When it comes to being a designer, you’ll always need to stock up on graphics, stock photography and fonts as well as rely on other helpful tools to successfully get your work done.
The list might seem daunting and endless, but it doesn’t have to cost you the earth. From choosing the perfect typography and finding the right visual assets to selecting the best colour palette, there is a wealth of free resources out there to make your work shine.
Our designers and teachers at Shillington, along with the Creative Boom team, helped us put together this fresh list of 50 essential resources for graphic designers—and they won’t cost you a penny.
Free Graphic Resources
How would we survive without having access to those crucial visual assets that help to add polish to our designs? The following resources bring you everything from web icons and templates to vectors and textures – and even better, they’re free. So you can save money while meeting that deadline.
1. Pixeden
Looking for lots of free graphics and web resources all in one place? Pixeden has a little bit of everything. With plenty of graphic design and web design templates, icons and vectors – you’ll be spoilt for choice. You can join for free but if you want a little extra, you can upgrade to one of their premium plans too.
2. Design Instruct
Design Instruct offers lots of free resources including icons, vectors, fonts, stock images and textures – everything you might need for your projects. Simply head to their Freebies section where you can take your pick and download for free.
3. FindGuidelin.es
“The fastest way to brand assets” – that’s the claim of FindGuidelin.es which provides helpful links to some of the world’s biggest brand identities. Get quick access to logos, buttons, icons and colour palettes from companies as big as Facebook, Spotify and Dropbox.
4. Sketch App Sources
Get Sketch resources in your inbox, courtesy of Sketch App Sources. We particularly like the “free resources” where you can download free icons, wireframes, buttons, forms and logos. Sign up and get alerts to free and premium design resources from this excellently curated collection.
5. 365PSD
Check out this collection of free vector images, logo designs and PSD graphics for your next projects. From business icon sets and free flat UI kits to image screens and Facebook covers, there is plenty to browse and download without spending a penny.
6. Endless Icons
Doing exactly what it says on the tin, Endless Icons brings you a wealth of free icons to suit your design projects. From the usual suspects of web, corporate and social to more unusual themes such as beauty, food and fun icons – this is the place to find what you need.
7. Noun Project
Millions use Noun Project to access new icons added daily by its creative community. A free membership is available, giving you access to over 100,000 icons of various themes. There’s also an option to upgrade and get unlimited access to the directory.
8. Designer Mill
We love this clean, minimal resource full of quality free UI kits, icons, mockups, templates and fonts. There’s always something fresh and interesting to add to your library. And you can submit your own creations too.
9. FreePik
Need some free vector designs? FreePik is the place for you. Claiming to be the leading search engine for such graphics, there are over a million free vectors and photographs at your fingertips.
10. FlatIcon
Over 130,000 vector icons grouped together in 1,849 packs – that’s the promise from FlatIcon that brings you a ton of free icons to download and keep.
Free Typography Resources
Need some decent typefaces for your print or digital projects? Typography can get expensive rather quickly. So if money’s tight, check out the following leading resources that offer plenty of gorgeous fonts for free.
11. Font Squirrel
Font Squirrel is the king of all font websites, bringing you hundreds of free typefaces that you can use across all your commercial work. Whatever style you’re after, from a more corporate font to softer calligraphic lettering, there is something to suit.
12. Fontshop
Whether you’re a seasoned designer or just getting started, Fontshop gives a nice digest of design terms relating to fonts in their glossary. It’s also a good place to start if you’re unsure about how to search for the font you want. Here’s the full A-Z of terminology so you can get clued up:
13. Typewolf
Created with the purpose of gathering together the best typography resources, Typewolf makes finding the perfect font super easy. There are tons of lists summing up certain types of fonts, guides and resources about typography, and other recommendations. The website even has a catalogue of where different fonts are used, so you can get a feel of what they look like in print or online.
14. Typecast
A free account on Typecast gives you access to over 3,650 web fonts, including some of the most celebrated and influential typefaces. It also lets you design a working prototype that can be exported ready for production in HTML and CSS. Nice.
15. Free Typography
There are a lot of fonts to choose from on Free Typography, whether you’re searching for something simple or a more unique typeface. The website also invites you to submit your own font, which is a good way to build up your portfolio.
16. Open Foundry
Open Foundry is a new platform for open-source fonts in a noise-free environment; to highlight their beauty and encourage further exploration. Founded by Stefan Endress and Alastair O’Shea – the site offers hundreds of free open-source fonts optimised for the web.
17. FontStruct
FontStruct is a free font-building tool which helps you easily create fonts using geometrical shapes. You can keep your creations private, or share with its online community. You can even download fonts made by other FontStruct users.
Free Stock Photography
A photograph can often complete a design. But because so many stock imagery sites cost a small fortune to purchase from, how can you find copyright-free pictures for free? The following solutions will become essential bookmarks.
18. Death to the Stock Photo
Founded by two rogue photographers Allie and David, Death to the Stock Photo was launched in 2014 to help creatives struggling to find images that fit their “vibe and tribe”. There are plenty of free photos to choose from, but there’s also an option to upgrade and go premium.
19. Pexels
Described as the website with the ‘best free stock photos in one place’, Pexels adds five new high-quality photos daily – copyright-free and available for commercial use.
20. Little Visuals
Little Visuals is a simple, free resource where you can sign up to get seven high-res images zipped to your inbox every Thursday. Think quality city scenes and rolling landscapes, and you’re able to use the images any way you want.
21. Life of Pix
Life of Pix offers high-resolution photos with no copyright restrictions. Added weekly, all images are donated to the public domain, courtesy of Leeroy, an advertising agency in Montreal and its trusted network of photographers.
22. Stocksnap
Calling itself the number one source for beautiful free stock photos, Stocksnap offers hundreds of high-resolution images, added weekly – and not one would be considered cheesy.
23. Unsplash
Another great little website, Unsplash adds 10 new photos every 10 days. From portraits and landscapes to architectural imagery, this will become an essential bookmarked site.
24. PicJumbo
Created by Viktor, a web designer who “understands the requirement for decent stock photography”, PicJumbo offers high-quality photos for free. An attribution is appreciated but not necessary.
25. Gratisography
Gratisography provides free high-resolution pictures you can use for both your personal and commercial projects. All images have been taken by Ryan McGuire and are free of copyright restrictions.
26. SplitShare
Photographer Daniel Nanescu loves photography so much that he gives his shots away for free. He’s the driving force behind SplitShare, a website that’s already had 80,000 downloads and over a million page views. And if you love the free images that you can access, there’s also a premium service where you can get even more. The thing we love most about this particular site is the helpful categorisation of images. Browse through fashion and food, wedding and technology – to find the free pic you need to complete your project.
27. Pixabay
On Pixabay you can find and share images free of all copyrights, as they’re released under Creative Commons CC0 into the public domain. You can copy, modify, distribute, and use the images even for commercial purposes – all without asking permission and without paying attribution. Add this essential site to your list.
28. FancyCrave
FancyCrave is a great source for designers and developers, offering high-resolution photos that you can use for your personal and commercial projects. Every single picture is free of copyright restrictions. All they ask if you can is provide attribution.
29. Mazwai
Need a moving image instead? Check out Mazwai – a website with lots of free videos that you can access for free. From short snippets to longer engaging films – this collection will help to bring your web design alive.
30. Tech & All
Over on Tech & All, you’ll be able to search free HD stock photos and design mockups, covering themes on pretty much anything. There are a few other design resources like fonts and templates, but this site is mainly about the imagery.
31. Magdeleine
There’s a nice filter system on Magdeleine that allows you to find the right stock photograph for your project. You can filter by category, including city and architecture, objects and food. Perfect for when you need something visual and fast.
Free Web Design Resources
If web design is your thing, there’s a wealth of helpful assets freely available at your fingertips. From icons and Photoshop freebies to website templates and background textures – the following free suggestions will become an essential part of your daily toolkit.
32. Fly Pixel
Similar to Pixeden, Fly Pixel has hundreds of user interface, template and icon resources, available for free. If you have something particular in mind for a specific project, its handy search filters can help you narrow down the resources by colour.
33. Freebiesbug
From fonts and icons to Illustrator and Photoshop freebies, Freebiesbug has got a vast amount of resources for every designer. There’s a large selection of unique fonts, as well as mockups and website templates.
34. WebdesignerDepot
The WebdesignerDepot covers popular web design trends, with tutorials and free stuff along the way too. There are articles covering all aspects of web design from branding and UX design, right up to marketing and social media, while the WebdesignerDepot freebies include UI kits, WordPress themes, mockups, icons and vectors.
35. Screen Siz.es
Sick of searching Google to find out the precise widths of different screens? Screen Siz.es is your go-to resource to find out every single screen size of every type of smartphone, tablet and monitor. Problem solved.
36. Psddd
Best for Photoshop downloads, Psddd has a variety of icons, UI kits, backgrounds, and mockups too. Their Photoshop elements include textures and brushes to layer onto your design, as well as a few free extensions and tips.
37. FltDesign
This helpful community focuses on
Free Design Inspiration Resources
From mood boards and colour picking tools to helpful how-to sites and palette creators – this selection of free design inspiration resources will help you out when you’re creatively stuck.
38. Adobe Color CC
Need inspiration for colour? The free Adobe Color CC allows you to import any image to generate a colour theme or you can use its “color wheel” to come up with endless themes based on different harmonies: analogous, monochromatic, triad, complementary, compound and shades.
39. Niice
The ultimate inspiration boosting tool, Niice let’s you build mood boards to look back on when you’re running low on ideas. There’s even an app available to download so you can access the mood boards when you’re out and about. Simply a private inspiration space, the website is designed to help you spark that next big idea.
40. BrandColors
Claiming to be the biggest collection of official brand color codes around, BrandColors literally brings you the identity colours of the world’s biggest household names. Click on the colour you like and it’s instantly copied to your clipboard.
41. Coolors
This “super fast” colour schemes generator lets you create, save and share different palettes in seconds. We especially like the ready-made schemes that you can browse and pick for your own projects.
42. Flat UI Colours
Just need some gorgeous flat colours for your web design? Flat UI Colours is a simple, straightforward delicious resource that you’ll revisit again and again. Just click to copy the hex colour codes and you’re away.
43. Colour Lovers
Love colour? Colour Lovers is an international community that provides a wealth of user created and shared colour inspiration as well as tools that make the creative process as simple as possible. Whether you need a colour palette to kickstart your next project or want to create a piece of vector art, this website has the tools you need to go from design inspiration to execution.
44. Palette Creator
Do you want to create a colour palette that matches an image you’ve found online? Or maybe you just want to grab some colours for inspiration? Then Palette Creator is the Chrome extension for you. Just right-click on the desired picture, select the ‘Palette Creator’ option, and choose the number of colours you want the palette to have. Simple.
www.chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/palette-creator
Free Mockup Templates
Once you’ve got your projects successfully launched, you’ll want to show off your design talents to the world via your own online portfolio. This list of free mockup templates will help you showcase your proudest work in style.
45. Granite Stationery Bundle
Granite Stationery is a mockup PSD bundle, free to use for commercial and personal use. All of the images were created in Cinema4D and rendered with Octane Render. Brought to you generously by American designer Aaron Covrett.
www.behance.net/Free-Granite-Stationery-Bundle
46. Screely
Every designer needs the ability to showcase a website with a beautiful visual. For those of you pushed for time, Screely instantly turns your screenshot or design into a beautiful image you can share anywhere. No Photoshop or Sketch templates necessary! And with a background colour that’s changeable, it’s a very helpful mockup.
47. Retro Screen Mockups
Fancy taking a step back in time and honouring some earlier computers? These PSD retro screen mockups are free and available for both personal and commercial use.
48. Business Card Mockup
If you need a decent business card mockup, designer Alex Andr has offered four such templates for free. Available for both personal and commercial use, these slick cards will really add finesse to showcasing your project.
www.behance.net/4-Free-Business-Card-Mockup
49. MacBook Pro Photo Mockup
Show It Better offers this completely free MacBook Pro photo mockup, so you can display your web design projects quite beautifully.
50. Free iPhone 5 Photo Mockup
Need to display a design on an iPhone? No problem. Here’s another great free resource from Show It Better – a website that offers loads of decent mockups to help you showcase your professional work. Check out their Freebies for more delicious templates.
Do you have a favourite free resource that should be on this list? Comment below or tweet us!
Banner artwork by Shillington Melbourne teacher Wayne Smith.
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