Jonathan ReedNo. 551 · Graphic Designer and App Developer
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How five designers actually use Figma
Vas Frolik is a designer based in Taipei, Taiwan. He freelances and builds his own products under vasf.io, including Remlo, a notes app for iPhone, iPad and Mac, and Eluan, a design system. He works in public and shares the process on his socials and blog.
He has spent around ten years in product design and design engineering, from design systems at Sage to leading design at Rosetta AI.
The cameras on his shelf are for filming that work, along with short videos about building and life in Taiwan. When he’s not at the desk, he’s usually in the water.
Follow Vas on Twitter, YouTube, LinkedIn, Instagram, GitHub and at vasf.io.
What is the most recent item that you’ve added to your workspace?
A Mac mini M5. It’s my second machine and my home server, and I use it to host AI models and LLMs. It also runs my app builds in the background, so the laptop stays free for design work.
What is one item under $100 that everyone should consider adding to their setup?
A Leuchtturm1917 120g notebook and a Parker Jotter. There’s nothing more satisfying than writing on good paper with a good pen.
You have a walking pad under your desk. How did this find its way into your setup and how does it fit with your daily routine?
I used to live in Kenting, down by the beach in the south of Taiwan. Summer typhoons would lock us in the house for days at a time, so I needed a way to keep my steps going. Now I do 30 minutes at the start of the day and 30 at the end, which comes to about 5,000 steps. Do the full hour and you’ve hit 10,000. Those two slots fit because I’m either planning the day over coffee or cooling down after work. It’s really hard to focus and get into flow while walking, so I keep it out of the deep work hours.
What’s one productivity trick that actually works for you?
Taking notes, either in my Leuchtturm or in Remlo, the app I built. Writing a hard problem down keeps my head clear and sharpens the thinking. Before I step away, I always write one line with exactly what I’ll do next. When I come back, I read it and I’m straight back in, with no warming up.
You have a stack of books in your workspace. What is a must read?
I read non-fiction in the morning and fiction in the evening. For non-fiction it’s Don Norman’s The Design of Everyday Things. Anyone building things should read it. It explains how we interact with the machines around us, and it’s more relevant today than ever.
For the evening, Barbarian Days by William Finnegan. It’s a Pulitzer-winning memoir that reads like a novel and puts you right on the surf trips, hunting for waves. Read it if you want to get lost in something, surf or anything else. If that one doesn’t land, Hemingway’s The Old Man and the Sea. It’s short enough to finish in one sitting, and you’ll be sad it’s over, like a really good film.
