Uses This

Who are you, and what do you do?

I'm a web design consultant based out of Brooklyn, New York, and the founder of Stuntbox LLC. I specialize in UX, creative direction, and business strategy for companies looking to get the most out of their design resources. In past lives I've been a creative director for BusinessWeek.com and a designer of online textbooks for Pearson Education.

What hardware do you use?

For starters, I use a 6 foot folding table as my main "desk" (I have a serious thing for the workbench feel). Perched on top of that is my principal work machine, a 27" iMac, which I simply adore. Along with the iMac, I use a 13" MacBook, an iPad 2, and an iPhone 4, which has become so indispensable I fear it will have to be surgically removed at some point. In addition to taking care of the usual portable machine duties, my MacBook is set up as a portable web server, so I can test and present working models of projects wherever I go without having to worry about an Internet connection.

I have a small "15 minute glass" on my desk, which helps me mind tasks throughout the day. It's a delightfully unmediated interface, free of the paternalistic gewgaws that plague a lot of time management programs. I also keep a stuffed labbit around. Because every good workbench needs a mascot.

And what software?

Like many design folks, I cannot escape the juggernaut that is Adobe. I spend more time in the various CS5 apps than should be considered healthy. For wireframing, I typically use Omnigraffle Pro. When it comes to coding, BBEdit soothes my inner crotchety old man like nothing else, though I find myself in Coda more and more when it comes time to tinker with client-side code. VMware Fusion lets me do the necessary cross-platform testing dance that's a necessary part of every web geek's life.

I am an unapologetic checklist fiend, and Things scratches that itch to true satisfaction. I have it installed on all my Macs and iOS devices, with Dropbox helping keep things in sync. (And if you're not using Dropbox, you should stop reading this piece immediately and fling yourself at their registration form. It's that good.)

What would be your dream setup?

A workspace that can physically scale and adapt with minimal effort on my part. Imagine a hovering desk slab you could raise, lower, resize, or move around the room with the push of a single finger, and that'd be a good start. But until that arrives (and the flying cars that will undoubtedly accompany it) I'll settle for a desk chair that doesn't make me feel like a folded up pretzel after 15 minutes of use. Seriously, we still haven't gotten that right.