public has already become inured to giving up their privacy under the guise of convenience when it comes to cloud based IOT etc, I don’t see much of a fight coming.
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I manage an Instagram account for one of my clients that needs to target a niche audience, but I’ve all but abandoned my personal Instagram account. I’ve never had a client mention it is something they used to find me or my work. Sharing work with followers (friends, family and other designers) might be interesting for some, but from a business point of view, I’ve not found it especially useful for me.
I expect to see mobile-created content on Instagram, since it’s a platform created specifically for mobile devices. As for Instagram and graphic design, what I’ve mostly noticed is some graphic designers using Instagram to show their work — not so much using their phone or whatever to create it.
I can imagine people using things like Canva on a mobile device since Canva’s approach is mostly just presenting users with a series of options to pick from, like paper doll clothes from decades ago.
Way back when I was in design school, the instructors always recommended carrying around a sketchbook. I suppose since so many people carry around mobile devices, those might serve as sketchbook substitutes.
I think all of this is fine for people who like to mess around on their phones while out and about or lie on the living room sofa and sketch things. I suppose there’s enough of a market for that kind of thing to prompt developers to come up with simple tools to make it doable.
For serious graphic design work, though, I think it’s obviously not going to take over. No matter how sophisticated the apps might be, the small size of the display, limitations on typography, insufficient processing power and other drawbacks will confine mobile devices to hobbyist, niche or auxiliary status for graphic design work.
But, but you can always dock it to a desktop monitor.
LOL. Well, that’s true, but then it’s not mobile any longer. 
I always set up my desktop browser to spoof an iPhone’s browser. It’s a bit of a hack workaround, but it’s enough to enable me to use my Macintosh to post things to Instagram.
I don’t even want to post things. Just want to look at friends’ stuff, which you can’t do without an account now.
In order to create an account it said there was suspicious activity on my account (which I don’t have one) and I needed to enter a phone number so they could text me a code, this after sending me an email code. Since I have an aversion to using my work phone for personal stuff and didn’t even have it with me, I hit return without a phone number (no other bail option) and now, I can’t get it to send me a password change cuz it doesn’t recognize my email (“no user exists” is the error message,) but if I try to make a new account, it says my email is in use, try again…
I’ve lodged a complaint, that will go nowhere.
I hate social media 
I’m in the process of setting up a gmail account just for this one use.
I had a similar problem with an iPad I used to own. When setting it up, Apple asked for a bunch of information for Apple’s iCloud. I had no interest in iCloud and figured what they asked for was none of their business, so I just made up a bunch of stuff.
That was fine for a couple of years until I installed one of their updates, which then asked for my email address that I no longer had and that personal information to verify that it was me. After calling them, they told me there was no way to bypass the security features that they had just implemented and that my iPad would never work again. They then proceeded to chastise me for not giving them the correct information to begin with.
The next day, I ordered a Samsung Galaxy tablet. My next smartphone will also be an Android device. After using the Android OS for awhile, I like it better than iOS.
I like the way you think.
The logic behind SaaS has made many things more convenient for the companies selling them, and of course the consumers without a security sense will follow this model. You’re correct in saying there are security risks. I’d say eventually there will be bandwidth increase need from your ISP as well; you will pay more overall if you want faster software delivery(or real-time). Double whammy!
I’m not sure if you know how thin and zero clients work, but it’s essentially the same, only on a larger scale. And now with virtual machines running networks, the cost is low for the retailer and will only continue to grow for the consumer.
One last thing, I believe desktop and mobile OS will eventually be one in the same. Apple has been leading the charge, and they’re extremely close now. I would purchase a brand new iPad Pro if it had MacOS in a HEARTBEAT! The M1 ARM is certainly laying the foundation for this.
Didn’t Microsoft already, more or less, do that with Windows five or six years ago when they were trying to break into the mobile market?
Just my uninformed opinion, but there’s an economic incentive to cut duplication of efforts, so I suspect Apple is working in that direction. I wouldn’t think it’s so much to make them one-in-the-same as much as it is to create something of a modular approach (for lack of better words) to OS’s. In other words, using the same code where appropriate for one and removing or adding to it for the other without having to reinvent the wheel for both.
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Well, they sure did try(Microsoft). We see how that went.
Personally, I believe both worlds can live in the same space. I didn’t used to, but I seriously think we will see this in the next couple of years.
There’s no way to fit photoshop onto a mobile screen, or after effects, or illustrator, or premier pro… I’ll keep my 21" iMac with 64gig of ram, 5K monitor and blazing fast processor.
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But they do have Illustrator and Photoshop for IPad - never used them though.
And Affinity on the iPad is supposed to be amazing.
I don’t want a mobile version of any of these apps though. I don’t want to be sitting somewhere and taking out my phone or tablet to draw/edit or do layouts.
I consider my time away from my home-office to be outside work. I only do work from the home-office. Nowhere else.
I think it’s important to have the boundaries.
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No InDesign for iPad yet? 
Whatever the power available to mobile devices, there is a tradeoff. Desktops can use a bigger screen but tablets and cellphones have touchscreen input (ok some desktops do too). Mobile devices can be linked to a big screen too when required.
If history teaches us anything, it’s that the best way to do something is not necessarily the way it will always be done. The perceived superiority of desktop machines is irrelevant if people want to use mobile devices more often for design.