As a designer, finding inspiration is a key element in doing your job right and having the right tools and resources to get you started is extremely helpful – especially if they are free.
The global web design community has fully embraced the concept of open source collaboration and there are now endless web design tools and resources available for beginner and experienced designers alike.
These free design resources are like nuggets of gold to designers who seek new inspiration, want to push the boundaries of creativity, or want to stay up to date with the latest trends.
Inspiration boards
Not just for planning weddings, Pinterest offers an endless array of design inspiration. Create your profile and start building boards with ideas, follow what other creatives are posting, or simply punch your desired topic into the search bar and see what pops up.
Behance
Behance is like a proud parent’s fridge, it displays artwork for anyone who comes to visit. Filter by category (graphic design, illustration, photography, etc.), design tools, colour, or location, and browse the ever-growing collections to find the inspiration you need for your next masterpiece. You can also use Behance as a portfolio website to showcase your work without having to build your own hosted site.
Moodboards
Build your own moodboard in seconds. Just drag and drop images onto your board, save, and publish. You can keep your moodboard private on your account, or share it with others at the click of a button.
Dribble
Dribbble is a global free web design resource favourite. Not only can you explore trending designs, but you can also register for paid design workshops, browse job opportunities, create a Dribbble portfolio to present your work instead of building a full portfolio website.
Awwards
In their own words, Awwwards is “a meeting point, where digital design professionals from across the globe find inspiration, impart knowledge and experience, connect, and share constructive respectful critiques”. You can submit your work and compete for an award, or browse through submissions and winners for your own inspiration.
Pttrns
Pttrns is a great web design resource to reference for mobile user interface designs. Browse from a long list of categories like events, signup, logins, and many more to find the design approach you need for your mobile UI design.
Fonts and typography
Google Fonts
Google Fonts is a free, open-source font library. You can browse through 1,000+ fonts, download a font family, and copy and paste source code directly into your web design project. You can even see popular font pairings to see what might work well together in your design.
MyFontS
MyFonts boasts over 130,000 fonts and showcases them in a visually engaging way. So instead of seeing typography alone, you see it in a snippet of design which allows you to explore more of the look and feel of the font. Not all fonts on MyFonts are free, but you can easily filter out paid options to get a clear view of what you can access for free.
Stock images and photography
Pexels
Pexels is a vast library of free stock photos and videos you can use in your web design project immediately. Browse by trending topics or search by keyword. All assets come with image details and can be easily shared or downloaded. You can also collect your favourite free stock photos and videos without your free Pexel account.
Unsplash
Unsplash is a seemingly never-ending collection of free high-resolution photos. You can browse for images by category (e.g. nature), use case (e.g. wallpapers), or search term. You can also share your own images on Unsplash for other creatives to enjoy.
Pixabay
Pixabay offers over 1.9 million high-quality stock images (photos, vector graphics, illustrations), videos, and even music. All assets are free for download for commercial use. You can also share your own creative work to the Pixabay collection.
To sum things up…
These are my top picks when it comes to free web design tools and resources – I use them almost daily and they truly streamline the entire creative process of designing any web product or material.