2018 12.9” iPad Pro + second-gen Pencil (+ a Smart Keyboard Folio + a Brydge keyboard). I’ve been extremely passionate about iPad since the original, but this iteration is an enormous leap forward. I take my iPad with me practically everywhere.
As my iPhones have gotten larger (iPhone 7, X, now XS Max), I started doing more work from them because it was less painful, but it slowed me down. iPad is far superior for work.
Apple Watch (Series 4). More of a life tool than a creative tool, but improving my fitness + sleep helps me be more creative.
2018 MacBook Pro 13” with Touch Bar. I want to get rid of Macss in my workflow for a full-iPad life, but the developer tools just aren’t available on iPad yet. I find the windows, notifications, customization, file system, apps, etc a distracting nightmare to use & it wastes my time. I want to write Shortcuts, not script a filesystem I wish I didn’t have to deal with. But the majority of my published creative output (websites, designs, code) are made through my Mac.
Sometimes, an external 21” display at my desk. While I’m coding, connected to my MacBook. Just as often connected to my iPad—even larger screen for reading, watching stuff. (Idea 100% via Federico Viticci.) Really disappointing how few apps support external displays, & iOS is super limiting here.
In the past, used a Wacom Intuos, but my iPad has subsumed all that.
Apps
GoodNotes, for handwriting. At school, during calls, when I’m having ideas I want to get out quickly, to make wireframes/mockups of interfaces I’m designing
Figma on my Mac, for designing assets. Can’t wait to use this on iPad
VSCode for Mac, where I spend many hours/week coding. Want this on my iPad too, if you sense a theme here :) This is actually one of my primary creative tools, because I build websites, design systems frameworks, apps, etc. It’s focused on being a great code editor, which it is, not a creative tool, but a huge chunk of my creative output goes through code in VSCode.
Field Notes notebooks, which I often write in when I wake up
Drafts on iOS, as a scratchpad when I want to write text down super quickly
iA Writer (mostly iPad, occasionally iPhone/Mac). For writing anything long + all school-related writing. Markdown is huge for me—it’s my mental framework of text, keeping my words in plain text + having separate “render targets”/templates/stylesheets. iA is one of a few companies that really think about thinking + build a tool for that, but most of my work isn’t writing like that.
Things, for keeping track of tasks (all devices)
Shortcuts on iOS. I have hundreds & use them constantly for image processing, file management, Apple Music, Bear scripting
Apple Music. Use it for hours a day while I’m working, walking, etc
Day One. I haven’t used it much in 2019, but kept a fairly regular journal from 2012 onwards. Used to be a significant creative tool
@lachlanjc/notebook