Some of the Tools I Work With

An incomplete and temporary description of how I have personally setup my own digital workspace.

Some of the Tools I Work With

An incomplete and temporary description of how I have personally setup my own digital workspace.

This Page Is 2-1/2 Years Old So It Needs Revision…I’m Workin’ On It

LapTop & DeskTop Apps

I began computerized graphics and  illustration not with Illustrator but with a program called Aldus Freehand with then became Macromedia Freehand and then when Macromedia was bought out by Adobe I used Adobe Freehand  until they discontinued it as a product at which point I finally switched over to Illustrator.

Sometime in 2014 or 2015 I decided I didn’t want to he shelling out bucks in a subscription fees to Adobe for a bloated suite of bloated software so I began to look for alternatives and the toolset I used for computer graphics illustration and web design are as follows:

  • Affinity Designer is my replacement for Photoshop
  • Sketch from Bohemian Coding. Boy do I love this app! A good place to explore and start to learn the programs capabilities and actually learn how to use the program is over on the Sketch – Learn page where there is a great collection of training videos.
  • Pixelmator I used for the effect filter in it that I can use on my illustrations and for sketching, drawing, and painting where I am not working on a photograph.

On the next tier of use I have:

  • Acorn is small compact simple image editor but there are somethings that drive me crazy using the program so it’s just not one of my favorites.
  • Graphic Converter has just been with me forever.
  • Coda
  • Colors
  • ColorSnapper2

Other LapTop & DeskTop Apps

iOS Apps (iPad & iPhone Apps)

Laptops

I have 2 of them. I do this so at home I don’t work as much and am forced to read and do non-work related things. We don’t allocate enough time in our lives for thinking. A slower personal home computer requires that.

Downstairs – MacBook 12 inch gold edition
UpStairs (next to my 27″ iMac) – MacBook Pro 13 inch fully loaded

Both MacBooks are showing their age and need to go in for service (battery replacement) or possibly be replaced with a more recent  but still used/reconditioned MacBook Pro from BackMarket.com

I’ve said this numerous times but in life you need to optimize from the top down. That starts with your health, then your computer, your phone, your typing skills and so forth. You use those 99% of your day if your a desk jockey so double your output with a computer that’s twice as fast.

Bonus: Buy the fastest router possible. Again, you are only as fast as your weakest router. I personally an Apple Airport Extreme as my secondary router downstairs supplementing my XFinity xFi Gateway.

 

Apps on my computer

Pro-Tip: I save a copy of ALL of my installation files (.dmg) in a dropbox folder. Super helpful whenever I get a new computer.

Sequel Pro – A technical marketers dream. This is a great tool to use SQL without all the pain in the ass.

Transmission – Best way to download torrent files

Transmit – My favorite FTP client.

MacJournal – What I write every article in. Nice to have categories and distraction free mode.

Alfred – Perhaps my most critical app on the computer, like spotlight on steroids. Saves me literally WEEKS of my life every year with all the built in shortcuts.

Audacity – Very simple and easy way to record and edit audio.

Calibre – Clean way to convert your pdfs into books for your Kindle

Call Recorder – So you can easily record your Skype calls

Jing – Make super quick video screencasts to share

TeamViewer – Awesome way to screen share or remotely log into one of you computers. Thanks EricF for recommending!

VLC – Best way to watch movies on your computer.

Join.me – Easy tool to do screensharing.

Hazel – A bit of a PIA to setup but super helpful I use this to auto transfer music I download into iTunes. Auto-delete files in my Downloads folder after 7 days and move photos into monthly categories and more.

Skitch – Nice way to mock up any image or screenshot you take. Easy to add notes or suggestions you want to show someone.

LiceCap – Best way to create an animated gif.

Paste Helper – Saves everyone of your copy and paste clipboards. Searchable. Don’t use it all the time but the times I do it’s worth it.

Camtasia – Way to edit videos.

Air Server – It creates a fake Apple TV on my Mac Mini so I can stream things to that device.

 

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Dubsado CRM & Accounting Software – Send contracts, invoices and more

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