Tools of the Trade – Chris Spooner

Chris Spooner is a UK based Designer who has a passion for creating design material for clients. After achieving a BA(HONS) in Art & Design through Hull University I gained industry experience at two Sheffield based design studios before deciding to undertake the challenge of working as a freelance designer. You can see Chris at his various creative outlets such as his blog, his personal site, the newly launched Line25 and be sure to check out his portfolio too.

Here we go!

1) MacBook Pro

A couple of months ago I went out and migrated from my Windows PC to a brand new MacBook Pro and LED display. I’m now a fully fledged Mac fan-boy and have been enjoying the exquisite design and usability of OSX; the nice crisp, vibrant screens and the generally awesome quality of the products since. With this is mind my MacBook comes in at number one!

2) Adobe Illustrator

As anyone who reads my blog would probably know, I’m a big fan of Adobe Illustrator and vector graphics. I love creating various styles of work and experimenting with the tools. Illustrator has been great in covering my needs in small print design jobs, the creation of abstract shapes and elements, and allowing some fun character designs.

3) Adobe Photoshop

While a lot of my design work in done in Illustrator, I depend on Photoshop for all of my web design work. The pixel based editing and nifty layer styles make it a great resource for creating designs specifically for the screen.

4) Coda

I had been a Dreamweaver user for a long time before finally switching to an alternative coding app, simply through habit of getting used to the shortcuts and working methodology. After trying out a few Mac coding apps I settled on Coda from Panic, and am now loving the speedy launch and overall lightweight feel.

5) WordPress

The WordPress application has been an invaluable resource, and has allowed me to publish two personal design blogs, as well as create multiple client sites with fantastic CMS functionality. Having used the application for a couple years now, I’m pretty much familiar with the workings, but there’s still a wealth of handy uses that are waiting for me to tap into.

Chris also created a video of the whole things so you can check that out as well.

[vimeo]http://vimeo.com/5091966[/vimeo]

Thank you so much Chris for taking the time to gather these up!