4 Online Resources For The Rookie Graphic Designer

There are many online tools out there to help you create beautiful graphics quickly and efficiently. A simple Google search reveals free services such as PiktoChart, Venngage, and Canva. While these are quite simply drag, drop, and type tools, they’re certainly useful for producing nice graphics if you’re short on skills or time.

Perhaps you’ve experimented with the above tools before and have been tasked with creating something a bit harder. Your desktop could be equipped with the Adobe Suite programs (yay!), but they’re covered in virtual dust (boo). Maybe you’re just starting to learn that Comic Sans is the worst font ever and that italics and bold and underlines should be used sparingly. Wherever you stand, this list might help you take your graphic design knowledge to the next level – whether it’s just learning the lingo or grasping design basics.

Designers Toolbox

Congratulations! You higher-up has just asked you to create a brochure. Crap! You’ve never done that. Whether you’ve volunteered or been volun-told to create a piece of marketing material a bit beyond your skill-set, Designers Toolbox explains the basics. You can learn brochure sizes, proof-reading mark-up, binding styles, and more. They even explain the history of Lorem Upsum. Not just filler content, after all…

Adobe Colour CC

This tool is quite simply a visual feast for your eyes. Adobe Colour CC allows you to explore, create, and save colour patterns. This is perfect for choosing colour pairings for poster layouts, web design, and more. You can even export a colour scheme straight into Photoshop, Illustrator, and InDesign. It’s worth a visit!

Google Fonts

What if I told you there is life beyond your pre-loaded fonts? Google Fonts contains a massive collection of free fonts. Albeit, a bit of searching is required, but you will find some beautiful gems here! Use these fonts to spice up your creations.

WeTransfer

If you’ve made something beautiful and need to send it off to get printed, you may be looking at a large file type. WeTransfer allows you to send files from A to B. Free of stress – and charge! You can send up to 2 GB per transfer. An alternative is DropBox.

Graphic design can be a lot of fun and there are many more resources out there to help you improve your skills. What are some of your favourites?

^{*Lead image adapted from bollilaurent}