Our Favorite Creative Tools (And How We Use Them)

reCreative is a boutique design agency that thrives in creative spaces, but what do we use to channel our creativity (and how)? Get ready, because we’re about to share all our favorite creative tools and give you a behind-the-scenes look at how we use them.

MEG – Creative Director 

My favorite tools are my Nikon Zf, my iPad, and physical art books. 

My Nikon Zf allows me to take the kind of photos that I love to take – deep, moody beauties with a hint of something special. Reminiscent of a film camera, this camera is my go-to for all of reCreative’s shoots. 

I couldn’t live without my iPad. It’s where I do literally *everything*. I use it like a laptop when necessary, but typically use it for designing and illustrating. Additionally, I use my iPad as a digital hub for the business, housing all our daily tasks and notebooks to keep me on track.

And finally, books! Physical books are by far my favorite creative tool. You can learn so much just by going back in the archives and looking through design & photography books from yesteryear, or from the photographers and designers you look up to. Books have a way of making you focus that scrolling the internet endlessly does not. 

RAMAN – Director of Development

Figma is a powerful cloud-based design tool that excels in UI/UX design, wireframing, and prototyping, making it my top choice for real-time team collaboration. For tasks that require high-detail image editing, creating web graphics, or designing UI elements, I rely on Adobe Photoshop. When working with vector graphics, Adobe Illustrator is my go-to tool, as it’s ideal for designing icons, logos, and scalable web assets. Canva, on the other hand, is a user-friendly tool perfect for non-designers or for quickly creating social media and web graphics.

For inspecting and debugging CSS, JavaScript, and layout issues directly within the browser, I use Chrome DevTools. It’s indispensable when using themes and plugins, allowing for precise adjustments and real-time troubleshooting. When it comes to building fully custom websites, WordPress is my platform of choice. Its high capacity for customization means that no two sites are ever the same. 

To efficiently edit PHP, HTML, CSS, and JavaScript files in WordPress, I often use Notepad++. As a free source code editor, it’s lightweight and fast, launching quickly and running on minimal system resources—ideal for quick code tweaks and script editing.

KAITLYN – Marketing Assistant & Copywriter

Not to copy Meg, but I love reading books on the craft of writing. Whenever a prominent writer I’m a fan of comes out with a nonfiction piece on their writing process, I jump at the opportunity to learn from the masters. 

I have recently started to use Adobe Express to create visuals for clients and ourselves. I’m not a graphic designer, but Adobe Express is easy to use and super versatile, making it the perfect tool for me. I love that I can use it for so many different needs – it’s like a one-stop shop. 

Only half related to work, I love listening to music basically all the time. The half that’s work-related is because music can help increase productivity by improving concentration and performance on cognitive tasks. The non-work-related half has to do with my personal creative passion: dance. While I don’t often choreograph, it’s almost like I can see what the dance should look like in my head when I hear a particularly danceable song.  

Finally, I use the good old, reliable iMovie to edit long-form videos. It’s a classic for a reason. It’s easy to use, intuitive, and lets you add background music or your own audio with the click of a button. 

So there ya have it. All our favorite creative tools and how we use them to optimize our workflow. Do you use any of these creative tools? Any suggestions for new ones we should try out? Let us know!