Maybe it was the fact that I had just left my last day job – thrust into the world of funemployment/entrepreneurship – that I completely missed the launch of Palette. While I missed something pretty cool then, I’m really excited to see what looks like an even better tool now.

I’ve been a little obsessed with productivity lately. Partly because A Fine Press is on the verge of some exciting growth and I’m trying to streamline as much as I can to leave room for the exciting and unexpected – the inviting experiences. And it’s partly because of Sean McCabe.

I digress.

I’m trying in particular to be more efficient at the computer. I need to free up more time to spend on-press and in other elements of production, as the clients finding A Fine Press are bringing more intricate ideas to the table (I love it!). It’s an incredible challenge to have and this might be the tool to make it happen!

Palette is a ridiculously customizable physical controller for your computer. It’s pretty deeply integrated into Adobe’s line of creative software and it puts buttons, knobs and sliders at your fingertips, quite literally.

The thing I really like about it is that, by setting up profiles, you can minimize what’s in front of you to only what you need for a specific task. Working on typography? Set a knob to scroll through fonts and a slider to adjust font size. Then, when you’re vectorizing a scan, that knob can be set to scroll through your swatches and the slider to control zoom.

I can see a million uses for palette strictly in Adobe Illustrator (my tool of choice) and can barely fathom the possibilities for photographers, filmmakers and sound producers.

My only concern with it is its ruggedness or ease of transport for those of us working solely from a laptop (and often in varying locations). I’m not sold on its ability to stand up to the daily abuse of being thrown in my bag and lugged from office to shop to the coffee shop.

Perhaps the only way to know is to preorder one now and check it out in November.

photographs courtesy of Palletegear.com