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If you are a designer, it is entirely understandable if you aren’t too fond of writing. Your talent is based on visual resources, and you might find hard to deal with words instead. But while it might be true, you don’t want it to stop you from climbing in your career.
If you are a graphic or web designer, written content is always around you. From a one-phrase slogan to a magazine website, you are expected to know your way around words. If nothing else, you need to be good enough to write a job proposal at least.
Thankfully, there are several tools for designers on the market that will help you upgrade your writing skills. They can be free of charge or paid, but what matters is that they will make sure that you never embarrass yourself again due to a grammar mistake.
# 1 – Dictionary.com
If you have a problem remembering the meaning of some words, Dictionary.com is the app for you. This tool is a great version of the online service, and it will allow you to consult anything you want in no time.
But Dictionary.com isn’t only about word definition. It will give you spelling suggestions and the audio pronunciation of the words as well. And if you decide to buy the paid version, you will also get an encyclopedia and slang, medical, science, and rhyming dictionaries as well.
# 2 – Grammarly
Prefer something that will check your writing straight on? Then you should consider Grammarly, an online tool in which you can paste your text and get a grammar, spelling, and punctuation review free of charge and in a matter of seconds.
They also offer plugins for Microsoft Word, Chrome, and Firefox so that it can check your e-mails and posts for you. Want more? Then buy the premium version for suggestions on vocabulary enhancement, plagiarism check, and more.
# 3 – Phraseology
Phraseology will make writing on an iPad much easier. It gives you tools to improve your writing by giving you vocabulary and structure suggestions, and also pointing out repetitions and misspellings. And you can even get reports to track your improvements.
There is a cool drag-and-drop feature with which you can arrange paragraphs or sentences within your text, perfect for those who want to organize your thoughts and lists better. You can also link it to your Dropbox account and integrate it to Terminology, the dictionary of the same company.
# 4 – Hemingway
The reputable online writing tool Hemingway uses colours to help you to figure out your most common style mistakes. Just paste your text into it and wait to see their suggestions after a few seconds.
Hemingway will highlight sentences that need to be shortened, paragraphs that are too dense or hard to understand, words that are too complex. Passive voice and extra adverbs will also be called to your attention.
# 5 – Marked 2
Marked 2 will draw your attention to words and phrases in your document that you would be better off without. Then you can make changes and see how they look by previewing your text in one of the CSS themes available.
It will also give you a word count, read time, and allow you to copy rich text to e-mails, send PDFs, and export files with CSS and images embedded so you can share it as you wish. Available only on Mac App Store.
# 6 – Trust My Paper
Prefer to pay someone to do the writing for you? Then try Trust My Paper, one of the best online websites when it comes to writing services. And the good thing is that they aren’t ready to write your paper only. They can also edit or proofread any text you want, rewrite it, or write it from scratch. Trust My Paper claims to have the lowest prices on the market, so you should check out their services and see how it goes.
# 7 – Ginger
A powerful spelling and grammar checker, Ginger app is available for mobile and desktop. It will suggest different ways to rephrase your sentences, by adding synonyms and idioms, for instance. It also includes a dictionary, a translator for 50 languages, and a text reader so you can see if your writing sounds good.
Plus, Ginger app comes with a feature called Personal Trainer, which will provide you with English lessons and exercises based on your own mistakes. Considered one of the best in their market, Ginger is a must-have.
# 8 – Prowriting Aid
Prowriting Aid will check overused, vague, abstract, and complex words, plus the basic spelling and grammar check. On its free version, you just need to paste your text up to 3,000 words and get your results online.
But if you upgrade, the word limit will disappear, and you will also be able to integrate it with MS Word or Google Docs – and if you pay a bit more, you can also use it for plagiarism check.
# 9 – Practice English Grammar
But if what you want is an app that will help you brush up on your grammar, you should try Practice English Grammar, a free app available on Google Play and App Store. It will cover all grammar topics in a very fun way through over 1000 questions, 750 flashcards, and more than 100 games. The app will also give you feedback on your progress and goes from beginner to advanced level.
The bottom line
So here is the list with nine life-savers if you aren’t very keen on writing and need a hand from time to time. Most of them are free of charge, so you have nothing to lose if you try them. But, even the paid ones are well-recommended in the market, and you shouldn’t be concerned if you decided to test their features or services and decide for yourself which one meets your needs. So just go ahead and pick your favourite – your writing will thank you for that.
