Here's some tools that I love using for design and development. I'm particularly keen on open-source and non-subscription software.

OS: Ubuntu Desktop

I've been using Ubuntu since 7.04 and I'll always be in awe at how fantastic it (and other Linux distros) are. Back in the 7.04 days I remember spending days trying to compile and configure Wi-Fi drivers and days playing around with Compiz Fusion. Nowadays everything just works and it's nice having the same OS on my desktop and servers. I only leave it for Windows for gaming or using my design software.

Design: Affinity Suite

Affinity is great for UI design work. One-time payment (with pretty regular 50% off sales), great performance and features. Figma is great too - especially for collaborative stuff - but I'd rather own my files and have the software running locally for my own work.

Fonts: Google & Pangram Pangram

PP Editorial Old from Pangram Pangram

Download and self-host the Google Fonts. Google use their hosted version to track users on your site. A great tool for setting up webfonts is Transfonter. The Font Starter Pack from Pangram Pangram is excellent at $29 and can be used for personal projects.

Browser: Firefox

What's not to love? Free and open-source, privacy conscious, plus you're fighting back against the Chrome and Blink monopoly. I can foresee a day where the giant market share of Chrome and Blink is used to push non-standard web technologies à la Internet Explorer.

Writing & Notes: Obsidian

Screenshot from obsidian.md

Looks great, multi-platform, free and your notes are saved as markdown files instead of being locked in to a platform.

Code Editor: Visual Studio Code

Free, open-source, multi-platform, lots of extensions, works great for coding web applications. Good!

File Sync & Backup: NextCloud

It's like Dropbox or Google Cloud but open-source and you can self-host it. Sometimes files don't automatically sync on my phone but mostly it works well.