Uses
A somewhat comprehensive list of tools, apps, hardware, and more that I use on a daily basis to design and code things.
Design
- Figma is my primary tool for UI design these days. Made the switch from InVision in 2019 and haven't looked back. I've also created that you can install.
- 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 Base 16 Tomorrow Dark theme and Jetbrains Mono as my typeface of choice.
- Firefox Development Edition 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. I am an active contributor in the WebGL and WebXR space, where I have made and collaborated on . You can check out some of my experiments and articles about it.
- For CSS I've used a myriad of pre-processors and css-in-js solutions like styled-components, but these days I'm using vanilla CSS with PostCSS to get upcoming CSS features today.
- For JavaScript animations I use Popmotion Pure 8, it's a great way to add spring animations to three.js. All other animations are CSS with React Transition Group for enter/exit transitions.
- For building and testing UI components in isolation I use Storybook. Check out the storybook for this website.
Hardware
I frequently work in the 3D and recording space, so my setup has had to keep up with it. This is the setup I use for my work, from design, development, modeling, to playing, recording, and mixing music.
| CPU | AMD Ryzen 7 3800x |
| GPU | NVIDIA RTX 2070 |
| Keyboard | Keychron K8 |
| Mouse | Razer DeathAdder Elite |
| Headphones | Beyderdynamic 770 Pro |
| Microphone | Lewitt LCT 440 Pure |
| Interface | Focusrite Scarlett Solo |