A Stacked Tool Kit + Creative Minds = Unmatched Marketing
At Hexcode, our best work happens when great minds share their favorite tools and secret weapons. We started this series to give you an inside look at what’s currently powering our creative process.
Key Points
- Using platforms like Slack for team alignment, Pinterest for visual ideation, and Adobe Creative Suite for production allows our creative leaders to maintain high efficiency without sacrificing quality.
- True creative growth requires active engagement with the world. Analyzing design choices in everyday moments and actively applying observations into design work is how concepts transform into impactful client deliverables.
Our Favorite Marketing Tools
This month, we’re continuing to spotlight the tools that take our work from good to great. Our Creative Director, Kaleigh, discusses her tried-and-true tech tools and some pro tips for creatives.
Here are her favorites:
Slack
This is a must for staying organized, managing time, and keeping important notes all in one place. I rely on it daily to keep projects moving smoothly.
My go-to for moodboarding, finding inspo, and organizing thoughts and ideas. It makes organizing design direction seamless and visual.
Adobe Creative Suite
This is where our design ideas come to life. I spend most of my time in Illustrator, Photoshop, and Premiere Pro.
Pro Tips:
My best tip is to be proactive in staying creative: observe, critique, practice.
- Observe: take photos just for the act of observation, read to source ideas, watch movies, and observe nature and other art.
- Critique: Actively critique and analyze other designs and determine why they work or why they don’t. Do it for pleasure. Analyze something of interest to you: video games, magazines, a website, manga, film, album covers. For example, a magazine, ask yourself why the composition of the page works. Look at the type and composition of individual photos. Watch a movie and try to see frames as a composition or actively name the type of transitions used.
- Practice: Write down ideas! Bring your observations and apply them in design. Use the observations you’ve collected to spark imagination.
The Right Tools Will Level Up Your Work
Equipped with tools that streamline her process and sharpen her vision, Kaleigh directs our creative team with confidence, resulting in a thriving team dynamic and happy clients!
Coming in November
Our Marketing Tool Kit series continues next month, when Erica shares her favorite picks for copywriting and editing. Stay tuned!
A balanced creative toolkit includes software for three core areas: communication, visual conceptualization, and execution. At Hexcode, Kaleigh relies on Slack for workflow management, Pinterest for moodboarding and inspiration, and Adobe Creative Suite (specifically Illustrator, Photoshop, and Premiere Pro) for design production.
Organizing inspiration starts with visual moodboards using platforms like Pinterest to categorize ideas, color palettes, and typography styles. Pairing digital boards with active observation ensures ideas are easily accessible when starting a new project.
Critiquing existing designs in everyday media, like album covers, websites, or film transitions, helps designers understand why certain compositions work. Analyzing layout, spacing, and hierarchy sharpens visual intuition and makes it easier to solve complex design challenges in client work.
Staying creative requires stepping away from the screen and actively observing the world around you. Simple habits like taking photos purely for observation, reading outside your industry, and spending time in nature help reset your perspective and generate fresh ideas.
We select tools that promote clear team communication, streamline project timelines, and deliver high-performance assets. By pairing industry-standard software with collaborative workflows, our team works efficiently while maintaining complete creative alignment from concept to final delivery.
