44. my favorite creativity tools

Adobe Creative Cloud

As a graphic design student, Adobe Creative Cloud is pretty much the holy grail. I honestly can’t imagine my workflow without it. My go-to apps are Illustrator (for vector work and logos), Photoshop (for image editing and all things visual), and InDesign (especially useful for layout design and anything print-related). I also love playing around with Adobe Fonts—it’s such a great way to discover new typography styles and elevate whatever I'm working on.

Canva

Don’t sleep on Canva—especially Canva Pro. It’s super intuitive and perfect for quick projects, social media graphics, or presentations when I don’t feel like opening up a more complex program. I love that they have templates that are easy to tweak and make my own. Plus, the font and element libraries are pretty stacked.

HP Sprocket or Canon Ivy

These mini portable printers are SO fun. I use them to print quick photos from my phone and stick them into my journals or moodboards. It’s a small thing, but adding physical elements like photos or color swatches to my pages helps me stay visually connected to my ideas.

Camera / Instant Camera

Sometimes I just need to step away from the screen and see. Having a camera or even a little instant camera on hand helps me collect moments and textures I might want to reference later . I love taking photos of my friends. Plus, snapping photos just gets me out of my own head and into the world a little bit more. My go to camera is a SONY ZV1F that I splurged on last summer. But you don't need to be that extravagant to take photos. I just feel an external camera outside of your phone is so fun and grounding.

Journals (Yes, plural!)

There’s something about writing things down that just helps my ideas feel more real. I keep two different journals on hand:

• Leuchtturm1917 – This is my go-to for organizing thoughts, jotting down creative prompts, and even just brain-dumping after long days. The dotted pages are a dream.

• Artist's Loft Sketch Journal (from Michaels) – This one’s for super chill sketching. Nothing fancy, just a blank space where I can get messy with ideas and thumbnails. It’s affordable, durable, and has good paper quality for rough concepts.