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Q&A with Robin Rendle

Web designer and developer at Erskine Design

I’m Robin, a web designer and developer at Erskine Design. My interests lie in systems and the engineering side of web work. For instance, I’ve been thinking a lot about how designers and developers can communicate better with one another and how front-end systems can be made into interfaces for clients and project managers to get a better feel for what goes into making a website. I also tend to write about the books I’m reading on my site.

Hardware

I’ve been thinking a lot about my current hardware setup because at the moment our industry appears to have a single response already lined up: 'buy a 13" MacBook and this stand and this and this' – but I think that’s a detriment to our work. We’ve separated everything that computers are capable of being into two camps: big screens with keyboards, and then smaller screens with touch sensors. So yeah, I use the same stuff most people use in our industry, but I think it limits how we see computing and how we see the web. TLDR; I have a 15" MacBook.

Software

IA’s Writer for writing and Sublime for coding (also for it’s badass package control). I use Fireworks for sketching ideas before sending them into the browser and iTerm for CLI stuff. I use LICEcap for giffing things and DevTools to understand how websites work.

Dream Setup

Well, 99% of the quality of the work I produce is my own responsibility; what I read, what I write and how I communicate with others is so much more important than any kind of pumped up Mac Pro or fancy tablets with the latest apps installed. The older I get the more I realise that, in order to make great things, I need a library of books, a text editor and an awful lot of time. The rest of it I should figure out for myself really without having the latest upgrades to everything.

Inspiration

My inspiration comes from people. I have a tendency to be obsessed about something and I often need a kick in the ribs to shift my focus into healthier directions. That’s because my work is so enjoyable – I don’t really need inspiration – what I need are distractions to make sure my life/work balance is better.