The Best Tools for

Designers
The best gear for designers, sorted by
career level and price.
The Essentials Tools For All Levels ($50)

§ Notebook: Moleskine Classic -$15 (See best notebooks)

§ Pens: Copic Multiliners – $23 (See best pens)
§ Creative Software: Adobe Creative Cloud (Get 40-65% off)

Beginners ($2435)
§ Laptop: Lenovo Yoga 730 – $579
§ and/or Desktop Computer: HP Pavilion Power Gaming Desktop Computer – $775
§ Monitor: Samsung LU28E570DS/ZA 28 UHD 4K Led-Lit Monitor – $249
§ Tablet: Parblo Coast10 10.1 Digital Pen Tablet Display Drawing Monitor – $198
§ Mouse: Microsoft Bluetooth Mobile Mouse 3600 – $24
§ Printer: HP ENVY 5055 Wireless All-in-One Photo Printer – $59
§ Camera: Nikon D3500 – $397
§ External Hard drive: Western Digital My Passport – $99
§ Ergonomic Chair: Office Essentials Mesh Back Swivel Chair by Amazon -$55

» View All Beginner Gear on Amazon

Mid-Career Expert ($8761)

§ Laptop: Dell XPS 15 – $1429 – $1738

§ and/or Desktop Computer: HP Envy 34” Curved All-in-One – $1879
§ Monitor: Dell UltraSharp UP3216Q – $1048
§ Tablet: Wacom Cintiq 13HD Interactive Pen Display – $799
§ Mouse: Logitech MX Ergo Wireless – $79
§ Printer: Epson Expression Photo HD XP-15000 Wireles Wide-format Printer –
$299
§ Camera: Panasonic Lumix GH5 – $2398
§ External Hard drive: WD My Book Duo External Hard Drive – $320
§ Ergonomic Chair: Sayl by Herman Miller – $510

» View All Mid-Career Gear on Amazon

Polished Professional ($14,680)

§ Laptop: Microsoft Surface Book 2 – $1220 – $1600+

§ and/or Desktop Computer: Apple iMac 5K Pro – $4920
§ Monitor: Eizo ColorEdge G2420-BK – $2426
§ Tablet: Wacom DTH1620AK0 Cintiq Pro 16”v Graphic Tablet with Link Plus –
$1499
§ Mouse: Logitech MX Master 2s – $79
§ Printer: Canon PIXMA Pro-100 Wireless Color Professional Inkjet Printer $331
§ Camera: Canon EOS 5D Mark IV – $3549
§ External Hard drive: G-Technology G-RAID with Thunderbolt – $529
§ Ergonomic Chair: Aeron by Herman Miller – $1270

» View All Pro Gear on Amazon

Extra Gear worth Considering

§ Color Guide: Pantone Swatch Book – $214

§ Monitor Calibrator: X-Rite ColorMunki Smile – $97
§ Smart Phone: Samsung Galaxy S8+ or iPhone $379 / $799
§ Dry Erase Board: VIZ-PRO Magnetic Dry Erase Board – $29
§ Noise-Cancelling Earphones: Bose SoundSport Free – $199
§ Standing Desk: FlexiSpot Standing Desk $280
Recommended Resources
Online Courses

§ SkillShare – Get 1-2 months of Skillshare Premium for free and get access to
thousands of online classes in design, photography, business, and more.

§ Udemy – As a JUST Creative reader, you get 70-95% off 35,000+ online
courses to teach you practically anything, including design.

Design Bundle Deals

§ DesignCuts – High quality design bundle deals and marketplace.

§ MightyDeals – Bundles, courses, ebooks, fonts, graphics, icons, themes

Hosting

§ BlueHost – BlueHost is my recommended web host for small to mid-sized busi-

nesses. Easy to use, great value, great support and my first choice for clients.
Just Creative readers save 43% off their hosting. See my tutorial on how to set
up your own website.

§ Media Temple – I have been hosting with them since 2010 and can highly
recommend for high performance, high trafficked websites.

Software & Services

§ Adobe Creative Cloud (Get 40- 65% off!) – Photoshop, Illustrator, etc

§ SmartMockups – Create stunning mockups with ease, without Photoshop.

§ Dropbox – My recommended in the cloud storage solution.

§ Logo Package Express – Export logo files in just one click.

§ Moo Printing – Business card printing and more. Get 25% Off.
Invoicing & Accounting

§ FreshBooks – Make those tedious accounting & invoicing tasks easy.

Stock Photography

§ Shutterstock – Highly recommended stock photography & vectors.

§ iStock – My second choice when it comes to stock photos.

Design Assets, Themes, Fonts

§ Envato Elements – Get unlimited downloads of 400,000+ Design Assets

including CMS Templates, HTML Templates, Fonts, InDesign Files, Stock Photos,
Mockups and much more.

§ FontBundles – Free fonts and font bundle deals.

§ MyFonts – Where I go to look for fonts, with regular deals.

§ ThemeForest – Top tier website templates & themes for WordPress, HTML,
Email, Joomla and Magento.

§ MojoThemes – WordPress, Joomla themes and more

facebook Join The JUST Creative Community
Network with like-minded designers, discuss design and learn from one another.

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About Jacob Cass

Jacob Cass is an Australian graphic designer who runs the popular design blog,
JUST Creative, which doubles as his award-winning design & branding firm. Jacob’s
clients have included Disney, Coca-Cola and Nintendo. Jacob has spoken at TEDx, been
featured in Forbes, Entrepreneur and has been awarded LinkedIn’s exclusive “Best of”
for graphic design. He enjoys writing in third person and would love to take your brand
to the next level. Visit justcreative.com to learn more.

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