Some of our favourite (& free!) tools of the trade.
Looking for an easier life?
When I studied Graphic Design at University, I had to take my own photographs, create my own icons, scour the web for good fonts and beg friends for ‘borrowed’ copies of the necessary software that I could never afford (not without cutting my social life down to less than 4 nights out a week anyway). Over the following 20 years I stumbled across, been recommended and sought out a huge range of resources that have helped me do my job more efficiently and cost effectively for clients on a budget. In this article I will recommend some of my personal favourites. These are not only useful, great quality (and in some cases actual black magic), but are all totally free! So if you’re a business owner who needs a leg up with basic marketing material or a young designer still snapping away on your smart phone, then hopefully some of this will be useful to you.
Images
The best way to effectively promote your business is to hire a great photographer. I can’t understate how important great images are to the success of a design project. Armed with a bank of high quality images, my job as a graphic designer is simple and the investment is so worth it. I’ve been involved in many photoshoots over the years and the results are always far more effective than stock images. Very often however, the budget means this is not a realistic option. In that case, there are some really great stock websites out there (and some really bad ones). My personal favourite is unsplash.com. When I first started using this website the image library was limited, but has now grown to a point where most images you need can be found within the website. The images here tend to feel real and not have the obvious ‘stock’ look.
Every now and again I’m supplied images from well meaning clients who have taken photos with their smart phone and have somehow compressed them through Word or other means, leaving the images looking pixelated and only good enough to print at the size of a postage stamp. Luckily there is a tool to help, it’s actual magic. Luckily this magic is conjured up in the form of a website called icons8.com/upscaler. Don’t ask me how it works but it somehow makes pixelated images sharper. Mind blown.
Fonts
There are so many great fonts out there and great type designers who create wonderful, distinct typefaces that we’re really spoilt for choice. The perfect font is definitely worth the investment if it fits the style you’re looking for and will give you a distinct look over other companies. If you need a good font and don’t have the budget, there are some great websites with free fonts out there. The website I recommend is fonts.google.com. The reason I use this website over others is that, not only does it have a huge library of fonts that can be easily filtered to find exactly what you need, but as a website designer I find it useful because they are all web friendly. This means that once you find the perfect font for your brand, you can keep that same font for all print and website design, keeping a consistent style across your brand.
Icons
I enjoy creating icons but they can be really time consuming. Sometimes you just need something simple like an email or phone icon to use on a business card, and creating one from scratch is just a little bit unnecessary. How many ways can you draw an envelope anyway? To save time and give yourself a choice from a huge library of icons, I would recommend shape.so. There are websites with nicer icons but tend to require a subscription or an attribute to the designer, such as my personal favourite The Noun Project. Shape.so is not only free but you can edit the icons within the website, meaning you can personalise icons without the need to use design software.
3D Software
if you’re a fan of Pixar and dreamt of a job creating the next Toy Story or Coco 2 then you can start the journey into the world of 3D and 3D animation for free. Even if your needs are a bit more down to earth, blender.org is the tool for you. The fact this massive piece of software is completely free is incredible and this community driven project opens the doors to young designers who want to enter this world as a career. I will admit that it does need some investment in your time to master this software, but basic 3D modelling is achievable and can give a distinct look to your brand that not many other companies are exploring. Apart from a couple of minnows such as Nike. If you want to see some examples of how it can be done well, check out jellylondon.com.
Summary
These are just some of the tools I use to ensure projects for clients are both affordable and of the highest standard no matter what the budget. I’m sure there are even better tools and resources out there and if anybody reading this has alternatives they use and would love to share, feel free to get in touch. I would love to hear about them!
