44 tools to help you in your design work
The web is full of resources, but they’re often hard to reach. This is the reason why I think it’s important to organize them with a coherent structure and share it with you. So just bookmark this page for whenever you’ll need it, it’ll be useful. Please also mention if I missed anything.
- Organizing
- Sample contract for WebDesign
Example of a Webdesign contract to adapt for your needs. - Design brief sample
Example of a brief for a Poster design that you can adapt for your needs. - Things
Simple task management for Mac OSX. - Remember The Milk
Online Task Manager.
- Sample contract for WebDesign
- Communicating
- Brainstorming - Wireframing
- Bubbl.us
Online brainstorming application. - mindmeister
Collaborative online mind mapping. - gliffy
Create and share flowcharts and diagrams online.
- Bubbl.us
- Typography
- What the Font?
An easy way to identify fonts online. - BitfontMaker
Online tool to create your bitmap font.
- What the Font?
- Webdesign
- Typetester
Compare fonts for webdesign. - Em Calculator
Convert your pixel font size in its scalable em font size. - HTML entity lookup
Quickly find HTML entities. - sIFR
Insert rich accessible typography in your websites. - Blueprint CSS framework
Save time on your CSS developement with this framework. - Web Developer Toolbar
The do-it-all Firefox extension for webdesign. - MeasureIt
Firefox extension to measure anything on a webpage. - ColorZilla
Pick any color on a webpage with this Firefox extension. - Firebug
Debugging Firefox extension.
- Typetester
- Colour
- ColourLovers
Create, search and share colour palettes online. - Kuler
A copy of ColourLovers, with a better interface. - Colour Blindness simulator
Upload an image to visualize it like color blind people do. - ColorTools.net
A collection of Color tools.
- ColourLovers
- Layout
- Lorem Ipsum generator
Generate the amount of fake latin text you need. - Designers Toolbox
All kind of print and web documents sizes. - InDesign scripts
Official InDesign scripts on Adobe’s site. - InDesign templates
Official InDesign templates on Adobe’s site.
- Lorem Ipsum generator
- Image editing
- Photoshop brushes
More Photoshop brushes than you’ll ever need. - Photoshop textures
Free Photoshop textures. - Photoshop textures
More free Photoshop textures. - Photoshop scripts
Free Photoshop scripts.
- Photoshop brushes
- Stock photography
- Photocase
Free stock photos. - stock.xchng
Free stock photos. - StockVault
Free stock photos. - Fotolia
Cheap and free stock photos. - Getty Images
High-quality professional stock photo.
- Photocase
- Backing up - Archiving - Copyrighting
- 7-Zip
Open Source file archiver for Windows. - The Unarchiver
Open Source file archiver for Mac OSX. - Copyscape
Check if your website content has been ripped off. - Mozy
Online data backup solution. - IdleBackup
One-click backup utility for Windows. - ChronoSync
Backup and synchronization utility.
- 7-Zip
Image credit: dipster1
Great list, stumbled & floated
Reply
Excellent post! I’ll definitely refer a couple of friends who are starting their website design to this page.
Reply
[...] why I think it’s important to organize them with a coherent structure and share it with you.read more | digg [...]
I’d definately recommend iGTD for the mac, Things is a pretty good app, but I couldnt work without iGTD, and they have fixed the leopard issues now.
Reply
Dreamstime.com is a great site for inexpensive stock photography. I use it all the time!
Reply
Great list, I really like how you start off the list with resources for Organizing/Communicating. Seems basic but I’m always looking for things to help me keep organized…Thanks!
Also - I’d suggest agencytool.com/dashboard as a great web design resource. Its got some more specific resources for design and some SEO stuff.
Reply
Best file conversion site I’ve ever seen is Zamzar.com. It can even handle %$#*!#@@* Miscrosoft Publisher files.
Reply
[...] Design tools for the freelancer | Design daily news. [...]
[...] Design tools for the freelancer [...]
very helpful list, thanks for sharing!
Reply
Great list, fair few i already had but a few great new tools i found!
Reply
Thanks, a couple of things I was literally thinking about today.
Have been meaning to get a contract together for ages now.
Reply
Great tools! Thanks for sharing!
Reply
Awesome reference I’ll hold onto! Thanx
Reply
Great list, I would add the GUI magnets: http://www.guimagnets.com - for prototype sketching on whiteboards!
Reply
Hey, very nice tools - thank you!
Reply
[...] read more: Design tools for the freelancer | Design daily news [...]
Nice, it is quite interesting list of tools, and I have found something what I was missing a lot in my toolbox - What the font!
Thanks a lot
Reply
[...] En designer daily publicaban ayer una de estas listas con 44 recursos organizados en una estructura coherente bajo diferentes categorías, desde organización hasta comunicación o lluvia de ideas. [...]
Very nice collection thanks alot! Bookmarked iin Delicious and Dugg
Reply
Am I reading this right? The “Sample Wording for Web Design Contract” specifies that
“This agreement allows for minor web site maintenance to pages for the lifetime of your web site at no charge, up to an average of one half hour per regular web page, including updating links and making minor changes to a sentence or paragraph.”
I’m all for terrific client service, but the web developer may grow to regret an open-ended promise made to every client.
Reply
magicjack.com is a great communication resource.
Reply
Great list. Thanks.
FineTuna is a great FF extension for sending and recieving feedback on layouts and images.
Reply
[...] 44 Tools [...]
Thanks for including Gliffy in the list. Not only can you create and share diagrams online, but you can sign up using Multiuser Accounts now too! Check it out: http://www.gliffy.com/prodcomparison.shtml
Thanks again, debik at gliffy dot com
Reply
super helpful list, thanks!
Reply
[...] Design tools for the freelancer | Design daily news (tags: useful software reference resource freelance tools) [...]
[...] Enlace: 44 tools to help you in your design work [...]
[...] de este listado de 40 herramientas útiles les puedo decir que hay como 30 que R-E-A-L-M-E-N-T-E nos pueden facilitar mucho la vida, [...]
Another great program for getting organized and tracking time and tasks is Intervals. As an alternative to the list above, it is more comprehensive but ideal for freelancing.
Reply
[...] 44 tools to help you in your design work [...]
[...] 44 Tools to Help you in your Design Work [...]
Great list, I would add to the list of Organizing tools - Task2Gather. It is a real finding in managing tasks software. It works both at Mac and PC. It has iPhone client for $5 only and it is about to launch Windows Mobile version.
Cheers!
Reply
Photoshopped
Reply
[...] Her you go: 44 online (and offline) items to help designers plan and create better. [...]
[...] 44 Tools To Help Your Design Work [...]
Great list
Many Thanks.
Cheers
Reply
Оценка 5, базару ноль)
Reply
Great list, fair few i already had but a few great new tools i found. thanks a lot.
Reply
[...] 44 tools to help you in your design work Complete designer toolbox, classified by tasks. I think it will be most useful for designers and webworkers out there. [...]
good list. what about a USB drive filled w/ usefulness? i’ve got a selection of design related things to put on it over at my blog.
Reply
For backing up I use SuperDuper by Shirt Pocket - http://www.shirt-pocket.com/SuperDuper/SuperDuperDescription.html
An excellent and cheap app - have saved my life on a few occasions.
Reply
[...] Read list [...]
Great list, thanks
Reply
[...] Designer Daily [...]