I’m always fascinated to see where and how other people work and today I wanted to share my personal set up, focusing on the tools & resources I use every day as a designer. Part one will be focused on the hardware and part two, will be the software & apps I can’t live without.

Hardware

The main weapon of choice for all my design & browsing is the Macbook Pro 17? (3.06 GHZ Intel Core 2 Duo, 4 GB DDR Ram, 500 GB).

I hook up my MBP to my 27? Cinema Display when at home and place the MBP on aPole Notebook Holder so I can make use of the two screens. Pretty handy as you can rotate and move the screen as needed.

I take the 11? MacBook Air traveling and hardly ever take the MBP now. The Air is super light weight, tiny and handles all my design & media needs when on the go. A highly recommended combination.

My iPhone is rarely out of site and is probably used the most out of all my hardware. My most used apps include Tweetdeck, The Weather Channel, New York Times, Spotify, Facebook & NYC Subway. The iPhone is also used as my calendar, alarm clock, email center, site monitor, music player, etc. It’s a smart phone indeed.

I’ve had this mouse for a few years now and still love it. It was previously called Logitech MX Revolution but since undergoing a few refinements is now called Performance MX. Why do I love it? It has a neat ‘infinite scroll’ feature and is extremely comfortable in my large hands, as apose to the Magic Mouse which gives me cramps.

Nothing too fancy but it does everything you need in an office; prints, scans and copies.

These headphones get you in the zone by canceling out all outside noise, especially useful on airplanes.

This full sized keyboard has extra handy shortcut buttons, great for media and editing.

An external hard drive that automatically backs up my files each night using Time Machine. It also stores the majority of my media files. The first thing I’d take in a house fire.

A neat graphics tablet for easy maneuvering in Photoshop.

The desk draws are the most handy, hiding away all the clutter (pens, notebooks, graphics tablet, the Mac Air, etc.) and the slim nature of the desk forces me to keep the top of the desk clean.

A gift given to me before leaving for NYC. Comes in handy when you forget your name.

Office Inspiration

On The Wishlist

After using a Herman Miller chair at my day job, I’m keen to get my hands on one for the home office too. They have much more support & are comfortable to sit in for long periods of time.

Source: http://justcreative.com/2011/11/29/designer-office-set-up/