UI/UX Designers

figma

Figma is still the center of gravity for modern digital design on Mac. Local font access via the desktop app, Dev Mode handoff, multiplayer critique, and mature design-system features make it the one subscription this toolkit will not cut. It replaces older Sketch-plus-InVision chains for nearly all product UI work. Budget Professional seats for freelancers and small teams; Organization when libraries and admin controls become the bottleneck. Product UI is Figma's home turf; marketing motion, brand illustration, and Wallet passes still need the other tools in this kit.

gimp

GIMP 3.x on Mac is the free raster companion to Figma: non-destructive edits, improved UI, and Metal acceleration for M-series chips. Reach for it when photography or complex pixel work exceeds Figma's image tools, and when a Photoshop subscription would be pure overhead. If your week is mostly product UI, keep GIMP as the photo cleanup bench rather than the primary canvas.

inkscape

Inkscape remains the free precision vector engine for logos, icons, and clean SVG output. Fully native Mac builds and strict SVG focus make it the right local tool when Figma's vector features are not enough or when you need offline illustration horsepower. Brand marks and icon geometry belong here; multiplayer product frames still belong in Figma.

cleanshot

CleanShot (Homebrew cask cleanshot / product brand CleanShot X) is still the Mac standard for polished capture and annotation. Pinning, scrolling capture, and fast markup save hours of back-and-forth that raw ⌘⇧4 cannot. If engineering keeps misreading spacing bugs, the failure is usually the capture, not the design system.