Graphic Design Resources for Non Graphic Designers
Written by Elisha Yvonne Velasco ● Published on January 9, 2023
Designing signs and banners can be a daunting task especially if you don’t have a background in graphic design. If you’re a business owner or entrepreneur who wants to be more hands-on in marketing campaigns, you need to make use of various design resources to get the job done. In this article, we’ve compiled various do-it-yourself web tools, apps, and software programs that can help you design signs and banners for your business.
What's Inside
Online Resources | Beginner-Friendly Apps and Software Programs | Where to Get Updates on Graphic Design
Whether it’s signs, vinyl banners, yard signs, posters, packaging, or business cards you require, if you want to establish your brand, you need to take a strategic approach and be creative in designing your print marketing materials. Here are free design tools and graphic design resources that will make your life easier:
DaFont is a free font website that allows users to easily download fonts for their creative projects. You can search for fonts by alphabetical order, author, popularity, or style.
Google Fonts is one of the best resources known by designers if you’re looking for free fonts. All fonts are downloadable and searchable. You can also filter fonts by handwriting, serif, sans serif, slant, width, thickness, and more.
FreeIcons offers free icons that you can use in your marketing campaign. You can use these icons for regulatory signs, directional signs, and more.
Flaticon provides over 8.1 million icons and stickers that you can download for your project. These are made by professional designers and can be saved in PSD, CSS, SVG, and PNG formats.
PixaBay features thousands of downloadable illustrations that are free to use even for commercial purposes. You can search for any illustration on the website by size, color, category, etc.
Freepik is a website that offers over 25 million graphic resources for free. They provide PSD files, illustrations, photos, and vectors. Its library is constantly updated, ensuring that you always have plenty of options for any project.
Adobe Stock has a wide range of high-resolution, royalty-free stock images available for use in your creative project. All you need to do is sign up for a free or premium plan. They also provide pre-made templates that you can edit and customize as needed.
Unsplash is a website that offers a collection of stock photos that you can use for personal or commercial purposes. These images are downloadable, easily searchable, and usually come in four different sizes.
Shutterstock is a known photography website with more than 2 million royalty-free stock images. To access these images, you need to sign up for a subscription.
48HourPrint.com provides a wide range of free design templates. Even if you don't have any graphic design experience, you can customize fonts, images, logos, and color palettes! When you're finished with your design, simply add it to your cart and proceed to checkout to place your order.
Need to edit photos and images? Here are some free apps and software programs that you might find useful if you don’t have Photoshop installed:
GIMP
Inkscape
Crello
Gravit Designer
Paint 3D
Vectr
Photo Pos Pro
Krita
Pixlr
If graphic design is not your forte and you’d prefer to entrust your marketing campaign to a professional, it’s never too late to learn about design. Here are some reliable resources to get you started and keep your knowledge up to date:
Reddit has several threads on graphic design. Here you’ll find professionals asking questions and seeking advice and tips from other designers.
Graphic Design Forum is a forum where design professionals discuss everything about graphic design. You can find news, topics, inspiration and more on this site. If you’re brave enough, you can also post your work and have it critiqued by other professionals.
Inside Design by InVision sends out a weekly newsletter to subscribers about graphic design. It provides information about designers in the industry, various design companies and their work, and helpful graphic design tips.
Adobe Creative Magazine is the ultimate resource for inspiration, tutorials, and the latest graphic design trends. You can improve your skills further by getting helpful tips or participating in various design challenges.
Creative Bloq is a blog that publishes design-related content. Its newsletter provides topics about VFX, web design, graphic design, digital art, and more. As an incentive, this newsletter also offers discounts and special offers to subscribers.
Hack Design is a design newsletter that offers design courses from professional graphic designers. It incorporates interactive content such as puzzles and games in their lessons so that readers can have fun while honing their skills.
Creative Overflow is an online design magazine that provides the latest inspiration, tutorials, articles, and design resources. If you want to get out of a creative slump and get to know eccentric designers in the community, or be a contributor in a blog post, this is the site to visit.
Women of Graphic Design is a blog that celebrates the accomplishments of women in graphic design. This is the site to choose if you want to know more about women designers and their community or are looking for creative projects that are related to gender and diversity.
If you want to go the DIY route and be hands-on in your campaign, we hope this article helps you find various resources you can use for your signs and banners. In addition to this article, you can also check out 48HourPrint.com’s comprehensive guide on designing an effective outdoor banner, as well as these signs and banners printing tips that can help you stay ahead of the competition.
Related Articles:
What's Inside
Online Resources | Beginner-Friendly Apps and Software Programs | Where to Get Updates on Graphic Design
Online Resources
Whether it’s signs, vinyl banners, yard signs, posters, packaging, or business cards you require, if you want to establish your brand, you need to take a strategic approach and be creative in designing your print marketing materials. Here are free design tools and graphic design resources that will make your life easier:
Fonts
DaFont is a free font website that allows users to easily download fonts for their creative projects. You can search for fonts by alphabetical order, author, popularity, or style.
Google Fonts is one of the best resources known by designers if you’re looking for free fonts. All fonts are downloadable and searchable. You can also filter fonts by handwriting, serif, sans serif, slant, width, thickness, and more.
Icons
FreeIcons offers free icons that you can use in your marketing campaign. You can use these icons for regulatory signs, directional signs, and more.
Flaticon provides over 8.1 million icons and stickers that you can download for your project. These are made by professional designers and can be saved in PSD, CSS, SVG, and PNG formats.
Illustrations
PixaBay features thousands of downloadable illustrations that are free to use even for commercial purposes. You can search for any illustration on the website by size, color, category, etc.
Freepik is a website that offers over 25 million graphic resources for free. They provide PSD files, illustrations, photos, and vectors. Its library is constantly updated, ensuring that you always have plenty of options for any project.
Stock Images
Adobe Stock has a wide range of high-resolution, royalty-free stock images available for use in your creative project. All you need to do is sign up for a free or premium plan. They also provide pre-made templates that you can edit and customize as needed.
Unsplash is a website that offers a collection of stock photos that you can use for personal or commercial purposes. These images are downloadable, easily searchable, and usually come in four different sizes.
Shutterstock is a known photography website with more than 2 million royalty-free stock images. To access these images, you need to sign up for a subscription.
Design Templates
48HourPrint.com provides a wide range of free design templates. Even if you don't have any graphic design experience, you can customize fonts, images, logos, and color palettes! When you're finished with your design, simply add it to your cart and proceed to checkout to place your order.
Beginner-Friendly Apps and Software Programs If You Don't Have Photoshop
Need to edit photos and images? Here are some free apps and software programs that you might find useful if you don’t have Photoshop installed:
GIMP
- Available for Windows / OS X / Linux
- Offers sophisticated tools for graphic designers, illustrators, photographers, etc.
- Features many customization options
- Photo enhancement
- Digital retouching
- Premium-quality photo manipulation
Inkscape
- Available for Windows / Mac / Linux
- Open-source vector graphics editor
- Uses Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) as its default format
- Similar to Corel Draw, Freehand, Xara X, and Adobe Illustrator
Crello
- Web browser-based image editor
- Produces graphics, covers, posters, posts
- Some of its features include filters, shapes, crop, and blur
Gravit Designer
- Available for Windows / Mac / Linux / Browser
- Vector design app perfect for a variety of creative projects
- Offers design templates, presentations, screen and icon designs, animation, and illustration
Paint 3D
- Available for Windows
- Beginner friendly
- Realistic textures
- Straightforward graphic design
Vectr
- A web and desktop cross-platform tool
- Free graphics software
- Intuitive online editor
Photo Pos Pro
- Available for Windows / Mac
- User-friendly free graphic design software
- Advanced image effects
- Edit photos with poor quality
- Attractive text effects
Krita
- Available for Windows / Mac / Linux
- Free and open source painting tool
- Provides many innovative features
- HDR and PSD support
- Made for illustrators, concept artists, and VFX professionals
Pixlr
- Mobile app available for Android and iOS users
- Has more than 600 overlays, effects, and borders
- Share photos directly on social media
- Create photo collages
- Layer multiple photos
Where to Get Updates on Graphic Design
If graphic design is not your forte and you’d prefer to entrust your marketing campaign to a professional, it’s never too late to learn about design. Here are some reliable resources to get you started and keep your knowledge up to date:
Reddit has several threads on graphic design. Here you’ll find professionals asking questions and seeking advice and tips from other designers.
Graphic Design Forum is a forum where design professionals discuss everything about graphic design. You can find news, topics, inspiration and more on this site. If you’re brave enough, you can also post your work and have it critiqued by other professionals.
Inside Design by InVision sends out a weekly newsletter to subscribers about graphic design. It provides information about designers in the industry, various design companies and their work, and helpful graphic design tips.
Adobe Creative Magazine is the ultimate resource for inspiration, tutorials, and the latest graphic design trends. You can improve your skills further by getting helpful tips or participating in various design challenges.
Creative Bloq is a blog that publishes design-related content. Its newsletter provides topics about VFX, web design, graphic design, digital art, and more. As an incentive, this newsletter also offers discounts and special offers to subscribers.
Hack Design is a design newsletter that offers design courses from professional graphic designers. It incorporates interactive content such as puzzles and games in their lessons so that readers can have fun while honing their skills.
Creative Overflow is an online design magazine that provides the latest inspiration, tutorials, articles, and design resources. If you want to get out of a creative slump and get to know eccentric designers in the community, or be a contributor in a blog post, this is the site to visit.
Women of Graphic Design is a blog that celebrates the accomplishments of women in graphic design. This is the site to choose if you want to know more about women designers and their community or are looking for creative projects that are related to gender and diversity.
If you want to go the DIY route and be hands-on in your campaign, we hope this article helps you find various resources you can use for your signs and banners. In addition to this article, you can also check out 48HourPrint.com’s comprehensive guide on designing an effective outdoor banner, as well as these signs and banners printing tips that can help you stay ahead of the competition.
Related Articles: