Why Designers Should Use Otterdock: Group Your Creative Tools
Figma, Photoshop, Sketch, asset folders, font managers — designers live in many apps at once. Otterdock groups them with beautiful icon skins that match your aesthetic.
You live in Figma or Sketch, hop to Photoshop for raster work, open asset folders ten times an hour, and still manage fonts, mood boards, and export presets that never quite belong in one “project file.” Your Dock becomes a museum of every creative app you have ever installed. Otterdock enhances the macOS Dock (macOS 14+) with expandable groups that can hold apps, files, folders, and links together—stored locally—so your screen matches how you actually work: design, gather, ship.
The daily grind you feel
Review cycles pull you between the canvas, email or Slack for feedback, Finder for deliverables, and sometimes a browser for reference. Native Dock folders are fine for files, but they do not sit next to your design apps in one labeled stack. You want “everything for this brand” or “everything for this pitch” in one place, not a horizontal scavenger hunt.
Skins that match your taste: Otterdock includes preset icon skins (such as Shelf, Glass, Gradient, Minimal, and Otter) and supports custom icon skin imports. You can give each group a different look so visual separation matches your aesthetic—not just a gray folder.
Group: Design
Place Figma, Sketch, Photoshop, Illustrator, or your motion tool of choice here. Add links to live prototypes, FigJam boards, or client portals. When you enter “make the thing” mode, expand this group and ignore the rest of the Dock noise.
Group: Assets
Drop in font managers (Font Book or third-party catalogs), stock libraries, brand guideline PDFs, and the Finder folders where exports land. Mixed content—apps beside folders—is exactly what Otterdock is built for, unlike plain Dock folders that only hold files.
Group: Delivery
Put Handoff targets: packaged ZIP locations, cloud sync folders, presentation decks, and the apps you use to record Loom-style walkthroughs or compress video. Separating delivery from exploration keeps “is this final?” work from bleeding into exploration time.
| Group | What goes inside |
|---|---|
| Design | Figma / Sketch / Adobe suite, prototype links, mood references |
| Assets | Font tools, stock folders, guideline PDFs, export directories |
| Delivery | Final files, presentation apps, upload folders, screen recording tools |
Interaction modes
Use click-to-expand if you prefer zero extra permissions. Enable hover-to-expandafter granting Accessibility in System Settings if you want a faster, palette-style flow — see click mode vs hover mode for a deeper comparison. Both modes keep your data on disk under your user account.
Pricing snapshot
Start with two groups free—often enough for Design + Assets while you evaluate. Pro unlocks unlimited groups and premium skins. Direct pricing is $6.99 one-time; Mac App Store is planned at $2.99 (coming soon).
You already curate grids, type, and color. Curate your Dock the same way — our designer macOS Dock setup guide has more ideas. Fewer tabs in your head, more room on the canvas.