Our Favorite Graphic Design Resources
MY FAVORITE ONLINE RESOURCES FOR PROFESSIONAL GRAPHIC DESIGNERS:
Being a self taught Graphic Designer for 10+ years I have a lot of design tips, knowledge and tools to share. There are many Graphic Design resources out there. I’ve narrowed down a few of my favorites that really up-leveled my design work and my business.
ONLINE PORTFOLIO:
Dribbble is where designers gain inspiration, feedback, community, and jobs and is your best resource to discover and connect with designers worldwide.
Behance is owned by Adobe and was created as a way for designers to showcase and discover work. They give you an easy to use platform to build an online portfolio for free!
FONTS:
Here is a list of amazing FREE font websites! Make sure you check the licensing when you download and use a font for a project. While they are free a lot of fonts only let you use them for personal use. If you are using the font professionally you will need to make sure that the license is for commercial use.
Adobe fonts is the best for graphic designers. If you have an Adobe account you can choose from tons of free fonts that immediately download into your Adobe account. So they will immediately show up in Photoshop, InDesign & Illustrator. It’s definitely my first go to to find fonts because it’s so seamless at integrating into design work.
Google fonts have an array of FREE fonts that download directly to your computer. These fonts are great to choose for web design and email newsletters because most fonts are compatible with almost all programs and computers. Plus they are designed by the top typography designers, so you can’t go wrong!
Fonts in Use is an amazing platform for professional graphic designers to study typography and really discover what font style you are attracted to. You can choose from an array of designer’s projects and design formats that will show you what fonts were used in the making, it’s an incredible resource for inspiration and ideas.
Font Shop is the best resource to test out fonts before you jump the gun and purchase them. It’s definitely a go to for modern and sophisticated font choices.
DaFont is an amazing FREE font site full of unique lettering ranging from all different categories. Their categories are great to choose from and can also help give direction in your project. A lot of these fonts are great for fun lettering and unique typography
MOCK-UP TEMPLATES:
Creative Booster is great for free mock ups and templates to use for your design work. They also have an array of free fonts and other assets and resources to use. I love this site!
FREE STOCK IMAGES:
UNSPLASH is probably one of my most used resources! They have such beautiful photography that is free to use on all platforms! You can also create collections almost like a Pinterest board which really helps when you are working on branding for a client. I swear by this platform.
With over 1.7 million+ high quality stock images and videos Pixabay also has illustrations and vectors which is a great added bonus!
WEBSITE PLATFORMS & BUILDERS:
Squarespace is my personal favorite website platform to design from. They have beautiful modern templates that are easily customizable. Even if you aren’t a designer. They are great for entrepreneurs and people running their small business from home. It’s easy to use and edit for everyone. This platform I suggest over Wix.com 100%.
This site you are on now was built on Squarespace. :)
Shopify is a staple to know the ins and out for e-commerce shops. It’s also easy to use and intuitive and offers a lot of extra apps that you can add onto you or your clients site. This platform is ideal for e-commerce shops with a store with more than 5-10 products. And is even better for stores with thousands of products in their inventory.
GRAPHIC DESIGN CLASSES:
SkillShare is an amazing place to find graphic design classes and courses to upgrade your skills and learn more design techniques.
Youtube is famous for vlogs, and funny videos but it is also packed with loads of informational content. There are a lot of graphic designer tutorials to choose from. It’s a great way to learn a new design skill.
Shhh… we are planning on launching a YouTube channel full of design tutorials! If you are reading this now we will update this blog post as soon as we launch and make sure to stick the link in here. Also if you have any ideas or are looking for a design tutorial please leave a comment below.
The Futur created by Chris Do is an online education platform for creative entrepreneurs. They have a website full of great video content, articles, resources, and courses for graphic design and branding. Make sure to also check out their YouTube channel.
PODCASTS:
Jenna Kutcher brings you productivity tips, social media strategies, business hack and inspirational stories that help YOU design your dream career. Because work shouldn’t feel like work. Although Jenna isn’t a graphic designer, she is a master marketer and I’ve found this podcast to be the most helpful in branding, marketing and all the boss lady tips on running a small business.
Uncool Designer is the podcast helping graphic designer boss-ladies work smarter and not harder in their design businesses. I just discovered this podcast recently and LOVE it!
The Futur created by Chris Do is an online education platform for creative entrepreneurs, he chats with entreprenuers and designers from around the world and really gives some useful tips on the business of graphic design.