Designer-Specific Tools That Make Up My Business
November 15, 2023
Category: Education
designer-specific tools that make up my biz
sharing the essential tools I use for my design biz daily.
Calling all designers! Have you ever wondered what design-specific tools I use for my business? The list is pretty short and sweet but essential nonetheless!
Adobe Creative Suite
This one is a no-brainer and an absolute ESSENTIAL for my business. Even my project manager uses it almost daily! While we use the whole suite, we primarily use InDesign, Photoshop, and Illustrator — with the occasional Adobe XD for websites. If you don’t know the programs — LinkedIn Learning, Skillshare, and Adobe all have great resources online. Google and YouTube are also your friends, so just dive in! The best way to learn is by doing and practicing.
ipad pro + imac
I use a 10.5-inch iPad Pro (defs not the newest version!) and a 27-inch iMac daily. And while I don’t feel that an iPad Pro is required to set yourself up for design biz success, it’s something I’d be lost without! I love my iPad and Apple Pencil because my style is more artistic and it makes the process easier than transferring artwork to my computer. On my iPad, I use Procreate and Adobe Sketch!
Now for the iMac. At 27 inches, it’s an investment but one that I would make 100x over. I can test websites at all screen sizes and see all design work blown up. I also have a MacBook Pro that I use when I’m on the go. I honestly use both the same amount! I know some designers just have a monitor, but I prefer having an actual desktop computer because I’m extra like that. If you’re designing websites, I highly recommend having some sort of monitor to test various screen sizes!
art supplies
If you haven’t figured it out by now, my aesthetic and inspiration stems from a lot of artwork. I love having the real thing to play around with and occasionally incorporate into my design. Here are some links to my favorite supplies:
content creation favorites
I wouldn’t be an actual design business owner if I didn’t have a whole bunch of tools for content creation, amiright?! To Keep up with all the trends nowadays, I find myself doing a whole lot of video recordings of my process.
For screen recordings, meaning just me recording my computer screen, I use both Screencastify and the built-in Quicktime app from my Apple computer. The nice thing about Screencastify is that you can set it to one specific window or program. So if you don’t want your Slack channels to get in the way of what you’re designing, you can set it to just ‘Adobe Illustrator’. However, if you take a break during your process you may want to trim that post-production!
For editing my videos, I’m a big fan of Capcut. I’ve also used Inshot before! For photo editing, I am a sucker for Lightroom which is part of the Adobe Creative Suite.
Last, but not least, I’ve ordered approximately 35 tripods and things over the years and explored nearly every one that has come to the market. Here are my trusted ride-or-die tools for content creation:
Iphone tripod (this is my fave!) — I love how small and compact it is, so it’s easy to store and put away, while also remaining sturdy and tall to get all the best angles.
Iphone tripod for overhead shots — This one I don’t use as much unless I really want an overhead view of a project I’m doing.
My camera — Big fan of having a DSLR for my own brand photos!
My printer — This is a must for building out prototypes of packaging or just simply wanting to print out client projects.
website tools
When running a branding and web design biz it’s important to keep up with alllll the latest technology for building and designing websites.
For mock-up purposes, we’ll use Adobe XD or Adobe InDesign. There’s no right or wrong platform here, the goal is to just mock it up to get a layout down before we build, so use whatever platform you’re most comfortable with!
For websites, we primarily design in Shopify and Squarespace. We’ve also worked with WordPress and Showit before, but they’re not our go-to's.
With websites, we love staying up to date on the latest information and 10/10 recommend both of these courses:
Last but not least, we love free stock photos! Pexels and Unsplash are both great resources when you need stock photography fo free.
Okay, phew I think that covers all things design-related?! Let us know if this was helpful and we’ll share another blog on all things business tools!
