As a designer, using certain platforms and finding the right resources has been one of the most useful things for me. It has helped with time management, allowing me to get a tons more done in the time I have available as well as improving the quality and versatility of the work that I produce.
Below, I will take you through the 20 most valuable resources that I use or would recommend others using.
Firstly, I would recommend investing in the Adobe suite. It is possibly the most useful design software that we designers use. I couldn’t do what I do without it! My most used resources are the three below.
1. Adobe Illustrator
2. Adobe Photoshop
3. Adobe Indesign
Moving on, I will just reiterate from my last blog post (http://fraserandcodesign.co.uk/2018/05/15/design-tips-tricks-conquer-social-media/), what a useful resource social media is. It is one not to be forgotten about.
4. Pinterest
5. Facebook Groups
6. Instagram
7. Twitter
8. Canva. Some of my previous clients haven’t yet got the fund to be constantly paying other to design day to day graphics. To these individuals I recommend Canva. Although I don’t personally have experience with it, I am well informed that it is a really useful tool when DIY’ing your design.
9. SiteGround – Web hosting. (Note: This is an affiliate link.)
10. Our DIY Design Area How could I miss this one? Of corse, our own FREE resources for all of you budding DIY designers to benefit from!
11. Brusheezy – FREE Brushes, textures and patterns.
12. FontSquirrel – My go-to font website to find FREE fonts for commercial use. Sometimes as designers our clients don’t want the extra expense of a paid for font so this site is a really useful resource.
13. Dribble – Huge freebie archives including inspiration and design freebies.
The three listed below are all wonderful sources of FREE stock photos. Most of them are free for commercial use but, as always, be sure to check the liscencing agreement before use.
14. Unsplash
15. Pexels
16. Pixabay
17. Creative Market. You can purchase templates, fonts, flat lays, images and so much more.
18. Subtle Patterns – Full of a huge variety of patterns and textures to suit your every need.
19. Niice – A site that allows you to pull all of your ideas together, curate mood boards and develop a bundle of ideas prior to beginning your project!
20. Pixel Buddah – Again, a website offering you an endless amount of icons, templates, vector and other freebies.
**I mention this time and time again but, please check the licences of anything you buy or download to make sure you are legally using them.
I love this! I use a lot of these. Unsplash is my FAVORITE. Half on my images on my blog are from that site!
Yes, me too! Although I do, do a lot of my own photography I do also take advantage of these sources as well.
Must say that it find ways to further enhance the branding of a product or service, as well as develop a marketing plan through analysis of current market data and trends.
Thanks for reading, Monidipa!
Very informative blog, thanks for sharing these resources.
Thanks for reading!
I’m addicted most of the things you have mentioned here. Favorite ones are unsplash, pixabay, Canva, pintrest and more.. Huge collection you have got there!
I am glad you find it useful and feel as though my suggestions are some of the best. These are, for sure, my favourites!
Thank you for so many ideas! I take some photos myself, not all of them, and also use some of the apps you mentioned.
It’s lovely to hear you experimenting with their own photography as well as using these resources. Thanks for reading!
You never fail providing rich resources……. I’m using some of them and will try the other…. Thanks for this….
Thanks again, Jeferson. I am glad to hear you benefiting and using advice from my posts!
Thank you. I use canvas I really like it they have a lot of free things so it is nice.
I agree, Canvas is a really user friendly platform.
Many resources are free online. We just need not be lazy to look for these and learn.