Uses
A somewhat comprehensive list of tools, apps, hardware, and more that I use on a daily basis to design and code things. And yeah, that is a Johnny Mnemonic GIF in the background.
Design
- Figma is my primary tool for UI design these days. Made the switch from Sketch in 2020 and haven’t looked back. I’ve also created
- Any motion graphics I create are created in Adobe After Effects. So far I haven’t found a non-Adobe product that’s as good. If anyone has suggestions please message me.
- For any 3D models I use Blender. Since 2.8 it’s become way simpler to use and in a lot of ways better than expensive paid tools like 3DS Max or Maya.
Development
- I use Visual Studio Code as my text editor, with the Atom One Dark theme and Operator Mono as my typeface of choice.
- Firefox is my main browser for both development and general use.
- React is my front end Javascript library of choice. The component-centric mental model is the first thing that truly made sense to me as a designer.
- For 3D effects and image shaders I use three.js. It has a bit of a learning curve but you can do some really powerful stuff with it.
- For CSS I’ve used a myriad pre-processors and css-in-js solutions like styled-components, but these days I’m using vanilla CSS with PostCSS and TailwindCSS to get upcoming CSS features today.
- For Javascript animations I use Framer Motion, it’s a great way to add spring animations to React and three.js.
- For building and testing UI components in isolation I use Storybook.
Hardware
| CPU | AMD Ryzen 5 2500U |
|---|---|
| GPU | AMD Radeon RX 560 |
| Memory | 8GB DDR4 |
| Monitor | 15 6 Full HD (1920 x 1080) widescreen LED-backlit IPS display |
| Keyboard | Iron-red backlit keyboard |
| Mouse | Portronics 2.4G Wireless Mouse |
| Laptop | Acer Nitro 5 Gaming Laptop |
| Headphones | Sony 3D Pulse Headsets |
| Microphone | Sony Headsets Microphone |