282 - Ilya Miskov

Ilya Miskov is a Visual & Product Designer. He's currently open for work.

He was previously at Sketch, Frame.io and Data Axle.

His hobbies involve riding his e-bike/e-skateboard, building custom mechanical keyboards, gaming and livestreaming.

He has two desks. One for work, one for streaming/gaming (which he also uses for work when he feels like it).

Twitter → twitter.com/ilyamiskov
Dribbble → dribbble.com/ilyamiskov

Inside Ilya's Workspace

(Note: some of the above workspace pictures were taken at different times when the setup was changing.)

First desk (work desk):

• Monitor: LG 38WN95C-W 38" Ultrawide IPS monitor (144hz)
• Monitor Lamp: Xiaomi Mijia Light Bar
• Speakers: Harman Kardon Soundsticks III
• Laptop Stand: RainDesign mStand (Space Grey)
• Laptop: Apple Macbook Pro 16” M1 Max 64GB RAM, 4TB SSD (Space Grey)
• Tablets: iPad Pro 12.9” M1, LTE, 16GB RAM, 2TB (Space Grey) + iPad mini 6, LTE, 256GB (Space Grey). Both with an Apple Pencil.
• Keyboard: Apple Magic Keyboard with Numeric Pad (Space Grey)
• Mouse: Apple Magic Trackpad (Space Grey)
• Headphones: AirPods Max (Space Grey)
• Headphone Stand: Just Mobile HS-100
• Watch: Apple Watch Series 7 (Graphite Stainless Steel)
• Watch stand: Nomad U-Shape Aluminum Apple Watch stand
• Desk Mat: IKEA Rissla
• Chair: Merryfair Spinelly‍

Second desk (gaming & livestreaming desk):

• Monitor: AW3423DW 34” Ultrawide OLED monitor (175Hz)
• Monitor Stand: Ergotron HX
• PC: Custom watercooled Intel Core i9 13900K, Nvidia RTX 4090 FE, 64GB DDR5 RAM, 12TB of NVMe drives in a Jonbso Mod 5 case
• Keyboard: Fuji 65 by NightSakura
• Mouse: Finalmouse Starlight Pro TenZ
• Mousepad: Artisan Hayate Otsu XL
• Headphones: Sennheiser HD598 SR
• Microphone: Shure SM7B
• Audio Interface/Amplifier: GoXLR Mini + DM1 Dynamite
• Mic boom arm: Blue Compass
• Camera: Sony A6300 + Sigma 16mm f/1.4
• Camera arm + keylight arm: Elgato Multi Mount + Flex Arm + Solid Arm
• Streaming light: Elgato Keylight
• Chair: Merryfair Spinelly
• Misc: Two Elgato Streamdecks, Apple MagSafe charger

Software:

• Figma
• Affinity Photo
• Pixelmator Photo
• Final Cut Pro
• Notion
• Slack
• Apple Music
• Discord

What is your favorite item in your workspace?

My favorite item in my workspace would probably have to be my mechanical keyboard that I’ve recently built - Fuji 65. I’ve had a few boards before, but this was the one that finally clicked with me. It sounds beautiful, looks gorgeous and has that Mount Fuji theme going on, along keycaps with Japanese sublegends. As you can see, I am in love with everything that has to do with Japan 😀

How do you spark creativity?

This is a difficult one. I am not very consistent when it comes to staying creative. There are periods of time when I absolutely don’t feel like designing, and it can last for days or weeks at a time, until I suddenly get that spark again and want to work on something. I’d say, doing something else apart from work helps you disconnect, get some new perspectives and get you inspired again.

How do you manage work-life balance?

Sadly I do not have a scheme for a good work-life balance. I would say my days are very cyclic and boring. Some days I stay all night designing, then sleep all day until the evening, wake up, then do the chores, and go back to work, then it all starts again. I think I need to do something differently here 😅

What do you think is the main benefit of remote work?

The obvious main benefit – you get to stay at home. You don’t waste precious time and money on commuting to work. That in return allows you to instead spend that time to do more important things, stay with your family, enjoy yourself and your hobbies, and be more efficient at work because of it.