313- Jey Austen

Jey Austen is a Senior Web Designer for dbt labs and also freelances on the side.

They also host a podcast called How Gay Thou Art, an 18+ comedy podcast about growing up "queer, christian, and hella confused".

Most of their creative space is digital, but they also just added a drawer to hold all of the notebooks, planners, and sketchbooks.

They love visiting state and national parks and have several mugs from their favorite places. The coasters on the desk are from design twitter friends - the resin one is from @mehermakes and the pendelum reader is from when they traded design for @yourolepalsami’s witch subscription box.

I think your creative space is so important, and that you should fill it with memories of the things and people that make life worth living. It helps on days when you’re unmotivated or have low energy to remind yourself of the good times. I feel the need to stress that my desk is never this clean, I’m usually a creative mess.

Twitter → twitter.com/FigmaAntichrist

Inside Jey's Workspace

Items:‍

• Monitor: Apple Studio Display
• Desk: Ikea
• Desk drawer‍
• Laptop: Apple 16" Macbook Pro (M1 Chip)
• Keyboard: Apple Magic Keyboard
• Mouse: Apple Mouse
• Headphones: Apple AirPods/AKG Pro Audio K240 STUDIO Over-Ear Headphones‍
• Ring Light
• Phone Stand‍
• Cable net
• Mic stand‍
• Microphone: Shure MV7
• Notebooks: Rifle Paper Co
• Mugs: Petrified Forest National Park & Valley of Fire State Park
• Pens: Pilot G2
  

Software:

• Figma
• Notion
• Asana
• Slack
• Webflow
• Adobe Suite
• Procreate‍
• Riverside.fm‍
• Spotify
• Hoopla and Libby - Any audiobook you want with a library card
  

Currently Listening to:

Ends & Begins - Labrinth

Currently Reading:

‍Divergent Mind - Thriving in a World That Wasn't Designed for You by Jenara Nerenberg

What is the most useful item in your workspace?

LOVE the cord net for cable management. It makes everything so much cleaner 😊

You can never have enough coasters. I also love the ipad+procreate for illustrating, but my screen is broken right now rip 🪦

How do you spark creativity?

Creativity is a practice not a feeling. I am so inconsistent with my creative moments and am trying to become less of a procrastinator. I moodboard using pinterest, I use their extension to save everything on any website I’m on and build out my boards that way, it’s like an organized section of my bookmarks. I also do a ton of networking and am surrounded by disciplined creative people.

Coworking at coffee shops while parallel playing on our own projects is my favorite way to work, it helps me stay focused as I struggle with ADHD and when I’m at home there’s a million distractions.

How do you manage work-life balance?

I’m a big proponent of working async when you can and working when it works for you - as long as you’re making deadlines. I’ll take all my meetings during the day but do my best heads down work from 3pm - 7pm. It’s just how my body works and remote work has helped me embrace my own schedule.

I work with a web strategist at dbt who is so organized, EVERYTHING is documented in notion and asana, they’re such a badass (shout out Emily Mermell) and it’s really helped me get organized and grow from the feral freelancer that I was.

Infinitely grateful for processes, documentation, and building in public - this structure is so helpful to maintain work life balance. They also make sure that we’re taking time off every quarter and constantly reworking processes to make it better for everyone on the team.

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

I love being able to work from anywhere! I travel a ton and will work at coffee shops and coworking spaces. The flexibility is lovely. Also on bad mental health days I don’t have to leave the house. It just fits my lifestyle in a way that going into an office just doesn’t. I want to work remotely the rest of my life - maybe live in an RV and work from home wherever home is that day.