42 Resources every Web Designer Needs

By David

Feb 24, 2015

From starting a new project to getting inspired to creating mock ups for your clients, here are a few of my favourite web design resources that I constantly return to time and again, especially the ones with a as those are my particular favourites.

Learning

Learning - Resources for every Web Designer There is no standing still when you are involved in the web industry, whether you are a designer, developer or coder you need to stay on top of the latest trends and updates that seem to occur daily.  Sometimes these changes require us web designers to go back to school.

Here is a small sample of the best learning sites around, there are way too many to mention here but these are the ones I tend to return to more often than any others.  I particularly like Udemy as each course is priced separately and does not involve a monthly subscription.





Books and Magazines

Reading - Resources for every Web Designer For those who love having references or just like to read more, I must admit that learning by doing is the best way, then these are the best suppliers of books and learning materials.






Programs and Apps

Programs and Apps - Resources for every Web Designer Need to do stuff, then you will need an app to do it on, depending on your preference, and of course wallet size, find what you need to start earning a living right here.

Affinity Designer from Serif is a definite Adobe competitor, and I think contains enough features that any designer would be happy with, Adobe have seriously misjudged their market in my opinion as they have discarded Fireworks which was an amazing design app that "needed a little work" as well adding way too many features to Photoshop making it clunky and sluggish at best.  Serif have made a fast and friendly app that works well, I have been using it way more than Adobe products in the first few months after it was released and can honestly say; it works for me.




- Originally only for Windows but now available for Mac users as well, I have been a big fan of Corel for many years
- For the coders (after all I am a coder and a designer! Yes we do exist)

Stock Photography

Stock Photography - Resources for every Web Designer A designer cannot produce a site mock up without using stock photos, and some clients need a little help and cannot afford a full photo shoot, so stock photos is a good place to find the best image for your project.  Some stock photo sites now do other things such as vectors and videos.

- Getting bigger so may not be as competitively priced for much longer, they all eventually end up the same




- Subscribing for a set amount of time and download a set number of images can work out pretty good

Stock Photos via inbox

Stock Photos inboxed - Resources for every Web Designer You can now get stock photos sent direct to your inbox, these won't necessarily be what you are looking for at the time, but they are good for mock ups, or wallpapers, and occasionally one turns up that you have been hunting for and could never find anywhere else.





Love this one as the site is well designed and contains some amazing patterns

Colour Management

Colours - Resources for every Web Designer Choosing the right colour can be difficult, sometimes it can be a nightmare, you have to start somewhere so here are a few places you can get inspiration and even match the secondary colours easily.







Design Inspiration

Inspiration - Resources for every Web Designer We all need some inspiration, staring at that blank white sheet of paper when starting a new project can be mind numbing and a bit of a downer.  Inspiration is usually not hard to find and don't forget what every designer quotes that Picasso possibly said "Good artists copy, great artists steal." Go steal some design from these great places, it's what Picasso would have wanted you to do.

- Type a word and see an amazing array of great things

- Some of the best website designs ever created


Themes for Web Designers

Themes - Resources for every Web Designer We all need help from time to time, and let's face it some clients are not paying for bespoke or don't have the budget, so pull yourself up and go get those predesigned themes and adapt them to your needs, it is the least you can do.  Don't call them templates as templates are not the same thing, a template is a simple basic layout that has no soul.



DRA Digital help businesses of all sizes attract new customers, with strategically designed and managed websites.

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