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.
The Differences Between Brand, Brand Identity, and Branding
There are many terms in the field of marketing that may seem synonymous at first glance. Understanding the differences between similar terms is essential for the effective growth of your business and your brand. For example, many people may think of a company logo when they think of the word “brand”, but a logo is not synonymous with brand, branding, nor brand identity — it’s just a small piece of all of them.
5 Benefits of Competition in the Marketplace
Whether you’re an athlete trying to break a record, a growing entrepreneur trying to squeeze into a saturated market, or a well-established business trying to innovate, competition pushes us to perform better. It’s natural to want to avoid conflict, but facing challenges head on and embracing the good that comes from competition can lead to groundbreaking ideas and give you better insight into the strengths and weaknesses of your business. This article will cover five ways in which competition in the marketplace can raise the bar for your business, strengthen your brand, and give you a competitive advantage.
Grow Your Bottom Line with Automated Marketing
Automating certain tasks in business can turn hours of work into minutes, and sometimes eliminate manual processes altogether. While completely hands-off automations are the perfect solution for the daily busywork that exists just to take up valuable company time, marketing often requires more human interaction and authenticity. So what does automating your marketing look like when you want to stay in direct contact with potential leads and create valuable content? Keep reading to get some insight into what marketing automation is, how it helps your business, and some tips on how to implement it.
Reimagine Your Digital Impact
Transform your website, pitch decks, sales collateral and more, all with transparent, upfront, pricing.