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A picture of Javier Arce

Javier Arce

Designer, illustrator, web developer (CARTO)

in designer, developer, illustrator

Who are you, and what do you do?

I'm a web developer, designer, and illustrator (or at least I've deceived enough people in the past to consider myself those three things).

I'm currently working for CARTO as a front-end developer in Madrid.

Besides deceiving people and doing map-related stuff, I spend most of my time making silly personal projects, drawing, taking pictures, and reading.

What hardware do you use?

My life revolves around a 13-inch MacBook Air, which I usually connect to a 23.8" Dell UltraSharp U2414H monitor, a pleasantly noisy Vortex Poker 3 (Cherry Mx-Blue) and a Wacom Intuos Pro S.

When I'm on the road, I use an iPhone SE both to take pictures but also to feel bad about compulsively refreshing social media feeds.

Apart from my phone, these days my current digital camera of choice is a Panasonic GX80 with that nice 20mm f1.7 pancake lens they produced some years ago.

Oh, and my favorite pen is the phenomenal Kuretake Fudegokochi Brush Pen - Regular.

And what software?

I write and code with vim and use several private GitHub repos to store my writing (ideas, todo lists, notes on the books I'm reading, etc.). I sometimes take notes with nvALT and write longer pieces with iA Writer, but I always come back to vim.

For my drawings, I work with Adobe Illustrator (with the invaluable help of the amazing VectorScribe plugin)

I manage all of my passwords using 1Password. My assets are stored in Dropbox folders, using a classification system that could be described as the "reverse Kondo method" (i.e.: I just create folders and throw things inside).

What would be your dream setup?

Computer-wise I'm pretty happy with my current setup. If I could get my hand on a Leica Q I would be super duper happy, though.