In this short article, I explain why Descript is now my video tool of choice to create both short and quickly shareable videos for my colleagues and long-form, more complex videos like interviews and webinars.

How I created videos in the past

Up until now, I often used two different tools to create videos.

Video editing tools

I've used a video editing tool like Final Cut Pro or Screenflow. I have a preference for Screenflow because of its integrated stock media library that made it possible to quickly add stock videos to my videos without having to go on a website, download, and then add the file to the video.

I've used these tools to create the 100 videos of my video Service Design course, to create marketing videos for myself or as a freelancer for other organisations.

Screen recording and instant video sharing

I've also used tools like Loom or Tella to quickly record something that is happening on my computer screen while having my face in the recording. That's been pretty great to share with colleagues explanations about something visual that would have taken a shit load of words in an email and still wouldn't have been clear. Instead, with such tools, I was able to record a 2-minute video, in 2 minutes, and have it ready to be shared without having to do any editing or uploading manually.

My favourite tool for that was Loom, as it was just super fast and worked great on Mac.

The new app that replaces all other video tools: Descript

Now, I'm only using Descript to create complex videos and quick recordings I can share instantly.

Descript lets me do all the things I did before. I can:

• Quickly record a video of my screen and my webcam and have it ready to be shared with a link right after I click "stop the recording". That's working now as fast as Loom with the new version 82 of Descript.

• Create long and more complex videos that have lots of edits, graphics, music and so on.

• Add stock media like stock videos without leaving the app and without having to pay for a second subscription to a service like Storyblocks.

Descript also changes the way I work with videos

I don't edit in a timeline anymore. Instead, I edit the transcript of the video.

This means editing a video is more like editing a text document, which is much less a pain in the ass to do. An added bonus of this approach is that I can do a base edit without even having to listen to the audio of the video. It's so great not to have your own voice in your ears for hours.

Descript has a lot of tiny productivity tools that make editing much faster and better

To name a few:

• Studio sound effects,

• Eye contact fixer,

• Filler word removal,

• Blank space removal, etc.

To know more about these features, read the backstage blog post "How I've used AI to write and launch my book, hint: it is not how you think"

Yes, I'm a fan

I'm pretty much a fan of Descript because this tool really helped me transition to video for the educational content I create. It allowed me to hate video editing less and be able to edit a lot of webinars for the Swiss Service Design Network or edit long-form interviews for the book tour of my latest Service Design book.

Going further

If you want to know more about how I shoot and edit these videos you can read the backstage blog article "How do I shoot and edit the intros of my long-form videos".