As designers, we are constantly looking for ways to improve our creative skillset. Having access to a myriad of free graphic design resources and visual assets like stock photography, fonts, illustrations, and other graphical elements can help take your visual representations to the next level. Whether you are looking for color, typography or image inspiration, we have got you covered. Here is a list of 20 best online resources that can help a designer hone his or her craft.
Color Inspiration
Color is an important part of a design. Its use or lack thereof can affect the way the human eye perceives a graphic. How do you pick a color palette? What motivates your choices in color? Finding the perfect palette may seem like a daunting task but there is a wealth of freely available resources that can help make it easier for you to find the right shade. We have accumulated a list of websites that can serve as an inspiration for designers looking to find that perfect hue.
1. FlatUIColorPicker
This website is a great resource for UI designers. It showcases a collection of colors within the primary color palette that can be viewed in RGB, RGBA, HEX and CMYK modes.
2. BrandColors
This website lets the user search for a brand and finds its color code.
3. Colorhunter
This website lets you upload an image and make a color palette from it.
4. TineyeLabs
Tineyelabs makes it easier to locate images that match back to your color palette. Upload a color palette to find an image with the same color scheme.
5. Coolers
Is an automatic color generator that lets the user adjust the temperature, saturation, and brightness of a color at the click of a button.
Image Inspiration
Photographs are used extensively in design. Check out this collection of websites, featuring free stock images that are absolutely beautiful to behold
6. Pexels
Pexels offers high-quality free stock images for creators worldwide. All the images are hand picked by the Pixels team and they constantly refresh their site by adding 100 new stock images every day. All images are tagged and are easy to discover.
7. Stocks Snap
Stocksnaps tag based category system allows the user to search for images based on their emotive qualities. If you are looking for an image that depicts a specific theme, surprise yourself by typing it in the search bar. You will see thousands of images that portray the specificity of your theme.
8. Unsplash
Unsplash is a simple image tool for creators. They are able to offer high-quality free stock images that are generous contributions from their community of talented image makers. You will also be able to browse through the industry’s curated collections of free photos. Including Nasa, Apple, Invision and Trello.
Split-share was founded by Photographer Daniel Nanescu. He makes his shots available to anyone who stops by his site and gives them away for free! His website has had about 2.000,000 downloads, and over 6,000,000 page views. Browse through his beautiful collections and you are bound to find an image that grabs your attention.
Patterns and Textures
Patterns and Textures can add a new dimension to your designs. Besides being a decorative element, they also help push your work to the surface. There are myriad of patterns and textures that can easily be found on the internet. Here are some of our favorites.
10. Brusheezy
Brusheezy offers a large collection of Photoshop textures that are easily downloadable. Head over to this site if you are looking to textures to enhance your next project!
11. Textures
Textures.com offers digital images with all sorts of materials. They can be used in as an overlay on photographs, as a nice pattern or as a background image. As a member, you are able to download unto 15 free images every day.
12. Subtle Patterns
As the name suggests, this site offers simple and delicate patterns. If you are looking for a motif that is shaped to look like 8-bit Pac man grid, you know where to go!
13. Texturemate
This site offers a repository of brush sets, textures and other design resources designers have worked with over the years. All the textures found here are original and can be downloaded at the click of a button.
Free Typography Resources
You can find thousands of typefaces on the internet. With a wealth of online resources choosing the right font style, size and combinations have never been easier. We have accumulated a list of interesting websites that will help you find the perfect style, explore sizes and font combinations to enhance your next project.
14. Font Squirrel
All fonts found here are original and can be used for commercial use. Besides browsing through a wide array of different styles, you are also able to identify fonts by uploading an image or by simply uploading a similar font style.
15. Typewolf
Typewolf is a great resource for all things type related. They offer a beautiful collection of free fonts, guides/resources, and font recommendations. Take a look at their daily curated ‘site of the day’ and download typefaces that work for you!
16. Free Typography
Are you a typography nerd? Do you create your own fonts? This site lets you upload your own fonts and helps you create your own style that can easily be shared with their community of creatives. Submit your font today and see where that takes you.
17. Fontshop
Explore fonts in a variety of ways. Take a look at what’s trending, browse through original collections, and test their ‘try out tool’ to discover and play with rendering fonts and sample layouts.
18. Typecast
This tool helps keep your typography projects consistent across all devices. Design a typeface with this visual tool and share by URL or export production-ready HTML or CSS.
Free mockup templates.
Once you have your designs ready, its time to share it with the world. Ready-made mockups are easily available on the internet and here are a few websites that offer them.
19. GraniteStationary
Designer Aaron Corvett made these amazing stationary bundles which can found on his Behance portfolio page. It was created using Cinema4D and is free for commercial and personal use.
20. Screely
Turn your screenshots into beautiful mockups. Choose between different mockup windows, change backgrounds and download it at your convenience!
Got more graphic design resources you want to add to the list? Let us know!
Thanks for sharing all of these great resources. I’d like to add one more that I find promising.
Seagrafik is an agency that operates like a marketplace. Their prices are really cheap and upfront, and they are pay-per-project, so you only pay for what you need. And since they are an agency, you get the benefit of having a team work for you, with the price of a freelance designer, no more sorting through designers in a marketplace:)
Really helpful, thanks.