Uses This

Who are you, and what do you do?

My name is Rachel Binx, I'm a data visualizer. I co-founded Meshu, a site for turning locations into custom jewelry. Previously, I was at Stamen Design, working with clients such as MTV, Facebook, and the MoMA.

What hardware do you use?

My hardware setup is pretty basic at the moment, a 13" 2010 MacBook Pro. It's perfect for carrying to San Francisco cafes. I also have an iPhone 4, which never seems to be outside of arm's reach.

Beyond my Apple products, my most important tool is my lime-green Leuchtturm notebook, with six Le Pen pens (grey, black, orange, green, pink, and blue). I spend a lot of time sketching and making lists in my book, they help me stay organized and on-track.

For reading I have a Kindle, and for photography I have an old beat-up Canon Digital Rebel XTi. That camera has been all around the world with me, and has even survived falling into a waterfall (well, I fell in too). It will probably outlive me!

And what software?

Most of my time is spent writing code, so that happens almost exclusively in Sublime Text 2. I make things for the web, so JavaScript is the go-to language. The majority of my projects are written with d3.js, but I've made some recent forays into WebGL. My preferred browser is Chrome, but I've also got Safari, Firefox, and VirtualBox to run IE 9/8/7. For the design/photography side of things, I use Illustrator, Photoshop, and Lightroom.

Gmail, Google Docs, iCal, and Dropbox are my essential organizational tools. I have no idea how Meshu would even function if we didn't have Dropbox to sync and keep track of all the different files.

What would be your dream setup?

My dream hardware setup would be a 30" Thunderbolt Monitor, a Kinesis Advantage keyboard, and Apple Magic Mouse. I'd also love a standing desk, or maybe even a treadmill one!

My dream life setup, however, would be to relocate myself and my trusty MacBook to a tropical beach, and work on my projects out there. Because, hey, I can make websites anywhere!