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20 Fresh and Free Graphic Design Resources
Simplicity is the ultimate form of sophistication. ~ Leonardo Da Vinci
There are oh so many lists available to us online in which other individuals share with us their best, tried and true resources. I do very much the same by having a resources page available on my website. However, that resources page is a general round-up of essentials for entrepreneurs just starting out or for those possibly feeling frazzled with too many choices. In my eyes, this can be a plus and a minus as one can never have too many resources but narrowing things down to what you want and what you really need can be tough.
I also very recently released a blog post with a peek inside my virtual tool box which showcases a really valuable list for solo-preneurs, such as myself, who offer a mixture of services within their business as well as certain platforms used for clients in which I help the begin untangling process of theirs.
In all reality, it truly depends on who you are, what you offer and what kinds of resources you’re feeling low on. So, I thought to myself, how can I tackle this from a different perspective?
And the answer was … by the way I do things best … through organization. LoL!
With that being said, today I am sharing with you my most favourite (and personal) graphic design resources. So, whether you’re a DIY-preneur or a designer struggling to find some new inspiration … This. List. Is. For You. Now of course, keep in mind, this blog post could go on AND ON for more than a million pages worth of greatness. So, to keep things simple and not provide too many extra options to you’re already overflowing list, I’ve narrowed it down to my TOP 20 fresh (and of course free – because who doesn’t love free) graphic design resources. So, enjoy …
Graphic Resources:
Truthfully, no one designs by themselves. As creatives, we are constantly referring to others – it’s how the art/design progresses. How would one survive without having access to all these crucial visual assets? I literally do not know. So, to help your creative process along, let’s start off with the following resource links that bring you everything from web icons and templates to vectors and fonts – and even better, they’re all free. Yes, that’s right … FREE!
Stock Photography:
We’ve all been in that hellish place – trying to find that “perfect” image that hasn’t been overused and fits in just perfectly with the design idea we had in mind. It can be quite a painful process and sometimes take hours of our time in which we originally thought would only take minutes. So, with help from the following links you can get in high gear and level up your creative projects with authentic photos …
Colour Lovers:
- Colour Lovers is a very large international creative community of designers and artists of all kinds, from all around the world have the ability to create and share colour palettes and patterns, discuss the latest trends and even have the opportunity to explore a colourful articles – all in the spirit for the love of colours. It’s the type of site you visit to gain some colour inspiration, ideas and feedback. So, whether you’re simply looking for a colour palette to kickstart your next design projects or wanting to produce a piece of vector artwork, they have the tools and services to help you go from design inspiration to execution. Simple as that!
Typography:
- DaFont is a great database with over 10,000 free fonts available at your fingertips for use on your website and/or other materials. And of course, for us design guru’s, a way to obsess over free fonts. With over 50 categories of fonts to browse through, it is a truly impressive font catalogue. Categories include fancy, foreign look, techno, bitmap, gothic, basic, script, dingbats and holiday, with even more organization into sub-categories. In addition, you can browse fonts by themes, newest and authors. In addition to offering fonts, they also have a message board where you can present images with certain fonts in them and have other users help identify it for you. Most designers know this, and you should too … a little font change can go a long way.
- Creative Market is all about changing the way people create. They empower creators all around the world to make their ideas a reality and absolutely everything they do is to help people turn their passion into opportunity with the simplicity of an internet connection and some design skills. They are truly the world’s largest marketplace for designs. You can download resources (both free and paid versions) of photos, graphics, design templates, website themes, fonts and even 3-D graphics. With this platform, the world is your oyster!
- FreeDesign4Me is a huge online resource library filled with fonts, vectors, photoshop brushes, icons, patterns, 3D models and yes, even tutorials. It’s basically a one-stop-shop for everything you need as a design. It’s literally that simple. Check it out for yourself.
- Pixeden came to life with the idea of creating a one-stop place for all the tools that any modern designer might need in their day-to-day routine. It is a fun “treasure chest” space online that creates free and premium (only a few dollars per month if you’re looking for something extra special) graphic, design and web resources/templates for creative individuals. All their plans even include a royalty free commercial license. Yes, even the FREE plan. And if for some reason you’ can’t find what you’re looking for you can get it by asking their resource community to make it for you. BONUS!
- Canva is an online graphic design tool which is perfect for working individually or with teams of all sizes. It has an easy to use drag-and-drop interface and provides access to over a million photographs, graphics, and fonts. The tools can be used for both web and print media design and graphics. I feel their best feature is the pre-set sizes so if you’re working on something specific you don’t have to waste time hunting for the “proper” size. So, whether you’re a professional or just beginning your design journey, this resource has everything you need. They also have our templates and pro features that you can check out for making designing in their platform even more efficient than it already is.
- Easil.ly is a website that features thousands of free infographic templates and design objects which users can customize to create and share your visual ideas online. Using this site is as easy as dragging and dropping design elements, and users can either choose a template from our extensive library, or they can upload their own background image and start from scratch. Over 300,000 users have already registered with Easel.ly, and thousands of infographics are produced using the site every month. If you’re looking for an easy way to convey your visual image in a professional, flashy style, look no further.
- Asana is a free tool that helps you manage team projects and tasks all the while getting a clear picture of what work needs to be done and who is doing it by when. With its great features you can do away with chaos and guesswork, and spend more time making ideas happen. You have ease of access to make sure you hit your deadlines by using the “Timeline” feature to create a plan that shows you how the pieces of your project fit together and helps you keep work on track as things change. And lastly, tie it all together by bringing emails, files, tickets and more into Asana with over 100 integrations to choose from, so you can see everything in one place. This online platform basically makes work less …. well work!
- Hubspot Blog Topic Generator is a great online platform for when you are having one of those days when you just do not know what to write about. This is a constant thought that has crossed every blogger’s mind. Trust me … I know, I have been there many of times! But let me let you in on a little secret: there is no such thing as running out of blog ideas. Not anymore with this website. All you have to do if fill in the three blank fields with terms that you would like to write about and the Hubspot Topic Generator will come up with a week’s worth of relevant blog post titles in a matter of seconds! Now honestly, how amazing is that?!
- Bit.ly unleashes the power of your URLs as it is a URL shortening service with a built-in link management platform. It also allows you to share, manage and analyze your favourite links from all around the web. On average, it shortens 600 million links per month for use of social networking sites, SMS and even email.
To me, the following quote truly sums everything I’ve shared here up …
There is a choice you have to make in everything you do. So, keep in mind that in the end, the choice you make, makes you.
~ John Wooden
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Crystal Kordalchuk
Crystal is an artist, a writer, an organizer, a dreamer, a doer, and down-right proud of it NERD!.
Struck with a love for #AllThings creative at a very young age, Crystal dreamed of a life fueled by her passion for creating and bringing the stories and images in her mind into reality.
As she worked toward her dreams, she earned a diploma as a Computer Applications Specialist then another in Graphic Design and from there began to develop her extensive background in multimedia and the arts. She began her worked in the magazine industry as a layout designer and had a succession of design jobs thereafter. It was her role as a graphic/web designer that gave her the first real glimpse of her future. Soon she began a side job as a freelance designer while keeping one foot in the corporate world. A spark was lit! She turned her freelance gig into a full-time business combining design work with her other passion: creating organization from virtual chaos.
Crystal is one of the most organized individuals on the planet. She is by all means a Zen master of her crafts. She excels at helping others become “untangled” and provides her clients with tools to run their businesses smoothly while she takes care of the details behind the scenes. Thus Virtually Untangled was born. A successful business where her work as a top notch creative in graphic and web — with a twist of virtual assistant — married into one amazing place where clients can come with their virtual messes and become magically untangled. Crystal can always make sense of even the most unorganized chaos and offers a virtual detox of order and peace, so her clients can get busy doing the work that they love the most.
