Every morning, I wake up, brush my teeth and fire up my Keurig.  Before I had a Keurig, it was my coffee pot.  And just like that’s become such a huge part of my morning ritual, I realized that I have a lot of ingrained design habits.  As a designer, there are so many things in my day to day routine that I just can’t live without.  Here’s a look at the top ten most helpful things that keep my on task and fuel my creativity on a daily basis.

1.  My Computer
It goes without saying that I couldn’t even create without my computer.  I’m pretty lucky and have a husband who knows what he’s doing.  He custom built mine a in 2012 so it’s fairly new and has an incredible graphics card & a ton of memory, so she runs fast and beautifully.  I’m upgrading my screen this Black Friday to a 28″ monitor, and I cannot tell you how excited I am about this.  Nerd status, anyone?

2. Adobe Creative Suite
I first used Photoshop and Illustrator in 1999, and couldn’t get enough of the products.  From there, I used Dreamweaver, Frash, Acrobat, Fireworks and many other programs during my college career.  I don’t know how a professional designer would get anything done without the use of Adobe CS. 

3. Coffee/Tea
Just call me Rory Gilmore.  Coffee is such a huge part of who I am, all day long.  My husband doesn’t know how someone can drink so much coffee and sleep so well at night.  My mom is the only other person I know who drinks more coffee than me!  I’m a huge can of CoffeeMate’s Sweet Italian Cream creamer, and if you know me then you know if I’m not drinking coffee I’ve got a Chai Tea Latte in my hands. 

4. Spotify
I absolutely cannot work unless I’ve got background noise.  If there is silence, I am distracted.  Contradictory, don’t you think?   My routine looks like this:  Coffee in hand, computer fired up, Spotify turned on, Illustrator opened. 

I like all kinds of music, but I am the most productive to music that has a quick beat.  I mostly work to Drake, AFI, The Weeknd, The Smashing Pumpkins and Foo Fighters. 

5. My Planner
I’m such a Type A person and strive on organization.  My husband would tell you that I make lists of lists, then color code them.  I will neither confirm nor deny.

Truthfully, though, I do strive on organization and it’s key to running a business.  I need to know what bills need to be paid when, when conference calls are scheduled, what my design schedule looks like, and what my blogging schedule looks like.  A planner is an absolute must.

6. Pinterest
I don’t know how I lived before Pinterest was invented.  I’m such a visual person, and to have this curated inspiration in front of me is so helpful.  I love creating pinboards with my clients when working on a project together.  It helps me get a sense of their style, color ideas and help me pull all their ideas together to create an invitation suite that reflects their personalities.  I can easily reference our Pin Boards during the design process.

7. An Organized Desktop
I work with a lot of files every day, so it doesn’t take long for my Desktop to get cluttered.  I organize my desktop in thirds:  I have a column for personal files, a column for business files, and a column for programs.  Within each folder I further organize by completed files, templates, orders, drafts, and so on.  It’s a system that works for me, and I am so used to this system that I could find a file with my eyes closed. 

8. Gmail for Business ( and Boomerang)
I conduct 95% of my business online, so it’s important that I have a reliable email provider.  Gmail is so user friendly!  I integrate with Boomerag and schedule emails, too,  which is a huge convenience. 

9. My Peers
Sometimes I really need to bounce ideas off a friend who gets it.  Sometimes I’m stuck on an idea and need someone to tell me I’m crazy or that an idea can really work.  Having a close friend in the industry is key – we are there for each other to bounce ideas off of one another, talk strategies, and brainstorm.  Some of my best ideas have come to fruiting because of these brainstorming sessions. 

For me, that’s Phebe of Making Me Events.  For years, Phebe has been me go-to-gal for brainstorming sessions.  We both bounce ideas off one another, talk late into the night, randomly text one another & send voice messages and keep each other in check.  Believe me, you need someone to make you laugh at 2am and keep you sane! 

10.A Clean Workspace
My mom would probably disagree with you — after all, she knows what my bedroom looked like in high school! – but I absolutely cannot work surrounded by chaos.  I have to clean my desk every morning before I get started with my work.  I always light a candle, too.  My favorite scent is Yankee Candle’s Vanilla Icing! 

What about you? What are some things you can’t work without?