Tools

Some of the services I love to use—and often rely on.

Figma

Best design tool for solo and collaborative use. Easy to create interactive prototypes. Speeds up development by providing CSS snippets.

Jekyll

Instead of bulky CMS that you need to install on your server—like Wordpress—I use Jekyll to make super fast, perfectly secure websites that never go down.

Napkin

A new tool that helps you think, by tagging your thoughts automatically in a way that allows for connections to naturally emerge. It fosters serendipity by showing you related thoughts and ideas. (Affiliate link, opinion my own.)

Coda

Airtable let me down when I really needed it but Coda was there to catch me before I hit the ground. It’s way more powerful than I thought and, importantly, the app-like “docs” you create with it are easy to use for people who are not familiar with databases and storing lots of data in spreadsheets.

Airtable

I rely on Airtable to run businesses and basically my entire life.

Update: I mostly use Coda now but Airtable can be better for certain projects.

CleanShot X

Screenshot superpowers for Mac — capture, annotate and, most importantly, share screen recordings with ease. I thought the built-in screenshot tool was enough, but boy was I wrong!

Loom

Loom makes sharing instructional videos so quick and easy that there’s no reason not to. As soon as you’re done shooting, Loom has a shareable link ready for anyone to watch. Update: Loom added more limits to their free version, so I mostly use CleanShot X now.

Webflow

Webflow is an amazing tool that empowers editors/clients to edit content by themselves. I mostly use custom code + Jekyll + Forestry CMS nowadays, because they offer more freedom and are way more affordable.

Tempo

Tempo is a (now free) macOS/iOS Gmail client. It creates a workspace that won’t get filled with new emails automatically; you have to manually add them. Perfect for those overwhelmed by too many emails.

Disclaimer: I used to do customer support for Tempo. The app is no longer maintained but can be used indefinitely.

1Feed

Not just an RSS reader, but THE central hub for all the websites you want to check on a regular basis. Instead of overwhelming you with an infinite feed of updates, each site takes up just 1 line.

Notion

I use Notion to manage larger projects, because it allows me to create a small database with timelines, attachments, to-dos and more and share the entire things or sub-pages. I used to use Dropbox Paper for this, but shared pages look really weird for people who are not logged in. After Notion added a timeline creation feature, there was no reason to keep using Paper.

iwantmyname

I buy most domains from iwantmyname. Their service is so easy to use and saves you so much time when connecting your domain to other services, like email providers and hosting servers.

Photopea

Web-based Photoshop alternative.

Butterick’s Practical Typography

A tool in the broader sense of the word, this online book covers pretty much everything you need to master the basics of typography.