I’m a huge advocate of starting cheaply with whatever you have.
Once you know you will stick with the thing you started, get the most beautiful tools you can.
The majority of graphic designers use Adobe Illustrator. I don’t, unless I’m forced to. I use Affinity instead.
Illustrator is the industry standard. Illustrator is powerful. You can make almost anything with it. It is also bloated, slow, counterintuitive and ugly ugly ugly. Whenever I open Illustrator to work on a project, I do it with a sense of resignation.
Affinity lets me do my work faster in fewer clicks. The interface is clever and lovely to look at. Opening Designer to work on a project makes me happy.
It seems to me that happy productive working leads to better work.
That’s why I
write with a Tom’s Studio Wren and not a biro,
type my words into iA Writer and not Microsoft Word,
use a Mac and not a PC.
When you are doing a thing all day every day, you don’t want to be working with ugly broke-ass tools.
Beautiful tools
work reliably and easily,
simplify your work flow,
make you feel connected to your work,
look good.
Don’t underestimate the difference that last item can make.
Sorry for the early edition of TREE today. Sometimes technology is hard. Or maybe my week break made it so I’m out of practice. Or maybe I was thinking about solitaire. Either way, OOPS!
Jeff and I utilize iA writer to make sure TREE is formatted just right. It has been an invaluable tool for me to learn to use. It has come in handy quite often.
Grow slowly
Skyler