Designer News
Where the design community meets.
NYC Designer @ Big Human Joined over 9 years ago
lmao
Being a student and not knowing much about Apple computers at the time, I only opted for the base-level mid-2012, non-retina 13" MBP (2.5 i5, 4GB RAM, 500GB HDD) which I never upgraded in the 3 years I owned it and simply replaced with a mid-level 2015 15" MBP during my internship.
Sketch 3 worked great for small projects and I used the Marvel plugin pretty often. I ran into issues when having lots of high-res raster assets—fans spun up like crazy and my machine slowed to halt but that was actually a really crazy edge-case (I converted a bunch of PDF files into JPGs to use as assets for a concept app and they averaged at ~3000x4000 each jpg for some reason.) It also froze up when using some of the raster-editing tools built into Sketch but I wouldn't recommend relying on those anyway.
Up until last July, I was still using it for small projects in Sketch but I had been meaning to replace it for a bigger screen, slimmer body, and higher specs so I went and bought a refurbished 15" MBP. I'm running 16 GB of RAM and even when having Chrome, Sketch, Photoshop, InDesign, Atom, and GitHub Desktop open, my RAM usage only really peaks at ~10GB but I believe it scales depending on how much total RAM you have anyway so, 8 GB might be safe if you're only focusing on design stuff but it's great to have more RAM for the sake of multi-tasking. The SSD allows everything to boot faster but if we're talking Sketch specifically, I never really noticed a huge performance change compared to my old MBP. That being said, I still recommend an SSD anyway. And as for the processor, it should probably be the least of your concerns if you want to save money. Don't get a super-low spec one though, but don't sweat it if you didn't get the strongest one.
NOTE: Some have said that the size difference between the 13" and 15" is negligible but I found it pretty beneficial because I commute every day and can't always rely on an external monitor. Plus, I avoid scaling my resolution to fit more stuff because I just find it confusing when designing for different resolutions and my eyesight isn't great to begin with.
Perhaps being challenging to interact with is part of being experimental? Or maybe the designer isn't actively looking for work, hence this approach? And even if they are, maybe they're trying to target a specific kind of client that likes this kind of work?
I don't think the site is even failing at it's core functionality. I can still scroll, the links work, there are hover states, and I'm even given instructions from the very start.
Really digging the more experimental sites popping up on here!
I feel bad for folks on here who were expecting the site to hold their hands for them.
Trackpad. It's more comfortable for me, even when I'm working with complex vectors. It also keeps my hands closer to the keyboard whenever I need to type something or nudge stuff with the directional arrows. But I'll use a mouse on occasion for speed purposes because I tend to keep it at a high sensitivity.
It's not bad, to be honest. Sparse on features like gradients and simple typography tools (cough underlines cough) but it feels a lot like Sketch. I love that it's snappy and quick to load but don't expect performance to be all that great when dealing with lots of raster assets.
I haven't made much use of the built-in prototyping feature, though. It's certainly a nice-to-have but not exactly helpful when we have to present things to clients.
At the moment, it's most ideal for wireframes and lo-fi designs, but I'd love to see where Adobe takes it.
Thanks, dude! And best of luck to you too, on your full-time position!
It's a little bit of a personal concern since I've never lived anywhere outside of my home state. And I'm already fairly close to NYC so I've become more acquainted with the scene over there. It's not like I haven't thought about interning in cities like SF though, but I see your point. I'll keep my options open.
I'm on the hunt for a summer design internship! Thought it'd be best to start posting now.
Location: NJ/NYC area
Remote: No
Relocate: Let's talk about it!
Skills: UI design, identity, illustration, prototyping, some front-end development
Portfolio: www.mitchdecastro.com
Email: decastro.mitch@gmail.com
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love the transition between projects from the bottom links. very smooth