macOS Tips
← All stacks

Designer stack

Interface design, image editing, colour and delivery: the apps that cover the whole flow.

Designer

A stack for product and interface design. Figma is the centrepiece; the rest are the tools around it for the day-to-day.

Notes

  • Affinity used to be three paid apps. Since late 2025 it is a single free app from Canva, so there is no longer a licence to buy.
  • If CleanShot X is more than you need, Shottr is free with an optional pay-what-you-want licence, and it also does scrolling captures and annotations. For simple captures, the ⇧⌘5 toolbar built into macOS is enough.
  • Pixelmator Pro, Apple’s image editor, needs macOS Tahoe. It is included in the Apple Creator Studio subscription and is still sold as a one-time purchase on the App Store.

Apps in this stack

  • Figma · UI design Freemium

    The standard for interface design and prototyping. The free Starter plan includes unlimited drafts; paid plans start at $16 a month per full seat.

  • Affinity · vector, photo and layout Free

    Vector design, photo editing and page layout in one app, since Canva merged Designer, Photo and Publisher. Free for individuals; it needs a Canva account, and only the Canva AI features are paid.

  • CleanShot X · screenshots Paid

    Scrolling captures, annotations and 4K screen recording. $35 once, with a year of updates; also available in Setapp. Needs macOS 13 or later.

  • Sip · colour Paid

    Colour picker with palettes, contrast checking and colour-blindness simulation. A one-time purchase of $29.99 after a free trial; also in Setapp. Not on Homebrew: download it from its website.

  • ImageOptim · optimisation Free

    Shrinks JPEG, PNG, SVG and GIF files before delivery, losslessly by default, and strips camera metadata. Free and open source.

Installation

The apps available on Homebrew install with a single Terminal command. If you do not have Homebrew yet, start at brew.sh.

brew install --cask figma affinity cleanshot imageoptim

Related tips