In light of Apple’s recent event with new hardware announcements, my friends and I got together for our latest episode of Ultra Pro Max to chat about it. We did a quick overview of things and then focused on a few things that stood out to us. 

Listen now on your favorite podcast player.

Here’s the guide I wish I could have found before I started making a podcast. This is by no means comprehensive, but it does have all the basics you’ll need to get started. 

It’s also my current understanding as of Fall 2023. I still feel like a complete baby at this, so please share any feedback on how this could be better!

I’ll start with the two scenarios I run into the most, recording with a friend remotely and recording in a room together. For both of these scenarios I’m assuming you’re doing an audio only podcast; video is a whole other beast I haven’t figured out yet.

Option 1 – Recording remotely with a friend

For my podcast, Fractional, Lance and I record remotely. I’m in my office in Post Falls, and he’s in his office 45 minutes north of me. I’ll start by sharing the cheapest way you can get started, then add in some upgrades. 

What you’ll need physically:

1. Buy two microphones. Yeti is just fine for starting out.
2. Buy two pop filters
3. Make sure you both have headphones! Even if it’s just $1 headphones that plug in. It’s a nightmare without it. 
4. Two computers
5. Stacks of books to set the Yeti on. The stand it comes with isn’t tall enough. 

What you’ll need for software:

1. Google docs
2. Riverside subscription ($12/month)
3. Google Chrome

Putting it all together:

• Microphone – Plug the Yeti into your computer; turn the gain all the way to the left, and make sure to switch the dial to the tiny heart icon. Make sure your co-host does the same.
• Pop filter – Put that puppy onto your Yeti. It helps pick up sound better. Make sure your friend does the same.
• Headphones – Plug your headphones into your Yeti. This will take some getting used to, but it helps you know what others are hearing, and you’ll know for sure if your Mic is working. Make sure your co-host does the same.
• Stack of books – Stack the Yeti so that you’re facing directly into the side of it next to the solid red light, not the top. Yeti’s are made for speaking into the side. You know the drill, make sure your co-host’s mic is stacked up as well. 
• Google Docs – Your show lives in Google Docs. You’ll want an agenda doc so each of you can look at something during the call. This then gets updated each week. Here’s an example of one we use for Fractional. Throughout the week we add things to the backlog. 
• Riverside – Use Google Chrome to login to Riverside as the host and share the link with your co-host. They’ll login as a guest. Make sure your mic and headphones are set correctly. 

How the recording goes:

For the pre-show you and your co-host each jump onto Riverside (using Google Chrome) from your separate computers and start recording. I don’t mind recording early so I won’t forget later. We also make sure we have the Google Doc open in a separate window so we can track the agenda together. This is also the time where we set the agenda for what we’re going to chat about that day. As long as the app is recording you’re good!

During the show you must both stay in Google Chrome or bad things will happen! The app doesn’t have to be active on the screen, but you can’t close it. 

When we’re actually ready to start the show one of us (or both of us; it’s hilarious trying to time it) will clap loud so that it’s easier to find on the audio tracks. 

Sometimes when we say the show is over I don’t stop recording. Some of the best bits have come after we thought we were done. 

Important: Once you’re done recording press “stop” and make sure you both stay in the application until Riverside says “done” on both ends; otherwise it won’t be able to finish uploading the audio files.

Once the show is over you’ll want to go back into Riverside to grab the recordings. Make sure to get the audio file for each of your voices. The synced raw file is perfect if available; if not don’t sweat it. Makes sure you have two audio files, one for each host. This will be important later. 

Ok, you’re done for now! Jump ahead if you want to know what’s next.

Option 2 – Recording with a friend in the same room

Recording in the same room is a little different. For an upcoming podcast that I’m working on we both get together in the same room in my office. 

In this case I sit on one side of the desk and my friend RJ sits on the other side so we can see each other. Each of us props a laptop up in front of us so we can follow the Google doc. 

What you’ll need physically:

1. Buy two microphones. Yeti is just fine for starting out.
2. Buy two pop filters
3. Plug headphones into one laptop that’s recording. Otherwise you’ll get a horrible echo.  
4. A Mac (laptop or desktop) computer to record on
5. Stacks of books to set the Yeti on. The stand it comes with isn’t tall enough. 

What you’ll need for software:

1. Google docs
2. AudioHijack for the Mac. I don’t know the best Windows equivalent.

Putting it all together:

• Microphone – Plug both Yeti’s into the Mac; turn the gain all the way to the left, and make sure to switch the dial to the tiny heart icon. 
• Pop filters – Put that puppy on both Yeti’s. It helps pick up sound better. 
• Headphones – Plug your single pair of headphones into your computer. You won’t need to wear them, just make sure they’re plugged in.
• Stack of books – Stack both Yetis so that each of you are facing directly into the side of it next to the solid red light, not the top. Yeti’s are made for speaking into the side.
• Google Docs – Your show lives in Google Docs. You’ll want an agenda doc so each of you can look at something during the call. This is where your co-host can use their laptop, but it’s not required. This then gets updated each week. Here’s an example of one we use for Fractional. Throughout the week we add things to the backlog. 
• AudioHijack – Setup AudioHijack to have a block for each input device, and a separate recorder for each input device [screenshot]. This is critical since you’ll to record separate audio tracks for each of you. I go a little fancier so I can see that things are actually recording, as well as record a combined track for easy playback later, but it’s optional [screenshot].

How the recording goes:

For the pre-show I like to do a quick test in AudioHijack, where each of us speak into our mics, then listen back in the recordings sidebar to make sure things sound good. Then I just start recording for real and go into the pre-show where we talk about the agenda. 

Once we are ready to actually do the show I’ll often clap so it’s easier to find that later. I find recording earlier than I expected helps pick up fun pre-show bits we might use later. 

Sometimes when we say the show is over I don’t stop recording. Some of the best bits have come after we thought we were done. 

Once you’re done recording press stop and make sure you have two audio files, one for each host. This will be important later. 

Ok, you’re done for now!

What to do after you’re done recording

Whether in person or remotely I end up with two audio files, one for each host. I then save these files on my iCloud Drive in a folder structure like this:

Fractional / Episode 001 / Original Files

You’ve done it, congratulations! We’ll get to editing and publishing later; but give yourself a pat on the back. You and your co-host nailed it; you’re rock stars. You’ve created a podcast!

Now, there’s an old joke that every podcast will lose an episode eventually because of technical issues. It happens, it sucks, but don’t sweat it if that happens to you. It’s a rite of passage for starting a podcast. So if it happens early consider yourself lucky and learn from it!

Usually in the beginning you’ll want to just chuck your first few podcasts into a folder and leave them there, unless you both know you nailed it your first time. That’s how I’ve handled most podcasts I’ve started, we give ourself the first 6-10 episodes to practice, then archive those and start recording for real. 

Editing

Regardless of whether you recorded remotely or in the same room you should now have two audio files that are the exact same length. 

For editing you’ll want to grab Audacity, a free app online. There’s other great apps that cost money, and I’m going to start experimenting with them, but for starting out Audacity is perfect. Drop both audio tracks into Audacity and you should see two tracks that are the same length, one with each of your voices. 

Now, you can do a lot of editing, or a little. Here’s my recommendation for getting started.

• Easy cuts – At the very least you’ll want to edit out the pre-show, post-show, and any big hiccups you may have made in the podcast.
• Truncate silence – I like to Truncate Silence. I do -35dB threshold, 0.5 second duration, and compress to 35%. This helps to remove large gaps where no-one was speaking [screenshot].
• Compress – Go to Effect > Compress. I set Threshold: -18 dB, Noise Floor: -40 dB, Ratio: 2:1, Attack Time: 0.50 secs, and Release Time: 1.0 secs. I don’t know the technical term for what’s happening, but it compresses down the highs and lows and softens things out on the tracks. This is really great if one person is louder than the other [screenshot]
• Normalize – Go to Effect > Normalize. I checkmark the first option to Remove DC offset, checkmark the second option to Normalize peak amplitude and set it to -1.0 dB. I leave the last option unchecked (to normalize stereo channels independently) [screenshot].

Publishing

I use Hover.com to buy a domain, and tend to prefer .fm domains or .coms. Then I use Buzz Sprout to host the site; I’m open to alternatives but for now this is working. 

There’s different philosophies on publishing schedules, but I try to publish once a week or once a month at a set time depending on the cadence my hosts and I setup. Ideally you’ll have a handful of episodes ready to go (unless your content is news related), so that can publish on an expected schedule. 

Some times I add in chapters, but not always. I try to add in show-notes with at least a high level of what we discussed, and any links to things we referenced.

You’ll also want to publish your podcast to Apple podcasts separately, and BuzzSprout should have a good guide on how to do that. You just have to do it once then BuzzSprout will take care of it later. 

Yay! You’ve done it. Your podcast is now live. Send me your first episode, I’d love to listen to it! If there’s a step I missed, or doesn’t make sense, please let me know and I’ll add it in.

Extras

Below are a few things I’ve started to shift beyond the basic setup, which you’ll probably be interested in after your first few episodes are out of the way.

• Recording remotely without Riverside – As an alternative to Riverside, Lance and I have started using Zoom to meet remotely during our calls so we can hear and see each other. I then use Audio Hijack to record my audio, and Lance uses Quicktime to record on his end. I then sync the audio up at the end so that we have the clearest local audio that sounds perfect regardless of whether the internet is choppy on either end. I also record on Zoom as a backup in case something happens with our local recordings. I’ve been using Zoom recording to the Cloud, but am going to try Local and see if that allows me to have separate tracks. 
• Upgrading hardware – I currently use Yeti’s boom with a shock mount to position the microphone right up against my mouth without having to use a stack of books. It’s not necessary for starting out, but it’s nice to have the mic positioned where it needs more easily. I also two other microphones I’m experimenting with, but can’t make a recommendation yet. If you’re looking for recommendations on upgrades check out Marco Arment’s fantastic post. 
• Ferrite Recording Studio for editing – I’ve started using Ferrrite first. I use it to line up my tracks (if I’m using my alternate recording method), remove umms and stutters, and clean up areas where one person stopped talking and another person started talking. This is a fantastic app on the iPad that uses an Apple Pencil. The only way I’ve found to get tracks onto Ferrrite is to upload them to iCloud Drive and import them via the Files app on Ferrrite. Jason Snell has a helpful YouTube video that shows the process of editing that he uses. It’s my favorite way to edit audio. Once I’m done with this I export from Ferrite back to my Mac, then normalize and compress in Audacity. 

Next year is going to be interesting. I’m hoping to save up enough to buy a Vision Pro and experience a new world of audio and visual. Until then, I get the sense (and hear from those who have tried it) that AirPods are the first true dip into an augmented reality world; at least for the masses. I’ve thought about writing this post a handful of times in the past week, but kept thinking it wasn’t worth the energy. A recent discussion on Connected convinced me that I’m not the only one.

I’ve owned a handful of AirPods at this point, and the AirPods Pro 2 are nothing short of amazing. If they died today I’d immediately grab my original Pros and put them on, then drive to the nearest Walmart to buy another pair. They’re that good.

I can limit the world around me while I work, listen to a podcast while running, use them for video calls and music, and generally augment my audio experience however I want. For someone who works at a computer much of the day this is a joy. There’s little chance I’d ever go back to a world without these.

The noise cancelling is so good that I can keep the volume lower, which is a plus for my ears; where louder sounds tend to feel overwhelming. Given that these sit in my ears for hours on end, I’ve even limited how high they can go on the decibels, out of concern for my ears in my older years.

When Apple announced Adaptive audio and Conversational Awareness at WWDC I was more excited about these features than any other updates for Apple hardware (the hardware I own at least). Then I tried them.

Here’s the thing about active noise cancellation (ANC). It’s amazing. It changes how I perceive the world. It turns a miserable airplane ride into something a little less horrid. It quiets everything at a co-working space, and even dims the yells of happy children right outside my office. I love AirPods, and the ANC part of it is fantastic.

AirPods Pros 2 are a massive improvement over their predecessors; with one weird exception where the devices themselves are sensitive to touch, so laying on my side on a pillow, or brushing a finger against them “feels” off. But that aside, I use these exclusively and my originals sit in my closet.

So, with that context, I was extremely excited to test out the new features in the beta. I tried them, and even told my wife that they’d make conversation easier since my device would now understand we were talking and automatically adjust the audio for it.

It’s not good enough.

Within a few days I disabled both features entirely and went back to my normal AirPods modes. The conversational awareness triggered at times when I didn’t want it, and the adaptive audio felt finicky. It wasn’t reliable enough. I couldn’t trust that it would just work and behave in the way that my brain expected.

I thought I’d write more about it, but it just feels off and not worth shifting from the already amazing experience I have now.

Maybe things will improve in future software and hardware updates, but for now I’m back to toggling between Transparency Mode and Noise Cancellation mode; and frankly that’s enough. I either pull out my AirPods when I need to talk to someone, or switch to Transparency mode if I’m expecting a quick response.

That aside, I’m excited to see how Apple continues to push these into the future. I’ll instantly buy a new generation, which has me wondering about the new USB-C announcement last week.

I loved reading Michal’s take on tools, and how so much of it tends toward the defaults offered by Apple. 

I’ve talked about this at length with my friend, Saadi recently, and again appreciate his desire to focus on default system apps first. 

My take is a little different. 

There’s a spectrum of following the flow of what an app offers, the decisions it makes for you, and finding an app you can bend to your own preferences. Picking a default app leans in the direction of following the flow of the app. That’s a good thing I think! So often we have decision overload in our lives. Picking up an app, getting your stuff done, and moving on, is perfect for most of what we do.

But. 

I can’t quite make it work for some of my apps. I spend most of my waking hours on a screen of some sort or another. I’m not necessarily a power user, but I do spend a lot of time with various productivity apps. If something doesn’t work how I expect it’s hard for me to just accept the app’s limitation.

I’ll pick the standout examples.

Google Calendar versus Apple’s Calendar app

I’ve tried to switch to Apple Calendar numerous times. I want to use it so badly, if for no other reason than to have events show up in a timely fashion on my Apple Watch. But on the phone I think in week views, and Apple’s solution to it just doesn’t cut it for me. On the Mac it’s a little better, but then I run into sync issues. I have a work calendar running on a Gmail account, my personal gmail, my personal domain email, and all my Apple devices. The best way I’ve found to setup all that is through Google Calendar. 

Mail vs HEY

I can’t use Apple’s mail app. 

I tried years ago and it just did not work with the way my brain functions. For one, search is horrendous, and for another I don’t like the way it sorts mail. I used Gmail for years, going all the way back to 2004 with a beta account. I loved how it worked. Search was perfect, and archiving matched my brain’s desire for inbox zero. When HEY.com came out I gave it a chance and have loved it ever since. Filtering emails away from the inbox toward other areas, and screening out unwanted emails is a killer feature. 

If other email providers adopt this I could be compelled to switch; but I love the calmness of my inbox being a place I have control over. 

With that said, HEY’s search feature is pretty bad. So bad in fact that I set aside emails I think I’ll need later. 

Things 3 vs Reminders

Apple’s Reminders app has come a long way. It is a decent app that helps keep track of lists. But it’s not a great app for planning out my day.

While I use calendar events for anything that connects me to another person, I use Things 3 as a cheat sheet for what I need to get done today, tonight, and tomorrow. Reminders doesn’t have an elegant way for me to easily shift between those two ways of thinking.

That, along with the fantastic integration on iPhone widgets and Apple Watch, make this an app I just can’t go without. 

Bear vs Notes

This is one area where I’m not so sure anymore. A year ago I wouldn’t have considered Apple Notes. Bear Notes has been my app of choice for all note taking for 5+ years. But with their recent update they’ve changed a lot of the features I’m used to, and made the experience worse (for me at least). I started testing Apple Notes again and was surprised at how great it is. Other than missing markdown, it’s a solid app. I might actually switch to this for all my notes going forward. 

I look forward to Apple events. 

It’s a fun time of year for me where I can imagine how new hardware and software will improve my life in small or large ways. In some ways this feels silly to talk about, unimportant in the grand scheme of things. But I find delight in it and give myself permission to geek out. 

Today’s Apple event was no exception. This time, though, I did something different. Two friends and I got together and recorded a podcast to talk about our initial thoughts and reactions to the podcast. We may publish it someday, we may not. It’s an upcoming project in the works. Still, it was fun to have a place to share. I found myself looking forward to recording the podcast. Normally I wait for my favorite shows to drop their episodes. That won’t change, but this time around I held off looking at any reactions until I’d shared mine. I like this. 

Here’s a summary of some of the things we discussed on the podcast, along with my gut reactions. 

Apple Watch Series 9

I love the pink color. It’s really well done, at least from what I can tell in the video. I’m excited to see it in person. I wouldn’t wear a pink watch myself, but it looks amazing. 

The new S9 chip feels huge inside of the device. I haven’t checked yet, but I was surprised at its size. Seems like a moderate spec bump. 

For on-device Siri I’m hopeful. Siri to this day has been a disappointment for me. It never performs as well as I hope, and I’ve ended up disabling it on all my devices. I will probably skip this update as well, but I recognize the value of having Siri available even when you’re offline. 

Name drop to share contacts looks cool. I might try this at a convention next time I’m meeting new people. Other than that I don’t see it being used often enough to develop a habit. 

The ultra wide band iPhone finder is a useful feature. I’ve loved having a better way to find my AirPods, and having it for the phone from my watch will be useful. 

2000 nits feels like a lot. Brightness outside is always a challenge, so bring on the nits. 

My favorite feature, and the one that feels like the standout, is the double tap action. At least a few times a day I need to change something on my audio, whether pausing a podcast or song or answering a phone call. Being able to control that action without pressing any glass—or worse yet trying to use my voice—sounds amazing.

I really enjoyed the environmental video with Octavia Spencer. She killed it. In fact, everyone in the ad nailed their roles. From Tim Cook’s humorous hesitation to Lisa Jackson going toe-to-toe with Mother Earth, each person played their part and as my friend Saadia called out, the ad could easily have trended toward cringey but pulled it off well. 

I was surprised that in removing leather from across Apple’s product line they chose not to replace it with it vegan leather option. I was expecting that, but given their environmental angle I wonder if alternate leather options are just as bad. The FineWoven options look good, and I’d like to try one to see how they feel and hold up over time. They’re different, and I applaud the effort. 

Apple Watch Ultra 2

A solid upgrade. 3000 nits is so much. I think that will make a legitimate difference outside when trying to read the screen. I don’t see a compelling reason to upgrade compared to the Series 9, but that was true last year as well. 

My main reason to get an Ultra comes down to battery and the large screen. I’m interested, but not sure the increased cost justifies the price difference. 

Apple Watch SE

I appreciate that they dropped the price to $249. I’m considering getting one for my son. 

iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus

Love the pink! Nice colors across the line.

Everything has a dynamic island now. That’s good! I hope this will bring more attention to developing for this area of the screen. I couldn’t tell but I think Flighty got a callout for the airline app. I need to try that!

Next generation portraits is an amazing update. I won’t have to remember which mode to choose ahead of time. I’ve been playing with cinematic mode over the last year and love being able to change the focal points in editing. Doing that with photos is a great addition. 

Find my via Satellite is such a great addition to Satellite SOS. While the former is something I can see using with family on occasion, the latter I hope to never need. 

I’ve been thinking about USB-C, and I’m guessing it will be a welcome change; eventually. It’s a massive shift for the average iPhone buyer. Many don’t have other USB-C devices laying around. When I shared with a non-tech friend after the event she gave an eye roll to the cord change. 

iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max

This piece is already getting longer than I intended, so I’ll cut to the main points that interest me. 

I like having titanium. A lighter phone will be a welcome change. The new cameras look legit and I’m excited to try them. 

The biggest update though? I was surprised to see spatial videos! I want to capture these types of videos of my kids while they’re still small, even though I can’t actually view them yet on any medium. This alone warrants an upgrade. 

——

As to what I’ll buy—I’m guessing I’ll get an Apple Watch Series 9, hand down my Series 8 to my wife. For my phone I have a 14 Pro, but I think we’ll get an iPhone 15 Pro Max for my wife, since she hasn’t upgraded in three years. 

I’ve been listening to a lot of podcasts over the years, and as an exercise I wanted to collect the intro sounds from some of my favorites. This is for my own purpose as I try to figure out what I want my podcasts to sound like in their intros (fractional.fm for now, and more coming), and it may be helpful to others. Please note that the quality of these is very low, as I was more interested in the sound than any specific recording quality.

Accidental Tech Podcast

Connected

Cup of Tech

Dithering

Downstream

Launched

Mac Power Users

Magic Rays of Light

Material

Reconcilable Differences

Sharp Tech

Stratechery

The Rebound

Upgrade

I use a MacBook Pro and iPad every single day for work. Both devices have become critical to what I do as a designer and creative person. Several years ago I tried to make the iPad my primary device for everything design related. It didn’t work. It forced me to make too many tradeoffs and find workarounds for simple tasks. 

Things have settled though, and I now have a workflow that feels about as perfect as I could imagine. I work on a laptop for communication, high-fidelity design work, and just about everything else. 

But when it comes time to think, where I need to process the user experience of an app, think through a tough visual challenge, for connect chaotic pieces together, I always turn to the iPad. 

Over the years I’ve written about the various iPad apps for sketching: Miro, Paper, Linea Sketch, Adobe’s products, Procreate, etc. Each have their uses, and I’ve tried all of them and a dozen other options. With each app I’m looking for the closest thing to a piece of paper and pencil. Now, in the last year, Freeform has become my favorite app by far. Despite some [challenges] I’ve had with it, I can’t imagine using anything else now.

Thinking, for me, doesn’t happen in an app like Figma. Instead, I have to use my hand and a stylus to process through something. An iPad with Freeform is a perfect expression of that. After I’ve figured out the actual layout of something, I can then open an app like Figma and fuss with interface elements.

To go along with that I’ve also wrestled with iPad sizes. I currently own an iPad Pro 12.9″ and an iPad mini. While I bought the mini for travel, and setup the larger iPad on an Elevation Lab stand for my desk, I turned more and more to the mini. Now I’m 100% on the mini. There’s just something special about holding a tiny tablet in one hand and sketching with the other. It’s as close to a notepad as I could imagine, and it’s perfect. 

If you haven’t experimented with this, I highly recommend it. Any iPad will do, but training myself to think first by hand has helped me become a better designer. 

Over the years my digital workspace has transformed through the viewport of various screen sizes. I started my career with a 13″ CRT monitor as a teenager. At 15 I bought my own 15″ laptop. At 19 I purchased two 22″ Acer laptops and put them on a desk. I had it made.

Later I bought an LG Ultrafine 5k (27-inch) and when that died dropped back down to a 14″ MacBook Pro. That’s where I’m sitting now. Everything I design and craft is through that screen, alongside my iPad mini for low-fidelity sketching.

With Apple’s Vision Pro announcement I was interested in one thing: could I realistically use this in place of a single or dual-monitor screen situation.

The answer, based on the keynote today, is maybe.

Having large screen real estate in a virtual space could be a big deal. Being able to open apps, draw, sketch, design and have large reference screens beside me, all those things could be game changing.

The challenge is how it all works together.

Here’s an inventory of the apps I use right now:

• Figma
• Freeform
• Bear notes
• Safari
• Things 3
• iCloud Drive
• Zoom
• Notion
• Audacity
• Chrome (for podcast recording)
• Illustrator

These apps make up 95% of my usage on a Mac. So if I can use the Vision Pro as a secondary monitor situation for the Mac, and connect my keyboard and Apple Mouse, then it feels like a no brainer to buy.

I’m curious about focusing. Will things feel shaky when I’m trying to adjust pixels or sketch?

I have so many questions, but I’m excited. Will this replace larger monitors?

Going to spend far too many hours over the next year analyzing that question and figuring out if this is for me.

Why I use two iPads, and why I’d pick the mini if I could only have one.

Freeform was the most exciting to come out of WWDC. I saw its potential immediately, and couldn’t wait to get my hands on it.

I’m a software product designer, and sketch out all of my work on the iPad as a starting point before moving into Figma.

Here’s an example:

I work with several founders at a time, sketching their apps and helping to improve their products. It’s critical that I have an app that I can rely on to create hundreds of sketches.

My app of choice used to be Miro, and before that Linea Sketch, and before that Paper 53. I’ve tried every app that’s available for the iPad, and written about them in the past.

A few months ago I started trying out Freeform as a potential replacement for Miro. I just checked and I now have dozens of projects in Freeform. It wasn’t until a few weeks ago I realized I had transitioned 100% over to this new app. So, I canceled my Miro subscription.

I’ve been listening to other tech and Apple enthusiasts talk about Freeform, but haven’t heard anyone make the case that meets my needs.

Here’s a few more examples:

---

This app was made for folks just like me. I need a large canvas, need to hand draw my work, and it has to work on my iPad.

The app is good. It’s an amazing v1.0 of an Apple product, and it’s immediately beaten out every other app available – for my use case at least.

I’ve been keeping an eye on things I don’t like and do like, and have been meaning to write a piece on how cool this app is.

I’m taking the time to write this because of how much I already love the app. It’s passed the requirements for using it, and I can trust it in production with real client work. It’s fantastic and has become my most important design tool (along with Figma).

First, let’s start with the good.

The good

• Palm rejection works – This has been my biggest challenge with Miro over the years. If they changed one thing about their iPad app, I’d love to have a little toggle to only allow inputs with the Apple pencil. Palm rejection is horrendous and makes the app unusable at times. On Freeform it’s much better, worlds better in fact. Sometimes I run into issues of jittering with my Apple pencil, but after coming from an app that made me sometimes want to chuck my iPad across the room, it’s like a breath of fresh air.
• The canvas – Freeform has a large canvas, and allows for a lot of work. That’s a must.
• The tools – The tools for drawing are good. They work as expected, and I’m able to get my work done.

The bad

• Lag – Many of my UI pages start to get big. I’m sketching out entire app flows after all. Once I have the equivalent of 2-3 pages of an app, Freeform starts to lag a bit. The biggest area where this is a problem is in duplicating elements. If I draw a page of an app, and want to duplicate it, Freeform immediately freezes up and struggles with the request. Miro has some issues in this as well, but just limits my duplication to a certain amount of elements at once on the iPad. It might make sense for Freeform to do something similar.
• Naming files – This is a small issue, but it’s very annoying. Because of the duplication lag, I often duplicate entire files as a workaround, to save my previous work. However, when duplicating the files I want to rename them. But while naming I don’t know if the name I’m giving the file is a duplicate of another. So I enter the file name, and Freeform says it’s a duplicate – then asks me to start over. I wish the app didn’t do that, just throw the error, keep my text in the input field, and let me modify it myself.
• Duplication – Freeform struggles with moving large groups of elements. I can design an app, duplicate it and move it around, and many of the elements will shift on screen and get out of place. It’s unusable in some cases.
• Contextual menu popups – When I’m duplicating and moving elements I often run into issues with the contextual menu appearing when I don’t want to. I haven’t sat on this one long enough to figure out exactly what’s wrong, but it often shows up when I don’t want it.
• Weird zooming – Zooming in and out is choppy in the app. It’s nothing like the fluid pinch to Zoom I love from Miro and Figma. It’s almost like the app has to pause in between zoom sizes.
• Bonus: Zoom on the Mac – This is very weird. It’s so different from how most modern apps (like Figma and Miro) work, I have to click a button to zoom in or out. Feels like I’m back in 2005 with software.
• Selecting – A big part of UX design is sketching things, dragging them around, and playing with them (I really should write more about my process at some point). When I select a group of lines, and then want to move them around, I have to select the an area that is actually filled in. If I accidentally tap on the canvas of the selected area I have to start all over again. It’s incredibly frustrating, especially when I’m drawing with thin lines.
• Cross platform – I cannot trust Freeform cross platform. When I draw on an iPad, then pick up a second iPad or my Mac, and try to view the files, often 20-50% of the liens I’ve drawn are moved around. This has caused a bit of freaking out on my part as I’ve worried I lost data. Thankfully whenever I go back to the original device it looks ok, but I don’t have any confidence in cross device compatibility. This is a big deal for me as I like to switch between my iPad Pro 12.9 on the desktop and my iPad Mini on a reclining chair or on the go. I can’t do this though, I have to only use the iPad that corresponds to the Freeform file I created. It’s annoying.

Ok, so that’s the good and the bad. Now I’d like to get onto my wishlist for the next version of this app.

Wishlist

• Projects – Or some kind of organization. this is done well on Figma and Miro, and I’d like something similar on Freeform.
• Changing default brush colors – Unless I’m missing something, there’s no way to change these colors, so I have to modify them each time I open the app.
• Shortcuts to undo – I’m used to tapping two fingers to undo. Every other drawing app (except Notes of course) does this, I’d love quickly undo without breaking my flow and having to find the button.
• Setting defaults for brushes – I’d like to set the default sizes and colors for the tools.
• Constrain resizing – When I go to resize elements I’d like to force constraints. I’d actually even prefer that if it was the only option.
• Horizontal and vertical flip – Quite useful when I sketch something out and realize it’s facing the wrong way.
• Ruler – I don’t need a ruler exactly, but I’d like some kind of way to draw a straight line (Linea handles this pretty well)
• Grouping – Being able to group and ungroup objects would be really helpful in moving things around. I see an option to Separate, but haven’t been able to figure out what that does.
• Exporting – I wish there were more export features. Adding PNG along with PDF would be fine.
• Move to front and back – I don’t need layers per say, but like Miro I’d love if I could move objects to the front or back of the canvas.
• UI assets – I love how Linea Sketch has a few background assets, such as a template for an iPhone. It helps save a lot of time.

I’m hoping this tool continues to improve, I’m loving it already and feel like it’s made my job easier as a designer.

One final example:

I’ve been intrigued by watches my whole life. While I wouldn’t consider myself anywhere close to an actual enthusiast – I know just enough to realize I know almost nothing about the industry – I’m quite interested in watches in relation to their impact on technology as a wearable. I’ve often been curious how they could change my life.

As a kid I was gifted cheap watches for birthdays, and also bought a few at Walmart over the years. However, they always seemed to break within a week or two, requiring me to return to the kitchen stove to check on the time throughout the day.

At 16 I was gifted a nicer watch. I don’t remember the exact brand, but I think it was a Casio, and it wasn’t cheap. It had a few fancy features, and even had a small section to painfully add notes.

The story with all of them was always the same. I’d try one on for a while, play with all of the settings, and appreciate the awesomeness that a watch brought into my life. Watches were a bit of a superpower, enabling me to connect to something more than just my direct environment.

But I could never quite make a watch work longterm. First, I hadn’t found one that felt comfortable to wear. The bands pulled at the hairs on my wrist, they never fit well, and over time most of them wore out.

Finally at 19 I gave away my last watch, and for the most part never looked back. There were been a few times in my 20s and 30s that I tried again, but I was never happy.

I didn’t like the general design of most watches I found.

Analog watches are, to this day, hard for me to read.

Most bands suck. The fit is usually off.

Typing with a watch feels weird since it raises my left wrist off the keyboard; this is probably a bad ergonomic habit on my part, but still I’ll count it.

I often bumped my watch hand against stuff, since I wasn’t used to having it as part of my body.

With those frustrations came another element. I got an iPod Touch in 2010 and it instantly made a watch irrelevant in many ways.

Then the iPhone came along. While I was a late adopter – getting my first model in 2013 – it changed everything for me. A watch just didn’t make sense, and I didn’t like the ones I’d tried.

I bought a jawbone step counter, I tried 3-4 different Fitbit devices. But they never lasted.

Finally, in 2022, I bought my first Apple Watch. I picked the Series 8 in 45 mm, and chose the velcro sport band. I’ve been sitting on this watch for a few months now, trying it and seeing how it fits into my life. In short – and time will tell if I still feel this way in the future – it seems to address all the problems I’ve had with a watch.

The band

Even though it’s velcro, the band is fantastic. It doesn’t pull at the hairs on my wrist, I can adjust it to just the perfect size, and it has a low enough profile to not throw off my wrist while typing.

Time

I mentioned not liking analog watches. I found a digital time that works for me, and I can finally check the time without pulling my phone out.

Disconnecting

I had a worry that a watch would make me more connected to the internet; something I’m actively pushing against these days. Instead the opposite has been true, so far at least. I keep my watch and phone set to do not disturb most of the day, so my watch isn’t constantly buzzing or pinging. Instead I keep the small red dot indicator on, so that I can check if any new notifications have come through. That’s enough for me, and actually means I check my phone less now.

Complications

I’m just starting to learn about the world of watch complications, and so far I’m all in. I’ve chosen the Modular watch face, and picked the following complications:

• Activity – I like seeing how I’m doing on my steps for the day.
• Time and date
• Calendar – I like seeing what events I have coming up at a glance, again reducing my need for checking my phone so often
• Things 3 – Having my todo list close by at all times is a must, as I’m often adding things to it throughout the day, being able to do this from my wrist now is fantastic; even if the keyboard typing is slow.
• Timer – I work in 25 minute pomodoros, and having that on my wrist helps separate the timer from the computer or phone. I love it.
• Weather

That’s a lot, and it’s just perfect for me. Many of the use cases for checking my phone are now gone, and I can see so much of that data right on my wrist at a glance.

None of these are infinity wells (not my original term), where I get sucked into messages, catch up on email, or browse the web. Instead these are all complications that help me move throughout my day and ensure that nothing is lost. I love it.

A note on LTE

I bought the LTE model, hoping to use the watch on my daily runs. So far I haven’t been able to set it up, since I ran into some kind of an infinite connection loop with my phone carrier. Because of that I can’t speak to how well it works away from the phone.

So far I’ve found the watch a useful addition to my life. I like seeing how well I’m doing on my runs, I like checking text messages without opening up my phone, and the audio controls that pop up while listening to books or podcasts are useful.

The area that’s been a disappointment is in using the watch as a primary device. I knew I couldn’t do that going in, but I thought I could do more with the watch. My dream situation is to go into town, or on a run, with just the watch and AirPods, and nothing else. Instead I find I keep needing to bring my phone.

My attempts at loading music, books, or podcasts directly to the watch all failed. I tried Overcast, I tried Apple Books, I tried Audible, I tried Apple Music. In theory all of them should be able to load up audio to sync directly to my AirPods, but nothing just worked. Instead I fiddled with the apps a number of times, rechecked to see if they’d downloaded something, then finally quit and played audio directly from my phone. In this area the watch has been a disappointment, and I hope it’s something that can be solved in the future.

In terms of the size of the watch, I really like the 45mm. It’s big enough to read a lot of text, and it doesn’t feel large on my wrist. I was tempted to get the Apple Watch Ultra, but couldn’t justify the additional cost.

I’ll see how things feel a year from now, but so far I consider this a positive thing to add to my list of daily electronics.

Adobe announced an intent to acquire Figma for ~$20 billion today. I’ve had mixed feelings thinking about it throughout the day, while also trying to get work done with my projects.

On the one hand I’ve grown to value the tool and all that it allows me to do as a designer. My career started back with much older software. Macromedia Flash 4 was the first application I used to build websites, illustrations, and print graphics. Yup, you heard that right. To this day it still stands as my favorite tool for manipulating bezier curves. But, thanks to my high school ROP teacher, Ms. Jane, I moved on and converted to Illustrator, Photoshop, and InDesign respectively. I also picked up Dreamweaver, and eventually Fireworks.

Sketch came into the picture years later, but my brain couldn’t quite process how to fit it into my workflow. InVision came and went, along with Marvel POP, Balsamiq, and everything else I could get my hands on. So many fantastic tools, so many amazing teams. Adobe XD also floated through for a period of time.

Flash forward to 2022. Figma is one of the core application in my work for building out interfaces and designs.

It is, however, just a tool. The most important thing I’ve learned over the years, as tools have come and gone, is a way of thinking. I still haven’t figured out, in fact I feel like I know less now than years in the past.

Now, when I’m working with a team to build an application or workflow, I approach the project with an absence of tools in mind. That means holding off on Figma for as long as possible, even holding off on wireframes or mockups. Instead, I ask a ton of questions to try and understand what the software accomplishes already, where things need to go with the business, and what users need. This stuff is the heart of building great software, and it’s where I can see pushing myself and continuing to learn for decades to come.

Only after the work of understanding and shaping the software, after sketching out flows and drawings, after going back and forth and writing up How Might We statements, Jobs to Be Done, Acceptance Criteria, etc., after all the other things have been thought through, only then will I crack open Figma.

By the time I have a screen up in this fantastic app I already have an idea of the UX, a high level understanding of the components for UI, along with a million questions that still need to be answered.

Where Figma helps come in is in converging toward shipping something, and getting things out into the world. Even then it’s sometimes not necessary. Some fantastic engineers I’ve worked with will just take sketches and move them directly into code.

Now, I’ve spent some time talking about what I do without Figma. Does that mean the tool isn’t valuable? On the contrary, it’s enabled a way of thinking and working that was near impossible five years ago. I can collaborate live or async with product teams around the world. Like Google Docs, but for designers, it’s helped push the speed at which we can get things shipped. I love it, and I hope this tool is around for years to come.

My point, and the one I try to share whenever possible, is that good UX, good product design, comes with the thinking and asking, not so much with the tool.

Congrats to the Figma team! And, I’m excited to see what other tools appear in the space.

The last two weeks have been intense since I started looking for new work. I’m used to pushing myself and working hard to get things done. But there’s a certain level of pressure when I am looking for new work to cover the bills for my family, while also wanting to make sure my own personality and experience are a match for the companies I’m talking with.

I’ve applied to some awesome places, and started having interviews with teams of all sizes. I’m a bit tired, but I’m also invigorated. I’ve been able to talk to some fantastic teams, learn about interesting products that are getting built, and hear from passionate folks who want to make an impact in the world.

This is a scary time to be looking for a job as a designer. Layoffs have been announced around the industry, and given that we’ve just entered the technical definition of a recession, there’s now an extra layer of complexity to the whole thing.

I’m getting a little older. This year will my 35th cycle around the sun. When I started my career I was 19 years old, and the world looked bright and rosy. I had a few years of graphic design freelance under my belt by then, and jumped in with my brother to start a web design agency. We teamed up with a few other awesome folks, including my future brother-in-law, and built a little company to make websites and dream up our own SaaS product. This was 2007, bleeding into 2008.

Then a global recession hit.

Times were scary back then, and we worked hard for the next five years to find profitability, to help our clients and customers, and to push ourselves to learn. I’m thankful for those times, and incredibly grateful for the amazing folks that I got to work alongside. It was like two double majoring in design and business. I’d never trade that time and it helped shape who I am today.

So now, in 2022, facing a recession, looking for a job, and with the responsibility of caring for a family, I’m feeling excited and a little nervous. Excited because there’s so much opportunity, so much I can still learn, and some amazing teams that are looking for help. There’s also some things I’m building for myself, and while those my take a few years, they inspire me and allow me to tinker. I’m nervous though, because reality doesn’t always allow things to line up perfectly. Entropy gets in the way, things get messy.

And so I will take a day tomorrow to pause, spend time with my family, and recharge. One thing I learned this week, thanks to a forced 24-hour break with a high grade fever, is that there’s a limit to how much I can get done in a given period of time. I’m excited for the future, and despite my penchant for considering myself a realist, am optimistic about what’s next.

I don’t know the future, but I’m here for it.