The “Anywhere” Mac Workplace
As business owners with big plans and too much to do, Carter and Mark appreciate the way Apple products—especially their Mac laptops—enable them to get things done in multiple locations, from the office to the warehouse, on the road and at home.
“We could not live without being connected this way,” says Carter. “We use our Macs to track our freight both on water and by air, and our freight and logistics company also works with our overseas office via email. We approve artwork, layouts and placements of prints, placement of hang tags, and so forth via emailed digital photos. Mark is on his way to Malaysia and Indonesia for a project—and while he’s there, he’ll use his iPhone to email me images that he needs my comments on.”
India Rose attends several trade shows each year for their wholesale business, and they’re often on the road for client presentations and sales visits. Mark and Carter also regularly travel to India and elsewhere to meet with agents, visit textile factories, and look for new inspirations. Thanks to their Macs, they’re able to keep in touch every step of the way, wherever in the world they might be.
“Mobile technology has liberated us from the horrors of being chained to a cubicle for 50 hours a week,” Mark says. “We are constantly toggling between work and family, so it’s nice to have the option of staying home and slipping in some work. There’s a real opportunity to work more efficiently, effectively, and productively simply by having the option to work anywhere, any time.”
Commerce Meets Creativity
For India Rose, one of the Mac’s best features is the ability to combine creative and business applications on a single machine. Mark and Carter produce their designs on Macs. They use Macs to share and critique their work, place orders, and communicate from the road. They even use Macs to do the numbers.
QuickBooks and Excel help them manage the financial side of their business. “We also use QuickBooks in conjunction with our warehouse, which fills and ships orders,” Carter says. “And we manage our inventory with the same programs.”
Carter and Mark rely on Adobe Creative Suite applications such as Illustrator and Photoshop to create new textile and product designs, and use InDesign to produce catalogs and other printed materials. Mark is also a longtime user of Ashlar-Vellum’s CAD programs for Mac 2D and 3D modeling, such as Cobalt and Graphite.
Carter outlines a typical design workflow: “If Keena Co., the people we've hired to sell our products, say, ‘Our customers needs “green” tote bags for the grocery store,’ I might come up with ten bag designs using Illustrator, and maybe a little Adobe Photoshop. I save them as JPEGs and show them to everyone via email, or FTP if they’re really huge. And when we print the fabric in India, we send our final artwork to them via FTP as well.”
“Basically, everything we do comes down to communication,” Mark says. “Whether it’s creating a 3D model or cutting and pasting in Photoshop, these tools accomplish the same thing—they help us communicate with our clients and each other.”
“You know,” Mark says, “It’s a lot easier to recognize bad design than good design. Consumers will remember if a product is flawed. Interaction with a well-designed product is effortless. And Apple designs good products.”
