Resources
Here you’ll find a collection of the tools, software, books, and sites that have helped me throughout my career as an Art Director, Designer, and Content Creator – I hope you find them valuable in your own work.
Must-Read Design Books
Logo & Brand Design
Logo Modernism: Logo Inspiration
Designing Brand Identity: An Essential Guide for the Whole Branding Team
Zag: The Number One Strategy of High-Performance Brands
The Brand Flip: Why customers now run companies and how to profit from it
Typography
Stop Stealing Sheep & Find Out How Type Works
Grids & Layout
Layout Essentials Revised and Updated: 100 Design Principles for Using Grids
Designer Works
Dieter Rams: The Complete Works
Draplin Design Co.: Pretty Much Everything
General Design Advice
The Creative Act: A Way of Being
Steal Like an Artist: 10 Things Nobody Told You About Being Creative
Show Your Work!: 10 Ways to Share Your Creativity and Get Discovered
Other Must-Read Books
Productivity
Feel-Good Productivity: How to Do More of What Matters to You
The Compound Effect: Jumpstart Your Income, Your Life, Your Success
Leadership & Communication
Start with Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action
Leaders Eat Last: Why Some Teams Pull Together and Others Don’t
How to Win Friends & Influence People
Radical Candor: Be a Kick-Ass Boss Without Losing Your Humanity
Never Split the Difference: Negotiating As If Your Life Depended On It
Business
Creative Strategy and the Business of Design
Video & Photography Equipment
Fujifilm XT-5 with 18-55mm and 23mm f1.4 lenses – For all of my YouTube videos as well as travel/product photography. Highly versatile camera for video and photo. 18-55mm is great for travel and the 23mm has beautiful bokeh.
SkyTex Softbox Lighting Kit – Lighting kit I use for all of my videos. Great deal for lights that are bi-color, bright, and soft.
Audio-Technica AT2020 Studio Mic – Great sounding mic for videos and Zoom calls.
MeFOTO Carbon Fiber Tri-pod – Lightweight tri-pod that’s quick to setup and packs down small.
Behringer Mic Pre-Amp – For powering external mics and mixing audio levels.
Computer & Audio
2024 Macbook Pro 16″ – Workhorse of a laptop that can handle large video edits, complicated designs, and multimedia.
Apple iPad Pro 13″ – For handlettering, custom illustrations in Procreate, and reading video scripts on camera.
Dell UltraShrarp 27″ Monitor – Perfect monitor for design. Sharp, accurate colors, no glare.
UGREEN NAS Drive – This 4 bay Network Attached Storage acts as a personal cloud, letting you save all your files in one secure place, from anywhere. It also creates redundant backups to save everything if a hard drive ever fails.
Sony XM-5 Noise Cancelling Headphones – Incredible noise cancellation and sound quality. Great for editing videos, travel, and listening to tunes while working.
Apple AirPods Pro 3 – Good sound and noise cancellation. Love throwing these in my pocket on the way to the coffee shop.
Kanto YU4 Speakers – These speakers look great on your desk and sound even better.
Office & Desk Accessories
Elgato Stream Deck Plus – Versatile tool to create custom shortcuts for design tools, video streams, and music.
Logitech MX Master 3S Mouse – Comfortable grip for larger hands, but still small enough to take with you on the go.
Logitech K780 Wireless Keyboard – Ergonomic and love being able to seamlessly switch between Mac and PC.
Canon Pixma Pro-200S Large Format Printer – High quality prints to 13″x19″. Great for posters, photos, and prototypes.
Moleskine Notebook – My notebook of choice. High-quality with your choice of dot, grid, or lined.
Herman Miller Aeron Chair – Comfortable and will last a lifetime. Mesh keeps you cool over long work sessions.
Poppin 3-Drawer Filing Cabinet – Stylish, heavy duty filing cabinet. Useful for keeping track of documents, contracts, etc.
Faber-Castell 2B Pencils – My favorite pencils for sketching concepts and jotting down notes on calls.
Ugmonk Analog Note Taking System – Beautifully designed to-do list set that looks great on your desk.
Software & Productivity
Adobe Creative Cloud – Industry standard design and video editing software.
Framer – My no-code site builder of choice. Makes it easy to create award-winning sites quickly.
Epidemic Sound – Stock music library I use for client projects and YouTube videos.
Figma – Intuitive design tools for web design, slide decks, and collaboration.
Notion – Extremely flexible productivity tool I use to take notes, write YouTube scripts, and track video production.
Trello – The simplest project management tool I’ve used. Great way to keep track of your projects without a complicated setup.
Design Job Resources
Design Job Boards
AIGA Jobs: https://designjobs.aiga.org/
Behance: https://www.behance.net/joblist
Coroflot: https://www.coroflot.com/design-jobs
Creatively Jobs: https://joincreatively.com/jobs/
CreativeMornings Jobs: https://creativemornings.com/jobs
CreativePool: https://creativepool.com/
DesignJobs: http://designjobs.careers/
Dice: https://www.dice.com/jobs
Dribbble: https://dribbble.com/jobs
Glassdoor: https://www.glassdoor.com/Job/index.htm
If You Could (UK focused): https://www.ifyoucouldjobs.com/
Indeed: https://www.indeed.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/
RemoteOK: https://remoteok.com/remote-design-jobs
TopTal: https://www.toptal.com/
Twine: https://www.twine.net/jobs
We the Makers: https://www.wethemakers.club/jobs
Welcome to the Jungle: https://www.welcometothejungle.com/
Wellfound: https://wellfound.com/jobs
Design Recruiters
24 Seven Talent: https://www.24seventalent.com/
Aquent: https://aquent.com/
Creative Circle: https://www.creativecircle.com/
Robert Half: https://www.roberthalf.com/
Solomon Page: https://www.solomonpage.com/
Blogs, Inspiration, and Design Resources
BrandNew – Brand identity news and reviews.
Httpster – Website design inspiration.
Awwwards – Beautiful (although not always accessible) web designs.
It’s Nice That – Articles, interviews, and news focused on design and creativity.
The Brand Identity – Brand identity news, interviews, resources, and mockup shop.
Minimal Gallery – Inspirational websites with a focus on minimal designs.
The DIELINE – Packaging design news, reviews, and awards.
FontShare – Collection of free, high quality fonts.
Supply Family – Shop with a large collection of high quality mockups.
Logobook – Large collection of logos sorted by category.
Branding Style Guides – Database of brand style guides from a variety of brands (requires free account sign up).
Note: some of the links used on this page are affiliate links – using them allows me to create more helpful design content by providing the channel with a small commission at no cost to you. Thank you for your support!
