Hey there, 

Welcome back to the 36th edition of Brandish, 

Your guide to crafting an iconic brand. 

I spent a lot of time thinking about what I wanted to write for this week’s newsletter, 

And I realized something…

I’ve gone over branding psychology, the best strategies, and my own personal lessons that you can learn from, 

But I’ve NEVER talked about tools I actually use every single day. 

So if you’re stuck on what tools you should be using or simply just want to upgrade your tech stack, 

I got you. 

Now kick back, 

Grab your Brez, 

And let’s do this. 

My 2024 Tech Stack 

No matter what you’re doing in business - you need to have your own toolkit. 

Doesn’t matter if you’re the CEO, CMO, or the intern. 

If you want to have a leg up above your competition, 

Creating your own toolkit is a MUST. 

But for most, this takes time - especially for brand strategists. 

I’ve gone through several throughout the years, but the ones listed below are my all-time favorites:  

For Design: 

• Adobe (Illustrator, InDesign, Photoshop)

Yes, I love Adobe. And yes, these tools are incredible for graphic design, photo editing, you name it.

• Instagram Layout Tool

This is a simple one, but is incredible and putting together crisp, clean mood boards.

• Coolors

AMAZING tool for finding and selecting color palettes - definitely recommend using this one.

• Right Font

A really big problem that designers have

(especially when you work in larger teams)

Is that people sometimes forget to send you the font files in their design documents.

This organizes and activates all the missing fonts so you don’t have to search for that file - it's super helpful. 

For Inspiration: 

• Behance

Behance is my go-to for gathering inspiration and new ideas, whether it’s for packaging, product design, other branding elements, etc.

I never run out of angles to lean on with this one. 

For UI/UX: 

• Figma

Figma is my #1 for this without a doubt. There is a bit of a learning curve, but once you have a solid understanding of how to use it,

Then its capabilities are nearly endless.

For Photography:

• Soona

Soona is our virtual photography studio - and it’s genius. Literally an on-demand virtual product photography service. 

• MidJourney

I’ve been using this a lot recently for textures and things of that nature - it’s simply more intuitive and I don’t get stuck using the same basic sh*t that everyone else is using.

Just a quick heads up: I’m not sponsored by any of the tools I’ve listed above.

They’ve helped me 1000% with what I do every day, and what kind of person would I be if I didn’t share all my little nuggets of knowledge that could help you?

Sponsored Tool of the Week

• ROKT Ads

Something we’ve been using a lot recently is ROKT Ads.

Sometimes the best-performing offers for us feel native, organic, and completely natural to the audience we’re trying to target. 

This tool uses an insane amount of data and machine learning to target the RIGHT person with the RIGHT personalized offer - and it’s been driving crazy numbers for us. 

You can learn more about what this tool does here - definitely recommend you check it out.

How I Find New Tools to Use 

As I said before, there are a nearly endless number of tools out there. 

And because of that, finding the right tools for YOU can seem pretty daunting at first. 

Here’s what I do personally to find new software/tools to try (and I think you should be doing this too):

• Start by following your favorite brand experts, design-related accounts, branding-themed accounts - anything in this area

• Take note of the tools you see that they use

• If you see it more than once between different accounts, add it to your list of new ones to try 

It’s a simple three-step process, but curating your own unique toolkit does take a little bit of time. 

Of course, you can replicate someone else’s as your own - but it won’t be as effective. 

Your way of doing things, your eye for design and strategy - that’s all unique to YOU, 

And your toolkit should be just as unique.

Wrapping Up

And that’s a wrap on today’s newsletter!

This one is a little bit shorter than usual, but I wanted to make sure that today’s edition of Brandish was PACKED with value for you. 

I hope you enjoyed this one, and I hope this helps you create your own personal toolkit!

Until next time, 

Ankit