Technical Skills
My proficiency in various technical tools and methodologies enables me to deliver designs that are not only aesthetically pleasing but also functionally robust and data-driven.
Tools of the Trade
Tools are fun! And of course, essential to any craftsperson or artist (or which designers are at the intersection). I've always loved learning a new tool, seeing what it can do, digging into what it allows me to accomplish. Or sometimes tossing it aside as not quite ready. There are probably hundreds of software tools I have tried out and learned at least a little about, helps me know there is always a tool to do the job, no matter how niche. But of course I've settled on some bread-and-butter apps that I always come back to for the different needs of a designer.
- Management: Jira or Trello are great for tracking progress. And of course Google Docs (or Microsoft Office) has a very flexible range of productivity tools for documenting and tracking everything.
- Design: I use Photoshop and Illustrator all the time for pushing pixels, bending vectors, and all kinds of layout and typography. Honorable mention to InDesign, Canva, and good 'ol pencil and paper.
- When it comes to web design, Figma and Weblow are where I go first. Figma has also been great for whiteboarding and brainstorming, with Miro in the mix too.
- Motion: I almost always try After Effects first. Premier of course if video just needs editing, and SVGator is a fave for crafting animated SVGs.
- Generative AI: The new frontier. Midjourney makes gorgeous art, and Dall-E 3 has made huge strides accurately depicting prompts. I also like Astra, Leonardo, RunwayML, and Pike, among many others.
Professional Outcomes
Staying on top of the tools I need has always been essential to my job. What's more, I've always been a bit of a geek about cool new stuff. I'm still a little sad that Flash never really worked out. I've used my interest in new tools and deep learning on existing ones to always have something to pull out when my innovation needs to become a reality.
I'm currently in the process of using and evaluating AI tools to see what place they have in a marketing design organization, using them ethically, and utilizing them to create cool stuff I wouldn't have been able to otherwise with current resource and time constraints.