Apps, tech, websites, gear, and a few resources that make me better at the work. Some are sophisticated. Some are embarrassingly ordinary. They earned a place here because I use them, not because they pay me.
Seven tools carry most of the load. Everything else is a supporting cast.
The tools I reach for to think, research, write, design, build, and keep the work moving.
A thinking partner, researcher, critic, and writer. Increasingly, it's a way to turn an idea into working software. The useful part isn't the answer. It's compressing the distance between an idea and something I can test.
Where I explore interface ideas and prototype experiences quickly. The first output is never the design. It just makes the design conversation much faster.
Still in the production toolkit when the solution actually calls for an authored learning experience. Knowing the tool matters. Knowing when not to open it matters more.
Where planning, content thinking, and business organization live before they go public. It gives unfinished thinking somewhere to exist without pretending it's finished.
The home for everything I ship, including this site. Instead of stopping at a mockup or a spec, I can keep the real thing versioned, open, and improving.
Push a change, get a live link. That loop changed what I can build for practitioners. I ship the actual experience and learn from what happens next.
One of the pieces underneath the move from static learning resources toward real products, saved work, and connected practitioner experiences.
The actual equipment I use to record, light, and publish. These are the specific products in my setup, not generic category recommendations.
This is my grab-and-go audio setup for phone-first recording. Two tiny transmitters, almost no setup friction, and clean conversational audio without turning every recording into a production.
See it on Amazon Amazon affiliate link
The workhorse in my studio lighting setup. It gives me enough output for video while staying compact enough for the pretty limited footprint I have to record in.
See it on Amazon Amazon affiliate link
The Halo is only half the equation. The Light Dome softens the key light so I get a much more natural look without needing a giant studio or pushing the light halfway across the room.
See it on Amazon Amazon affiliate link
I use two of these as accent lights, not as my main key light. They're small, flexible, and easy to tuck into the room when I need separation or a little more depth in the background.
See it on Amazon Amazon affiliate link
This solves the eye-line problem that comes with reading a script while recording. The built-in monitor also means I don't have to sacrifice the phone I'm using as the camera just to run the prompt.
See it on Amazon Amazon affiliate linkOne book. Not another catalog. The Reading Room already exists for that.
Duarte maps the structure behind presentations that move people: the constant shift between what is and what could be. It has me rethinking how I frame learning experiences, starting with the audience as the hero instead of the content.
The Reading Room is where I keep the broader collection, notes, and recommendations.
Selective on purpose. A site belongs here when I keep coming back to it for the work, not because it has a referral program.
Not a sponsored shopping list. Most of this page isn't monetized. If a link ever becomes an affiliate or referral link, I'll say so right next to it. Read the full Affiliate Disclosure.