Happy Saturday you creative savages….
I hope your caffeine of choice has you dialed in. This quad shot americano has me ZOOMING!
Anyways, I put out a video earlier this week sharing what my creative tech stack is, and I promised I would send out direct links…. so lets begin.
GRAPHICS + VISUALS
I feel like a large reason why my content has done well recently is because of the visuals.
Most of my graphics start in one of two places:
1. COSMOS for visual references and inspiration
2. IDEOGRAM is the ai tool I use to generate graphics quick. It is the best Ai tool with accurate text generation. (see below for prompt)
PROMPT: A nostalgic photograph of a vintage beige Apple computer from the 1990s sitting on a cluttered wooden desk with classic Windows 95 aesthetic elements. The chunky CRT monitor displays bright green text on a black screen that reads "PLZ SUBSCRIBE TO MY EMAILS" in retro computer font, while the bulky beige mouse and keyboard show signs of heavy use with slightly yellowed plastic. Surrounding the computer are period-appropriate items like colorful floppy disks, tangled serial cables, and scattered CD-ROMs with their rainbow reflective surfaces catching the light. Warm tungsten lighting from an off-screen desk lamp casts a cozy amber glow across the scene, highlighting the textured plastic surfaces and creating deep shadows that evoke the intimate home office atmosphere of the mid-1990s.
DESIGN + LAYOUT
I use FIGMA for pretty much everything that I publish on social media or am presenting to clients.
Carousels
Pitch decks
Moodboards
It makes it so easy for multiple team members to be in on boards and building out things. Idk why or how but I just feel more creative working in that software.
ORGANIZATION + SYSTEMS
Honestly aside from my Google calendar… NOTION runs most of my life.
Project trackers
Content ideas & references
Archive of personal work (anything I’ve ever created)
A creative roster of designers, agencies, vendors I’ve vetted
I made a free template you can duplicate to organize & build your own archive. I highly recommend this & can dive deeper on why this is important in another newsletter.
If I am feeling wildly generous one day, I may even share that creative roster ….. !!!!!
PRODUCT + MANUFACTURING
Nothing beats turning an idea or sketch to a tangible product. So for the actual product development side, I still use good ol’ Adobe Illustrator for creating tech packs.
And for sampling and production, I usually go through Pietra or Alibaba, depending on the project and scale.
It has never been easier in the entire history of the world to create your own products, and if you do not know how to create a tech pack, there are THOUSANDS of people on Fiverr or Upwork that could do it for cheap.
STOP OVERTHINKING AND JUST MAKE SOMETHING!!!!!!!!!
NEWSLETTER
For this little newsletter you are reading right now, I’m using BEEHIIV.
It is stupid simple and built for creators who want to publish consistently without overthinking the tech. I also LOVE their personal website feature and am actively reworking that to look pretty.
I also will cross post to SUBSTACK from time to time.
Annnd that is the stack. Nothing too fancy at all.
Even if you do not end up using any of these tools, I highly recommend developing some sort of system that gives you clarity. The creative side of your brain will thank you.
KEEP CREATING
Love y’all,
Carson