5 min read
Useful Tools For Both Novice And Expert Designers
Share
A few weeks ago, we communicated the importance of graphic design and its role in the competitive business environment. We discussed how it’s one of the most important foundations of a company and is crucial for standing out, building trust, and effectively communicating with an audience.
We realize that it can be difficult to find the right graphic designer, as well as communicate your vision to them. So this week, we’ll share some of our favorite tools and resources that our designers use, which are useful for both novice and expert designers alike.
Stock Photos
Photos convey what words can’t and can trigger emotions immediately. Whether they’re serving as a background, social media post, website hero photo, or mockup, there are so many uses for stock photos—especially when you don’t have much original content to work with.
- Unsplash (Free)
- Pexels (Free)
- Pixabay (Free)
- Adobe Stock (Paid)
- Shutterstock (Paid)
Mockups and Templates
Whether you have years of experience or no design experience at all, there are some online platforms that can significantly increase your workflow and help with mockups, social media post templates, brochures, report templates, and much more.
Font Inspiration and Sources
Typography is more influential than a lot of people think; besides, we can’t go a day without seeing several styles of typography. If you want to convey a particular mood or style, pay attention to which fonts you’re choosing. It’s equally important to select fonts that pair well together for headers and body text, as they affect information hierarchy and readability. Below are some of our favorite sites for fonts and font inspiration.
- Adobe Fonts (Free with Adobe Creative Cloud)
- Google Fonts (Free)
- What the Font (Free)
General Inspiration
Sometimes ideas come out of thin air, but most times you need some inspiration. There’s nothing wrong with looking to others for ideas! When it comes to design, making a mood board can be a great place to start. Here are some sites our graphic designers use for inspiration.
File Management
Staying organized with files is extremely important to us at Madak, as it helps our workflow. We store pretty much everything in Google Drive folders so we can access our work anytime and have the flexibility of working anywhere. WeTransfer is a convenient tool for sending large files for free. Bulk Resize is handy for decreasing image file size for multiple photos at once.
- WeTransfer (Free)
- Bulk Resize (Free)
- Google Drive (Free)
Freelancers
If you are in need of a designer for a simple project, there numerous freelance sites to choose from. If our design team doesn’t have time for smaller projects, we outsource them to Design Pickle. Fiverr is also a great place to hire freelance designers for cheap with quick turnaround time.
Because we work with a variety of clients who have their preferred platforms, we get exposed to several tools—some of which we end up using ourselves! Whenever possible, we like to hold in-person design workshops with our clients just so they can see how we use platforms, which often results in our clients picking up on shortcuts they never knew existed. Never be afraid to ask for help or advice on which platforms to use; in the end, it will usually result in a more efficient workflow!
Related Blogs
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostru.
9 Call to Action Best Practices
When determining the best marketing strategy for your business, it is essential that you take a close look at your calls to action. The call to action, or CTA, could be considered the most important part of your copy. It is the part that motivates potential customers to take action (buy, sign up, visit a page, etc.) while providing them with the necessary steps for what to do next. For this reason, creating a powerful and memorable CTA for your web copy and sales copy is vital to your company’s overall success. Keep reading to learn more about CTA best practices that will improve your marketing strategy and help you convert leads more effectively.
Landing Pages vs. Websites
The core differences between landing pages and websites can be hard to figure out, especially if you are new to the world of digital marketing. Landing pages and websites play off one another and work together to form a cohesive brand and build trust and interest in your customers and leads. Though there are similarities between landing pages and websites, the two have some important distinctions that boil down to their purpose. Keep reading to learn about some of the differences and similarities between landing pages and websites before you take the plunge and start creating your own (or before your hire someone else to help you)!
What Is Story Marketing & Why Does It Matter?
People generally dislike advertisements. They resent feeling bombarded by ads as they go about their daily lives, and according to survey results reported by HubSpot, 91% of consumers say this intrusive feeling has gotten worse in the past several years. That’s why many experts claim that the future of marketing lies in storytelling. This article will talk about what story marketing is, why it’s predicted to be the next big thing in the digital marketing industry, and what makes it an effective strategy. Along with that, we will provide you with some tips on how you can incorporate storytelling into your own advertising efforts in order to make them more successful. Let’s get started!
Reimagine Your Digital Impact
Transform your website, pitch decks, sales collateral and more, all with transparent, upfront, pricing.