Katie ShellyInterview
Media designer (Cooper-Hewitt Labs)
Adapted from Katie Shelly's interview on Uses This, published 3 July 2014. The kit is drawn from their answers and each reason is an excerpt, lightly edited. Shared under CC BY-SA 4.0. Read the full interview ↗
Is this you? Claim this kit →Hardware
My key piece of hardware is a Wacom Intuos4 tablet.
At the office, I have a 2009 Mac Pro 4,1 with 20GB of RAM.
I have Sennheiser HD280 Pro headphones, which are "just OK" for monitoring audio on video shoots (outside noise does leak in), but they are excellent for editing video/audio in a quiet office, and great for listening to music.
I have a great little card reader (ioGear GUH286) which combines SD, CF, and other card-readers all in one.
On video shoots, I use a Canon XF105 which is an awesome all-purpose camera for small budgets.
The Sony ECM 44b lavalier mic is solid, we have two.
We also use a Canon 50D for still shots, also solid.
For more formal video and still shots, we have Kino-Flo Diva Lites, which are very versatile and easy to use, and they run cool, which is great.
At home, where I do mostly illustration, occasional video/photo editing, and a bit of animation, I have a MacBook Pro 6,2 with 8GB of RAM.
I also have a nice external Samsung 2333SW propped up on a 6" wooden stand so it's at eye level.
I also am very particular about desk chairs, and I splurged on a Varier balans chair for my home setup.
Communication
Browser
Chrome is my browser of choice.
Design
All the illustrations and lettering in Picture Cook were drawn with the Intuos4, all in Photoshop.
I pop into After Effects for more precise motion/animation needs that come up.
I use InDesign for book layout.
I could never get into Illustrator, it feels too limiting and rigid compared to Photoshop.
Media
Storage
Dropbox for Business is invaluable for sending big files round the world.
Other
I use Sleepytime to play music for an hour before sleeping my computer when it's time for zzz's.