Work smarter, not harder. With all of the decisions we need to make as designers, it’s helpful to find ways of streamlining our workflows so we can think more about the work itself.
All of the below apps have great keyboard shortcut support for power users.
🤩 Check out the bonus tip at the end to learn how to get all of these apps, an $83 value, plus 150 more paid apps, for less than $10 per month.
PixelSnap ($25)
The fastest tool for measuring anything on your screen
PixelSnap is a really handy app that makes it super easy (and fast!) to measure anything on your screen. It has grabbed a lot of attention so far, even from the biggest companies like Google and Cisco, who use this tool in their everyday work. Works everywhere. In every app. It doesn’t matter where you need to use it, because PixelSnap works on the entire screen, across all apps.
Has integration with Sketch and Adobe XD!
Cleanshot ($19)
Users of Skitch rejoice! If you’ve been looking for a simple yet powerful screenshot tool to replace Skitch, this is your answer.
Capture your screen in a superior way!
Taking screenshots is not a big deal. But when you have to customize and share multiple screen captures, it could become a cumbersome process. CleanShot is a small app that helps you swiftly capture Mac’s screen without desktop icons in the background, annotate or blur specific parts, set custom wallpaper for your screenshots, and lots more.
Integrates with PixelSnap above.
Sip ($10)
I use this countless times every day to grab the colour of anything visible on my screen.
A better way to collect, organize & share your colors.
Finding that perfect color made easy with Sip. Use this robust color detector to determine, isolate and identify specific colors. Get the exact color you need and use smart formats aligned with your software. Interact with your colors directly from the touch bar. This color picker makes a wonderful solution for those who interact with different colors on a regular basis. Discovering beautiful colors and managing them is easy and fun with Sip.
Goldie ($5)
A designer’s ruler with superpowers
Goldie App is the best way to measure and visualize golden ratio on Mac. Calculate from any ratio point, toggle between tailored ruler themes, and customize how you use Goldie. A small tool that helps produce immaculate, balanced design effortlessly.
Noizio ($9)
I find lyrical music too distracting for tasks with a heavy cognitive load.
Ambient sounds app to set the right mood
Fond of a relaxing sound atmosphere? Adore rain, wave or fireplace sounds? Looking for a cool app to bring you mind relaxing music? Look no further than Noizio. The app provides ambient and chilling sound effects, boasting minimalistic and elegant design. You may be sitting in your office and enjoying campfire sounds as if you were near a warm fire. Get the work done in a more pleasurable way. Or simply sit back and let your mind rest in a comforting sound atmosphere.
To get your AirPods connected in lightning speed setup a keyboard shortcut using ToothFairy ($5).
Paste ($15)
Once you’ve used a clipboard manager you’ll never go back. Directly displays colours grabbed using Sip. Paste feels like part of macOS — any Mac I use feels broken without it.
The new way to copy and paste on Mac and iOS
How about significantly boosting your daily copy-and-paste workflow? Use Paste app when you wish to simultaneously copy and paste multiple items and get back the stuff you’ve copied before within seconds. Wondering how it works? Everything is rather straightforward. This powerful clipboard history manager automatically keeps everything you have copied regardless of its format — text, pictures, screenshots, links, and others. So, you quickly get anything back anytime you need it. Thus, it can be said without exaggeration, the app unlimits your Mac’s clipboard capacity. What is more, with this fancy app, you now have a wonderful possibility to store the most important history items in one place in a well-structured manner and access it easily across all your devices using Paste.
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Leave a comment if you have a recommendation for a Mac tool that makes your job easier or more fun!
🤩 BONUS TIPS 🤩
All of the above apps, and 150 more paid apps, are available through a SetApp subscription for only $9.99/month.
If you find your menubar filling up from all of your fancy new tools, use Bartender ($15) to clean up that visual noise; it’s also available through a SetApp subscription.
