We’re already almost half way through the month of December, that’s crazy! I love shopping for gifts for friends and family, and I always pick up a little something here and there for myself while I’m piling things into the basket, and I usually come prepared with wishlists from those I’m shopping for. When asked for a wishlist from someone to buy for me, I always put in the usuals for every year- socks, a certain lipstick, a candle, etc. But this year is when I’ve changed the most as a person and within my situation- I moved to Berlin, Germany to study to become a graphic designer. With that, my priorities shifted. I became focused on creating and finding inspiration to help better myself in my future career. And I’ve realized along the way that a few items would really help me with long nights, exhaustive creative blocs, and stressful conundrums that abruptly stopped my workflow. So I present a gift guide for designers! If your friend is a designer or creative, go the extra mile to show them that you acknowledge and appreciate their creativity by gifting them things that would help them prosper, or just enjoy some nice things in life that winks to their passion.
(All items will be linked in the title, and this post is not sponsored in any way or have any affiliate links so these are my true and honest opinions and recommendations)
- Seagate Expansion 2TB Portable External Hard Drive – This is the probably the most important, useful, and foolproof gift you could ever give to a designer. I have personally made the mistake of not putting my files onto an external hard drive and all of the files just ate up my space until I literally had none left and couldn’t save anything. Even if they already have one, another one is just an invitation to create more because they got the space!
- Keyboard Waffle Iron – I mean, come on! It’s funny, cute, and still practical! We’re constantly click-clacking on our keyboards all day, so getting to make some awesome waffles that looks like the bottom half of my laptop is pretty cool.
- Wacom Intuos S Drawing Tablet – Almost all of my classmates have one of these bad boys, so it’s almost like a “But mom, everyone at school has one!” type of item. But also not. Because it’s the BEST. Illustrators and designers can go crazy on this thing. Even if you can’t draw, you can use it as a more natural mouse for the screen because track pads and traditional mouse can cause damage to the wrist after long-time use.
- Minimalist Origami Tote Bag – When I think of design, my head immediately goes to modern, minimal, clean designs. Obviously that’s not the case for every creative, but a cute tote bag that happens to be modern and minimalist ain’t so bad to carry a laptop and work gear with.
- Computer Glasses – This item is currently high up on my own wishlist!! I am always looking at computer screens and sometimes it gets to the point where my head and eyes just hurt too much to continue working, and that can really damper the workflow. Plus, they’re cute, in my humble opinion.
- Passion Planner – There’s assignments, projects, deadlines, meetings, clients, events, and more that we need to cram into a planner to organize our thoughts. Passion Planner happens to be one of the best planners that I have ever used, and it has a lot of space where I can be creative and decorate my days a bit.
- Noe Display Regular – Seems different than everything else on the list, but it’s still a totally cool present. Don’t know what it is? It’s a font! Now, you don’t have to buy this particular font, but this one is my favorite at the moment and I found it via Typewolf.com. Not all fonts are free, and a designer getting their hands on a good font means they’re serious about their stuff and know a good typeface when they see one. Also, it’ll totally impress your friend, for sure.
So did anything strike your fancy? Are you a designer or gifting for a designer friend? Let me know what you liked and/or bought for the holidays!
