List of Tools and Apps I Currently Use for Graphic Design and Front End Development

As a designer, I rely heavily on many apps and tools to get the job done. This list has the current set of Apps and tools that I use on a regular basis for my daily workflow.

The apps I use keeps changing over time, I don’t believe in sticking to one tool or app, worshipping it like it is the best damn thing. Instead, I try different tools over time and keep switching from one another.

Visual Studio Code

I switched to VS Code recently— last year, from Sublime Text. I didn’t switch because I thought VSC was better than Sublime, I switch just for a change.

There are things I didn’t use in Sublime, which are probably available in it as well, that I use in VS Code which has improved my workflow.

Things like the Live Server, which I use every day. I like how I am able to view what I am working on, with live reload on other PCs and mobile devices in the network. The built-in terminal and the Live Sass Compiler extension makes my life I lot easier.

Affinity Designer + Affinity Photo

I come from an Adobe suite background. I have been using Photoshop and illustrator from the get-go as a graphics designer.

I switched to Affinity because It is more affordable, and so far it has been a good alternative.

Sketch

Right now, I prefer to design live on the browser, so my use of Sketch is very limited. Unless I want to design a complex UI, I don’t use it.

It is a great app and useful in the initial stages when showing clients alternative design direction for the project.

Ampps

Ampps has been my go-to local server for ages. I still use it when I work on designing Wordpress themes, and some other Php projects.

sipapp.io

Sip is awesome. I use it everyday. It is the best color picker tool that I have ever used.

Snapseed

In my design process I use mobile apps + desktop apps to get the results I want. Snapseed is one of those useful mobile Apps that I use a lot.

Other Tools & Services

Bitbucket is my preferred version control source code host. All of my client work and personal projects. I also use Github open source projects.

SVGOMG SVGO’s Missing GUI by @jakearchibald is a very useful tool to optimize SVG, I use it almost daily.

FlatIcon for all the icon needs I use it.

SquooshApp for image optimization, it is a great tool.

Vectorization I just discovered this tool, similar to “Image Trace” in illustrator, it converts images to vector.

netlify for tiny project hosting, this blog is hosted on netlify with HUGO site generator.

For inspiration and benchmarking I use Dribbble, Pinterest and other apps and websites that have inspirational content.

My preferred browser is Google Chrome, and I have all the other major browsers installed for testing purposes.