Add Eva's interview and portrait

posts/eva.decker.markdown

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+---
+title: Eva Decker
+summary: Design engineer
+date: 2024-10-18
+categories:
+- designer
+- mac
+---
+
+### Who are you, and what do you do?
+
+I'm Eva Decker, a [design engineer](https://eva.town/ "Eva's website.") and generalist web maker. I've been building things to live on the internet since I was a teenager. I currently lead design engineering at [Scribe][], and previously I've worked as a product designer at [Cityblock][], [Dropbox][], and [Swiftype][]. I enjoy bridging the gaps between design and front-end engineering and I've spent a fair amount of time building [design systems](https://eva.town/posts/commonplace "Eva's post about building a design system for Cityblock.") in and out of healthcare. I care deeply about building [accessible](https://a11y-webring.club/ "A webring for people working on digital accessibility.") technology that respects peoples' attention and energy, and I love to spend time polishing the little details and exploring [alternative ways to design](https://eva.town/posts/design-outside-the-computer "Eva's post about design inspiration from things outside a computer.") and build. I get a lot of [inspiration from video games](https://www.youtube.com/@sora_sakurai_en "Masahiro Sakurai's YouTube channel, with videos on creating games.").
+
+When I'm not looking at screens, I enjoy hiking, biking, playing piano, and attending Brooklyn queer events.
+
+### What hardware do you use?
+
+I use a [2020 M1 MacBook Pro][macbook-pro]. I bought my first Mac in high school with money from a summer job and I've never looked back. [macOS][] is a phenomenal operating system and I couldn't fathom ever going back to Windows.
+
+I also have an iPhone... [12][iphone-12]? I think? I stopped being able to keep count after the [iPhone 4][iphone-4]. It's the one with the notch on the top, but before the dynamic island. I will use this phone until I inevitably crack its screen, and maybe even beyond then. I don't think people should buy a new phone every year. It's wasteful and expensive.
+
+Last year I bought myself an [Apple Studio Display][studio-display.2], which cost a pretty penny, but—considering how much time I spend staring at it—was worth it. Display is topped with the [BenQ ScreenBar monitor light][screenbar] for good desktop lighting on my [UPLIFT standing desk][uplift].
+
+I tried switching to a [cute mechanical keyboard][halo65] last year, but the higher key travel rendered me completely unable to type a full sentence without making typos, so I regretfully and with some amount of shame returned to using my [Magic Keyboard][magic-keyboard] and [Magic Trackpad][magic-trackpad]. I do miss using the adorable keycaps I bought, so maybe I'll give it another go some day.
+
+I have a used [Steelcase Gesture ergonomic chair][gesture] from Craigslist and fitted it with hardwood-friendly and super-silent rollerblade chair wheels.
+
+For sketching I use a Midori MD dot grid notebook. The paper texture and quality is just perfect. Mine lives in a cute slip cover that I've plastered with stickers.
+
+### And what software?
+
+For design, I use [Figma][] and, less frequently, [Photoshop][] (although I'm looking to abandon Adobe). I find and organize inspiration on [Are.na][are.na].
+
+For code, I use [VS Code][visual-studio-code] (but keeping an eye on [Zed][]), [Warp][] ([Rust][]-based terminal), [Polypane][] (the browser for web developers!), and, of course, [GitHub][]. I deploy most of my personal sites with [Vercel][], and my favorite frameworks right now are [Astro][astro.2] and [SvelteKit][].
+
+Other notable tools include [Fathom][] for privacy-friendly analytics, [Buttondown][] for newsletters, [Discord][] for chatting with various web communities, [ImprovMX][] for email forwarding, and [Day One][day-one] for journaling. Phew!
+
+### What would be your dream setup?
+
+Email does not exist. I am surrounded by trees and no screens. I “design” (plant) “UI/UX” (fruits and vegetables) for “users” (me and my lovers). We have phenomenal ROI.
+
+[are.na]: https://www.are.na/ "A service for collecting ideas."
+[astro.2]: https://astro.build/ "A JavaScript framework."
+[buttondown]: https://buttondown.email/ "A newsletter service."
+[cityblock]: https://www.cityblock.com/ "An online healthcare service."
+[day-one]: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/day-one/id422304217 "Personal journal software."
+[discord]: https://discord.com/ "A voice and text chat service."
+[dropbox]: https://www.dropbox.com/ "Online syncing and storage."
+[fathom]: https://usefathom.com/ "A web analytics service."
+[figma]: https://www.figma.com/ "A collaborative design prototype service."
+[gesture]: http://web.archive.org/web/20190508113942/https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0141G9IHY/ "A desk chair."
+[github]: https://github.com/ "A Git code repository service."
+[halo65]: https://nuphy.com/products/halo65 "A wireless mechanical keyboard."
+[improvmx]: https://improvmx.com/ "An email forwarding service."
+[iphone-12]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IPhone_12 "A 6.1 inch smartphone."
+[iphone-4]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IPhone_4 "A smartphone."
+[macbook-pro]: https://www.apple.com/macbook-pro/ "A laptop."
+[macos]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MacOS "An operating system for Mac hardware."
+[magic-keyboard]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magic_Keyboard "A wireless keyboard."
+[magic-trackpad]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magic_Trackpad "A trackpad for desktop machines."
+[photoshop]: https://www.adobe.com/products/photoshop.html "A bitmap image editor."
+[polypane]: https://polypane.app/ "A web browser designed for web developers."
+[rust]: https://www.rust-lang.org/ "A programming language."
+[screenbar]: https://www.benq.com/en-us/lighting/monitor-light/screenbar.html "A lightbar for monitors."
+[scribe]: https://scribehow.com/ "A service for capturing a company's knowledge."
+[studio-display.2]: https://www.apple.com/studio-display/ "A 27 inch display."
+[sveltekit]: https://kit.svelte.dev/ "A JavaScript framework."
+[swiftype]: https://swiftype.com/ "A hosted search provider."
+[uplift]: https://www.upliftdesk.com/ "A standing desk."
+[vercel]: https://vercel.com/ "A hosting and development service."
+[visual-studio-code]: https://code.visualstudio.com/ "A development IDE."
+[warp]: https://www.warp.dev/ "A terminal application."
+[zed]: https://zed.dev/ "A text editor."