Color + Palettes

• Adobe Color

• Coolors

• Design Seeds

• Paletton

• Color Hunt

• The Day’s Color

• ColorZilla - Eyedropper browser extension that allows you to get a color code from any site, quickly adjust this color and paste it into another program

• Beginning Graphic Design: Color (YouTube)

• What is the Difference Between RGB and CMYK? (YouTube)

Stock Assets

Stock Images

• Unsplash - Free stock photos

• Pexels - Free stock photos

• Public Domain Assets (Historical):

  • Public Work - Search engine for public domain content

  • The British Library (Flickr) - Public domain images

  • The Public Domain Review - Public domain images, books, film + audio

  • New Old Stock - Vintage photos from public archives free of known copyright restrictionsPixabay - Royalty-free images & royalty-free stock

• Freepik

• FreeImages - Photos, Vectors, Clipart, Icons, PSD + more

• Burst - Free stock photos from Shopify

• Free Nature Stock - Royalty-free CC0 nature stock photos and videos

• ISO Republic - Free and high-resolution stock images and videos

• StockSnap.io - Free CC0-licensed photos, so you can use them in both your personal or commercial projects without attribution

• Burst - Free stock photos

• Landing Stock - Free stock photos

• nappy - Beautiful photos of Black and Brown people, for free

• Gender Spectrum (Vice) - Stock photo library featuring images of trans and non-binary models

Icons

• Noun Project

• Font Awesome

• IconMonstr 

• Flaticon

• Ionicons

Vectors + Illustrations

• Vecteezy - Offers both free and paid assets

• Free Vector

• Open Doodles - Free set of open-source illustrations

• Open Peeps - Hand-drawn illustration library

• Humaaans - Free tool that allows you to customize CC0 illustrations of humans in various contexts  

• DrawKit - Free + paid vector illustrations

• unDraw

• Ouch! Icons8 - Free icons and vectors

Stock Video + Audio

• Pond5

• Artlist

Mockups

• Dealjumbo 

• MockupWorld 

• SmartMockups

• Freepik

Paid Assets

• Adobe Stock 

• Shutterstock

• Creative Market - Usually runs great promos - Fonts, vectors, templates, etc.

• Envato Elements

• Vexels - High-quality vector graphics

Branding

• Brandfetch - Download logos, colors, fonts, and more from over 10,000,000+ brands

  • Brandfetch Browser Extension - Extract any company's brand assets from their website

Printing + Production

• Envelope Size Chart (Click to download)

• File Type Compatibility Chart (Click to download)

• Prepress Checklist (Click to download)

• Print Basics (99designs)

• Print File Mistakes to Avoid (99designs)

• Free Print Templates (GotPrint)

Vendors

• Printify - Print-on-demand + store hosting

• Moo - Notable range of business card options

• GotPrint - Helpful template library

• Custom Ink - Apparel printing (offers small quantity runs)

UX/UI

• Nielsen Norman Group

• Wired: UX/UI

• UX Planet

• Laws of UX (Jon Yablonski) - Collection of best practices designers can consider when building user interfaces

• UI Garage - Daily handpicked UI inspiration & patterns

• UX Design Institute Blog - Fresh insights and career advice from experts, alumni and the wider design community

• UX Tools - Practical lessons, resources, and news for the UX/UI community

• Design Spells - Inspiration

Software

• Figma

Artificial Intelligence

• ChatGPT - Chat-based AI

• Bard (Google) - Chat-based AI

• Midjourney - Image Generation

• Descript - Video + podcast editing

• Jasper - AI for marketing

• Otter.ai - Real-time meeting note taker

Coding

• Free Code Camp - Learn to code for free + earn certificates

• W3Schools

Web

• Professional Web Typography - Donny Truong

• Internet Archive: Wayback Machine - Periodically captures working copies of websites to create an archive—just type in a URL and you can see what the page looked like in the past!

Accessibility

• Understanding Accessibility - Resources to help you create accessible choices in color, typefaces, media, layout, and development

• WebAIM: Web Color Contrast Checker - To optimize experiences for users with disabilities, most sites require contrast level compliance

• WCAG 2 Overview - WCAG documents explain how to make web content more accessible to people with disabilities.

Email

• Good Sales Emails - Inspiration blog for email campaigns from the best companies in the world—you can even search by company

Email Marketing Platforms

• Intuit Mailchimp

• Constant Contact

• HubSpot

Freelance

• Client Email Helper (Jessica Hische)

• AIGA Business & Freelance Resources - Including Standard Form of Agreement for Design Services, Independent Contractor Agreement, Legal Guides, + Design Business and Ethics

• Moo - Great site for printing business cards

Pricing

• Should I Work For Free? 

• Calculating a Freelance Rate (AIGA)

• The Dark Art of Pricing (Jessica Hische)

• How Much Should I Charge? (The Nu School) - Use this as a thought tool, not an exact calculator

• Freelance Rate Database (Freelancing Females) - Offers access to a collaborative worldwide Wage Transparency Database

Accounting Tools

• Quickbooks - Send invoices, track miles, files your taxes, and more

• Freshbooks - Accounting software built for business owners, with easy invoices and lots of payment options get you paid faster by letting clients pay how they like—features recurring invoices, automated payment reminders, online payments, and more

Podcasts

• Design Matters with Debbie Millman - The world's first podcast about design and an inquiry into the broader world of creative culture through wide-ranging conversations with designers, writers, artists, curators, musicians, and other luminaries of contemporary thought

• 99% Invisible - Podcast about all the thought that goes into the things we don’t think about—the unnoticed architecture and design that shape our world

• AIGA Design Podcasts - How is design changing as a discipline and profession? What are the current landscapes and future horizons of innovation? ​What are the opportunities for the design community? AIGA explores these questions and more with creative practitioners and​ business​ leaders​ to deepen the impact of design across all disciplines on business, society, and our collective future

• The Weekly Typographic Podcast - They collect neat, new, and interesting type & design-related links, and then talk about them each week with extra insights

• Drunk on Lettering - “Welcome to Drunk on Lettering with Roxy Prima and Phoebe Cornog! Each week we get drunk and Skype with one of our favorite letterers. We specialize in making our guests feel uncomfortable and asking them pointless questions. This podcast is 1 part informative, 1 part entertaining, and 1 part cheese!”

• Adventures in Design Podcast Network 

• The Honest Designers Show - “Are you a designer struggling to find your way in the modern world? Learn how to make a dent in the creative universe with Tom Ross, Ian Barnard, Dustin Lee and Lisa Glanz. Each of your hosts have found tremendous success in their own creative fields. They’re here to give you a completely honest, under the hood look at what it takes to flourish in this crazy creative vocation! You’ll discover actionable tips to land more clients, find your style, successfully brand yourself, and ultimately find satisfaction in your work.”

• The Reflex Blue Show: A Graphic Design Podcast - “A podcast about graphic design, design, pop culture, web design, and the people working in the industry. The Reflex Blue Show is hosted by Donovan Beery, a designer living and working in Omaha, Nebraska.”

• For the Love of Freelance - “The confidence-boosting coffee chat for freelancers everywhere.”

Books

General Design

• The Design of Everyday Things, Don Norman

• Graphic Design, Referenced: A Visual Guide to the Language, Applications, and History of Graphic Design, Bryony Gomez-Palacio 

• Becoming a Graphic Designer, Heller & Fernandes

Typography

• The Anatomy of Type: A Graphic Guide to 100 Typefaces, Stephen Coles

• Just My Type: A Book About Fonts, Simon Garfield

• Thinking with Type: A Critical Guide for Designers, Writers, Editors, & Students, Ellen Lupton

• Why Fonts Matter, Sarah Hyndman

• Designing Type, Karen Cheng

• Shady Characters, Keith Houston 

• In Progress: See Inside a Lettering Artist's Sketchbook and Process, from Pencil to Vector, Jessica Hische

• Letter Perfect: The Marvelous History of Our Alphabet From A to Z, David Sacks

Color

• A Dictionary of Color Combinations, Sanzo Wada

• Secret Lives of Color, Kassia St. Clair

Branding + Marketing

• Brand Thinking and Other Noble Pursuits, Debbie Millman

• Designing Brand Identity: An Essential Guide for the Whole Branding Team, Alina Wheeler 

• Logotype, Evamy Michael

• The Human Brand: How We Relate to People, Products, and Companies, Chris Malone 

• Marketing Rebellion: The Most Human Company Wins, Mark W. Schaefer

Creative Process + Career

• Steal Like an Artist: 10 Things Nobody Told You About Being Creative, Austin Kleon

• Manage Your Day-to-Day: Build Your Routine, Find Your Focus, and Sharpen Your Creative Mind, 99U

• Maximize Your Potential: Grow Your Expertise, Take Bold Risks & Build an Incredible Career, 99U

• Rare Breed: A Guide to Success for the Defiant, Dangerous, and Different, Sunny Bonnell

• Your Inner Critic Is a Big Jerk: And Other Truths About Being Creative, Danielle Krysa 

Book Binding

• Hand Bookbinding: A Manual of Instruction, Aldren A. Watson - Step-by-step processes for creating perfect bound books

• The Art of the Fold: How to Make Innovative Books and Paper Structures, Hedi Kyle

• Making Books: A guide to creating hand-crafted books, London Centre for Book Arts

Movies/Shorts

• Helvetica

  •   Objectified

  •   Urbanized

• Abstract: The Art of Design (Netflix)

• Like Knows Like: Movie Shorts

• 10 Best Uses of Color of All Time (YouTube)

• Eli Altman (Brand New Conference) - A thoughtful (and humorous) introduction to the business of naming and why it's harder than it seems

Digital Tools

• Wordmark.it - Browser extension that allows you to preview a word/phrase in all of your installed fonts

• Lastpass - Password manager

• Dark Reader - Browser extension that allows you to apply dark mode on Facebook, Amazon, YouTube, Google Search, Wikipedia, Twitter and many other websites

• Gif Creator

• Google Search Tips (PC Mag)

• Google Image Search Tips (Make Use Of)

File Management + Sending

• WeTransfer - Tool to send large files, includes download receipts and temporary access links

• Dropbox - Store and share files

• iLovePDF - Free PDF tool that allows you to merge, split, compress, edit, sign, watermark, rotate, password protect, reorder, repair, and add page numbers to pdf files. Also converts PDFs to/from Word, Powerpoint, Excel, JPG, HTML, and PDF/A.

• Adobe Scan (Phone App) - Links to Adobe Cloud

• Genius Scan (Phone App)

• WinDirStat - Disk usage statistics viewer and cleanup assistant for Microsoft Windows clients and servers

Writing

• Grammarly - Grammar and spelling browser extension

• Magical - Text expander browser extension

Project Management

• Notion - Project management and note-taking software

• Asana - Web and mobile work management platform 

• AirTable - Cloud collaboration spreadsheet-database project management service

• Copper - CRM (Content Management System) with a Google Chrome plug-in that helps you classify all your contacts by categories, connect them with projects and opportunities, keep notes on important conversations, make projections on revenue, and set reminders to follow-up

Time Tracking

• Toggl - Free time-tracking tool can be used via browser or downloaded to your desktop to easily track your hours and earnings

• Clockify - Free time-tracking software

Office + Art Supplies

• Sakura Pigma Micron Pens - Archival black ink pens

• Leuchtturm1917 Notebooks - Offer different grid/lining layout options (including dot grids!)

• Portable LED Tracing Light Box - Super slim and light is dimmable

• Papier - Journals, planners + stationery

• MochiThings - Aesthetic + functional planner/stationery/office products

Professional Preparation

Résumé

• Action Verbs + Common Undergraduate Experiences (Click to Download)

Online Portfolio Building

• Google Sites - Free

• Adobe Portfolio - Free with Adobe CC subscription

• Squarespace

• Wix

Job Boards

• AIGA Design Jobs

• Dribble

• Behance

• LinkedIn

• The—Brand Identity - Features fully transparent salaries

• Coroflot - Mission is to connect designers with meaningful opportunities

• Authentic Jobs

• Indeed

• Tip: Always check individual company/organization websites to see if they’ve posted their own openings!

Fun Extras!

• Adobe: My Creative Type - Personality Quiz

• Kerntype - A letter spacing game

• Shape Type - A letter shaping game

• It's Centred That - Do you think you've got a designer's eye?

• The Bézier Game - A game to help you master the pen tool

• Sharpen - Free design challenge generator; can select projects in Branding, Marketing or Product/UX

• TypeConnection: A Typographic Dating Game (via Wayback Machine)

• Ragtime - A typesetting game

• Font Identification Games:

  • typewar

  • The Font Game

• PDF Drive — Search engine for PDF files with over 78 million e-books that you can download for free

• Wayback Machine - Vintage PC games

• AIGA Design Census 2019 & AIGA Design Census Quiz - How well do you know the design industry in 2019?

• Azgaar’s Fantasy Map Generator - A free, open source tool to generate custom fantasy maps from scratch

• Receiptify - Tool that displays a user's 10 most-played music tracks in a receipt-like format

• Line of Action - Prompt-driven photo generator to aid in practicing observational drawing skills

Contributors

Liz Haskin

Ashley Brimley