130 Essential Resources For Graphic Designers
We have compiled an excellent selection of resources for graphic designers with free plugins, open source software and tools that can be quite useful when creating your websites, designs, business cards, advertising, mockups or downloading images that do not represent costs or problems of royalties with the best sites for graphic designers and visual creators. 130 recursos gráficos gratis para diseñadores con plugins, software de código abierto y herramientas que pueden ser bastante útiles al momento de crear tus sitios web, diseños, tarjetas, publicidad, mockups o descargar imágenes que no representen costos ni problemas de regalías o valores extra por su utilización.
Nuestro tiempo vale y por lo mismo la mejor forma de diseñar es optimizando tu tiempo encontrando aquello que necesitas de la manera mas rápida. Aquí encontrarás los mejores programas de diseño grafico gratis para principiantes y creativos visuales.
Some of these sites might be in spanish but there´s always an easy way to set your language to english if required. google translate te puede facilitar el trabajo rapidamente asi como utilizar Chrome y su herramienta de traducción instántanea.
Bookmark this page now and also share it. Always have it at hand when needed the 130 essential free tools for every graphic designer.
If you are interested about BRAND MARKETING, we recommend the Blog of our friends from ExpressText on the subject. Very comprehensive information. Please visit their website to learn more about Brand Marketing.
The ultimate guide to the best free resource pages for designers and creatives.
1. To design and optimize your website
In this category we have code and HTML5 editors, web design software, the best website builders and more. These resources for web designers include editors and tools that will make the process of designing a free web page much easier from scratch.
Google Web Designer
Create attractive interactive content based on HTML5 and animated graphics that plays on any device.
Socialsizes
It provides designers with the exact sizes for images and videos inside social networks. Find also templates for Sketch, Adobe XD and Photoshop, ready to download for free.
Aptana
Leader in free software for web design. You can create and / or modify CSS, encode Javascript, ability to publish Rubi & Rails applications directly to servers such as Heroku and Engine Yard.
Filezilla
Who does not know this software capable of transferring your files over TLC or SFTP. It makes your life easy when you have many files to transfer to your hosting.
It is perhaps one of the most used free website builder to create websites for its ease of use and features. Choose templates and quickly design your business site or portfolio. The popular payment option allows you unlimited bandwidth and better web presence by connecting your professional domain. crear sitios web For its ease of use and performance. Choose templates and quickly design your business site or portfolio. The popular paid option allows you unlimited bandwidth and better web presence by connecting your professional domain.
Puedes diseñar tu página gratis You can design your free page easily just by modifying elements quickly in their beautiful templates. A standard plan is ideal for your business and includes free domain.
One of the most practical, intuitive and free website builders with the ability to create single page sites. A smaller selection of templates but perfect for your business or portfolio. An economic premium plan allows you to attach a free domain and eliminate advertising by giving professionalism to your website. crear sitios de una sola página. Una selección mas reducida de plantillas pero perfectas para tu negocio o portafolio. Un plan premium económico te permite anexar un dominio gratis y eliminar la publicidad dandole profesionalismo a tu sitio web.
It allows you to create free single page websites quickly and with professional designs. If what you want is an ecommerce site, a PRO plan will allow you to connect custom domains and add up to 300 products per site easily. crear sitios web gratuitos de una sola página rapidamente y con diseños profesionales. Si lo que deseas es un sitio de ecommerce, un plan PRO te permitira conectar dominios personalizados y añadir hasta 300 productos por sitio facilmente.
Puedes crear sitios web gratuitos You can create free websites in addition to your own online store from professional templates. Create your business, portfolio or your blog site with great style.
VisualStudio Code
Open source text editor with extensions library. Contains support for JavaScript, TypeScript and Node.js. The extensions run in separate processes to prevent slowing down the editor.
Brackets
Source code editor focused on web development. Created by Adobe Systems, it is free and is maintained on GitHub by Adobe and open source developers.
Notepad++
Free text editor based on Scintilla. It seeks to optimize processes to a minimum by reducing CPU usage without sacrificing its performance.
Htmlpurifier
If you need your website to comply with international HTML standards, this software can help you with the process. Check that the smallest details are met and your page is displayed on any screen as it should be.
CSS3Generator
It is a free web application that allows you to quickly generate CSS code from simple selections to copy in your text editor or website.
2. For graphic design and illustration
In this category you will find tools for vector graphic design, illustration, rapid creation of logos, posters, advertising and more. These are excellent options that will allow you to illustrate an entire book if you use the right tool.
Inkscape
The leading free software in the management of vector graphics like Corel Draw or Adobe Illustrator. It is open source and is available for windows, linux and mac.
Krita
Install it on your computer and you can have one of the best tools for illustration and open source animation. Created by artists so you can generate concept arts, textures, paintings, illustrations and comics. Compatible with your digital tablet or pen display.
Vectr
Free web application to create vector graphics in an easy and intuitive way. It is a simple tool but powerful enough to make your ideas come true. It works on all platforms.
Designer.io
It is a web application for creating vector graphics that you can use without installing software on your computer and it works on any platform. Create an account and you can have up to 500Mb of cloud storage.
Canva
Simple to use and without downloading software to your computer, Canva is surprisingly powerful. Quickly create posters, banners, graphics, infographics, etc., just by dragging items.
Logaster
It allows you to create logos easily. Just add a name or text and in moments you will have a logo option for you or your company which you can download in several formats. Create a free account and download or get inspired.
3. For image editing and photos
In this category of 130 free resources for designers are those web applications and programs that allow you to create photographic effects, modify images, change their weight, remove backgrounds and more. 130 Recursos gratis para diseñadores estan aquellos aplicativos web y programas que te permiten crear efectos fotográficos, modificar imágenes, cambiar su peso, remover fondos y más.
Gimp
It is the free program par excellence to edit your photographs, make graphics, compositions and at the same time allow to attach external plugins to improve productivity. Use it with your digital tablet or pen display on all platforms.
Pixlr
Basic but reliable editor, free and easy to use in the browser. The new version X is faster and contains more editing tools in addition to being able to integrate to dropbox.
PhotoPos
One of the best alternatives to Photoshop today. This is an advanced editing tool designed for people who don't want to use Photoshop for its cost. Similar to Adobe software, you can use layers, cloning tools, brushes and much more.
Photopea
Free online image editor that allows you to open and edit PSD, XCF, Gimp, Sketch or any other graphic file.
Sumopaint
Lightweight and high quality image editor. Work in your browser for free. All the standard tools of advanced programs are also found here.
Paint.net
Alternative to Windows Paint is surprisingly capable of performing advanced editing, using layers, using effects and much more for free.
Compressor.io
Powerful online tool to dramatically reduce the size of your images and photos while maintaining quality. The difference between before and after compression is almost imperceptible.
Picasion
Resize images and photos online for free without losing quality.
Remove.bg
If you need to remove the background of a photo quickly, you only need one click to perform this magic in a second.
4. For prototyping and sketching
In this category we have applications, programs and websites to create the best prototypes of web pages, sketches and mockups of your projects based on premade templates.
Pencil
Free alternative to Adobe XD to design prototypes for desktop and mobile applications. Open source layout available for windows, linux and mac.
Placeit
Create all kinds of mockups or sketches on any product, you can create videos with your logo or design easily and quickly. Free and paid options.
Mockupworld
Templates of many elements such as clothes, shirts, screens, etc. It is said to be one of the sites with more photorealistic elements online. Ready to use in your project, presentation or application.
Smartmockups
You can create very nice and professional templates thanks to its constantly growing library and without installing software. If you are a professional, a basic account will give you access to all mockups and customizations.
Screely
It allows you to instantly convert an image into a sketch without the need for Photoshop or Sketch templates. Just upload your image and the site will do the rest.
Shotsnapp
You can design your own sketch in seconds. Select the device, add an image of your design or screenshot, make changes and download the final image of your layout. Share it wherever you want.
Myecovermaker
It allows you to quickly create covers for books, records, ebooks, etc., from default templates.
InVision
You can create mockups and prototypes for both websites and mobile applications on iphone or android. You only upload your designs and work them directly in the browser.
5. For SEO and Digital Marketing
In this category of 130 Free resources for designers are compiled some of the most important free tools for SEO and your digital marketing campaigns. These are appropriate SEO positioning tools for your digital marketing campaigns. 130 Recursos gratuitos para diseñadores están compiladadas algunas de las herramientas gratuitas mas importantes para SEO y tus campañas de mercadeo digital. Estas son herramientas para posicionamiento SEO apropiadas para tus campañas de marketing digital.
Google analytics
The main keyword search tool on the internet and one of the most used. Being free, it is surprisingly robust and fits perfectly with other Google products including Optimize, Search console and Data studio.
Search Console
Probably the most useful SEO tool in this list. It's hard to imagine performing modern SEO without using the valuable information that Search Console provides. This is the location of how Google reviews and ranks your website and where you can have the most accurate information of your keywords.
Ubersuggest
At the moment the best free tool owned by Neil Patel. It goes beyond just suggesting keywords. Extensive capacity of metrics and data such as backlinks, main pages and results for content creation are some of its impressive capabilities.
Backlink checker
Some people do not know that ahrefs offers a backlight search engine. With some limitations, it manages to do the job by offering up to 100 links, which is enough for many clients and agencies.
Moz Keyword explorer
One of the best tools for keyword research. The most accurate search ranges in the industry. You will have the option of scoring for word difficulty and CTR data. Create your account to use up to 10 free searches per month with the possibility of up to 1000 suggestions.
Keyword finder
Free tool that generates thousands of keywords that you can use in your SEO campaigns. Discover thousands of long tail keywords.
Answer the public
It's hard not to love this site. Simple and direct interface where you can generate a massive list of questions that people ask about any topic including prepositions in several languages. Ideal for content creation.
Turn your visitors into buyers committed to your brand. Create buttons to share your social networks and content and measure analytics with this great free tool. Crea botones para compartir tus redes sociales y contenido y mide las analíticas con esta gran herramienta gratuita.
Yoast SEO
Perhaps the best wordpress plugin in which you can optimize the content, meta tags and keywords. You can also create sitemaps and more. You also have the possibility to optimize your page according to suggestions of the tool.
6. To obtain free images and / or photos
This category includes the best sites where you can download free images for your projects, your websites or visual stock if you are a video and multimedia creator. Keep in mind that although they may be free, some will require you to create an account or give credit to the author. As we know how important images are in our lives, we have placed many options to choose from.
Unsplash
It offers you a wide variety of high resolution images from portraits and landscapes to architectural or lifestyle images for both personal and commercial use.
Pexels
It offers an unlimited content of free images for personal or commercial use where you do not need to place attribution to the author (it is always courtesy to credit the artist).
Stock up
This page indexes files from 31 different websites compiling a library of more than 29,000 free photos and images.
Pixabay
It presents images launched under Creative Commons to public domain which means that it is free on any right. You can also download free vectors for illustrator, illustrations and videos.
Lifeofpix
It offers high resolution photography and presents different photographers every week.
Gratisography
This site has been created for those special imaging needs, where a carefully curated photograph is required. Excellent collection of authentic images for your visual projects.
Picjumbo
It offers you excellent quality images for free, as well as resources for design in other categories such as icons and fonts.
Splitshire
Currently a library of more than 1000 free photographs. It's worth stopping by and looking, you can find the one you need for your commercial project.
Fancycrave
It offers high resolution images made by professional photographers that you can use both personally or commercially for free. It is possible that you have to give attribution to the author.
icons8
Although this site is known for its icons, its selection of images is surprising. Made by professional photographers, even you can request a specific photo or use Photocreator to create your own. You can also download free vectors for illustrator.
Burst Shopify
Believe it or not, Shopify also offers the option of free images even without being a user of its sales platform. You can use them both commercially and for personal use. Download them in different resolutions.
Stocksnap
Known for its high quality offer, you can also search in different categories for that specific file your project requires. You do not need to credit the author but this will always be welcome.
7. To download the best videos
In this category you will find the best sites for downloading high quality video and multimedia files for free. Ideal for impact projects without paying more.
Videvo
It offers the largest collection of free HD videos in the world. Search for videos, animations and audio files such as music and effects to complement your presentations in a professional way.
Videezy
This is a videographer community dedicated to providing and sharing free videos in high resolution. Easy to search and find the one that your project needs.
Pexels video
Here you can easily find the video you are looking for for your website, promotional video or anything. All videos are free for both personal or commercial use.
Coverr
This is a perfect source of beautiful shots and free videos. Commercial and personal use, you do not need to give attribution.
Mixkit
Curated gallery of high quality videos and animations owned by envato. Files made by some of the best and most talented creators with a free license, of course.
Motionplaces
It provides creative artists with high quality and free high resolution stock images from different parts of the planet. You have no advertising or requirements to create accounts.
Lifeofvids
It offers free videos for web designers, film producers, publicists, agencies or any creative that may need them. It has a wide selection of videos captured with drones.
8. To edit and create the best videos and multimedia
In this category you will find the best resources for video editing and sound editing. Applications and software that directly rival professional programs can be found here at no cost. A lot of options for the artist within.
Audacity
It is the open source application par excellence for digital audio capture and editing. Available for windows, linux and Mac. You have the option to install add-ons and customize your themes.
Lightworks
A great free video editor. Available for windows. Linux and Mac. One of the most powerful publishers on the list. This is the free version with enough tools for fantastic editions.
Shotcut
One of the best video editors available for windows, linux and Mac. It is free because it is developed as open source. It supports a wide range of formats in addition to having a large library of video tutorials.
Davinci Resolve
It can be considered the most advanced video editor on the list. So having many features is one of the most intuitive especially for new users. In addition to cutting and pasting you can correct color, edit audio, add text and much more.
Openshot
Free open source software. Similar to iMovie you can easily drag items to the timeline. It includes unlimited layers and audio mixing plus a very nice user interface. For windows, linux and Mac.
Avidemux
One of the best editors for new users. Easy to use interface Performs basic tasks such as cutting, coding and filtering without complications. If you are new to the world of video editing, this is a good place to start.
Fxhome
One of the most professional video editors on the list. It contains all the options you could expect from a basic editor and much more. The free edition contains about 180 special effects.
Videosoftdev
Application for non-linear video editing. The program is capable of processing high resolution video including 4K UHD, 3D and 360 degree videos.
Videopad
Perfect for those who start in video editing and multimedia. Its simple interface and ease of use make it one of the best for those artists who need uncomplicated video compositions.
Quik
This free application is developed by GoPro and allows quick and practical editions. Create videos synchronized with music in seconds.
9. Typography
We will always require the best and most appropriate fonts when designing a logo, magazine or visual presentation. In this case we bring you the most used websites to download the correct fonts for our creations.
Google fonts
Find quality fonts for your website that you can download and use in your project.
Dafont
Very popular platform for downloading free fonts. Most fonts are for personal use. The great thing is its easy-to-navigate category system and find the right font for your project.
Font squirrel
Another reliable source to download high quality free fonts. Most fonts come with a commercial license.
1001 fonts
It may say 1001 but there are really more than 9000 high quality fonts that you can download. Many available for commercial use.
Whatfont
Chrome extension that allows you to search and know the font in any logo you see onscreen.
Fontstruct
It is, by the way, a builder of your own fonts. It allows you to create fonts with True Type geometric shapes and you can also download the more than 43,000 other fonts created by more users.
10. Desktop publishing
Graphic layout has always been one of the most important skills of a designer. We have found software that can help you finish a professional layout without costing you more. These are the best free options in relation to your payment counterpart such as Indesign or QuarkXPress that will allow you to chart magazines, flyers, catalogs, newspapers and more.
Scribus
Leading open source software for layout and desktop publishing. Available for windows, linux and Mac. Developed for layout, font management and preparation of files for pre-press with professional quality. Scribus also allows you to create interactive and animated PDF presentations.
Lucidpress
Web application that works in your browser or that you can download and install and allows you to create brochures, flyers, newsletters, business cards, posters, magazines, etc. Its great advantage is its low learning curve.
Ashampoo PDF
Free application that allows you to open and create PDF files in a practical and fast way. Also browse their website for more free programs that may be of interest to you.
11. Screenshot and video software
For many of our projects we will need to record what happens on the screen of our computer. In this category are the applications that allows you to capture onscreen video for free and create presentations, courses, videos on YouTube, in short, both from your browser and from web applications.
OBS Studio
The best screen recorder, including games. Allows live broadcasts on YouTube. Free code available for windows, linux and Mac.
Flashback Express
Free version of payment software. This software does not place watermarks on the recordings you make or imposition of time limits. You have a less intimidating interface than OBS if you've never used a screen recorder before.
Apowersoft FOSR
If you want to record a presentation, demonstration of a program or tutorial you can use this recorder from your browser. It does not work for video games but for the rest it is perfect.
Debut video capture
Without watermarks or time limits, you can also record from external sources such as webcams and security cameras and attach closed caption texts. You can set up recording schedules which makes it ideal for a home security system.
Open source software that allows you to capture screens and record video. No watermarks or time limits. Its interface is not so intuitive but it is easy to operate with few keyboard combinations.
Apowersoft FOSR
Free open source application for windows. Combine screen recorder, webcam and dashboard with an editor. Excellent for your presentations without hassles.
12. Teoría y manejo del color
Color is undoubtedly the most important element for a graphic designer. Find the right color and you will stimulate the client in the right way. In this category tools to find the perfect color palette for your design.
Adobe Color
Create color palettes from an image or the color wheel in HEX. Save your palette to your Adobe account and use it in Photoshop or illustrator directly.
Coolors
Web application that offers an unusual way to find the theme of colors of a site. Basically every time you press the space bar a color palette is generated, alternatively you can discover more than 1,700,000 other combinations of more users.
ColorExplorer
Free toolbox to design and work with color palettes. Developed by professional designers.
Paletton
Previously Color Scheme Designer, Paletton is designed to create color combinations that work very well with each other. You start with a base color and the application generates similar tones that complement it.
Colorzilla
Extension for Chrome and Firefox browsers that assists designers with color-related themes. Read the color of a single page by sampling with the dropper anywhere in the browser.
Ultimate CSS
Also from colorzilla you can analyze a page, inspect its palette and its colors. Create gradations in CSS that you can copy later in your style sheet.
Colormind
Impresionante aplicación basada en Inteligencia artificial que te permite crear paletas personalizadas y probarlas en tiempo real dentro de la misma página.
13. Iconography
Los íconos comunican de manera práctica y rápida lo que quieres expresar. En esta categoría de 130 Recursos gratis para diseñadores encuentras una gran variedad de iconos gratuitos para descargar y utilizar en tus diseños y proyectos digitales como sitios web o apps.
Flaticon
155/5000 More than 2,400,000 free icons in SVG, PSD, PNG, EPS or ICON FONT format. Perhaps one of the largest databases of vector icons on the web.
iconos8
In addition to a variety of icons you can download many free things like photos, UX illustrations and music for your videos.
Freepik
Download thousands of vectorized icons available for commercial or personal use in SVG, PNG and EPS format.
Ionicons
Select a specific icon and copy its html code or web component code to embed in your projects. You can also download them as SVG to be used in MATERIAL DESIGN or for IOS in your web developments.
Iconfinder
More than 15,000 free icons in one place. You can download them in PNG or ICO format.
Thenounproject
One of the most diverse collections of icons. Download them in SVG or PNG. Millions of free or unlimited icons if you pay for the NounPro version.
freeicons.io
Free platform to download vectorized icons in SVG, PNG, EPS, AI and PSD formats.
Iconstore
A library of free icons for commercial or personal use created by first-class designers.
Vecteezy
Almost 250,000 free vectorized icons. You also have millions of vectors to choose from cliparts, artistic vectors, design templates and illustrations.
14. 3D modeling and animation
In this category of 130 Free Resources for Designers we have one of the most fun and attractive sections for designers, animators and creatives. Special effects and animated films are on the rise as well as artists who want to venture into this genre and what better way than to have the appropriate tool to make your ideas come true.
Blender 3d
It is the king software for animation with 3D modeling capabilities, game creation, motion tracking, video editing and much more. It allows artists to convert images into 3d animations. Leader in the industry for its impressive capabilities.
k-3d
Software for animation and 3D modeling. Combine plugins with a visualization architecture by turning it into a powerful and flexible tool for artists. For Mac and windows.
Synfig
One of the best free open source softwares special for 2D animation. It runs on Windows, Linux and Mac. It offers a large library and a variety of technical elements that are kept up to date thanks to the developer community that supports it.
Animation Paper
An excellent option for artists who start in the world of traditional animation. Large amount of tutorials and information. Download the previous version as the free one. Works great on windows, linux and Mac.
Opentoonz
Great open source animation and production software. You can produce 2d animation in large advertising projects. It allows the management of images and vectors. Version for windows and Mac.
TupiTube
2D animation software focused on children, young people and newcomers to the world of animation. Developed in Colombia by MaeFloresta under the terms of General Public License or GNU allows you to be free and constantly updated.
Pencil2D
This 2D animation software allows users to create more traditional animations such as hand-drawn scenes. Use both bitmaps and vector files. This program is free because it is developed as open source.
Animaker
Online animation platform and video editing. You register for free and enter an easy to use application. Its main intention is the people who work in marketing, so it is easy to access easy-to-modify templates for infographics, moving typography, animated cartoons and much more.
Powtoon
This program is designed to make small videos and presentations. You can upload your own content or select it from your library with free content. Animators can customize existing templates to ensure they meet their goals.
15. Office tools and Productivity
Productivity is another important factor in the designer's life. We need to organize our work in spreadsheets, create presentations for clients and make writings, quotes, reports, etc. In this category free alternatives to office suite.
Google Docs
Google Documents is currently the best suite in the cloud that allows you to save text files, presentations and spreadsheets on your drive as well as share them and collaborate with more people in document development.
OpenOffice
It is very close to Libreoffice to be a descendant of Openoffice.org also contains a word processor, spreadsheet, presentations, application of drawings and databases.
LibreOffice
It is an open source software formed in 2010 from Openoffice.org. Continent spreadsheets, word processor, presentations, diagram and database management. With the addition of extensions you get a robust and powerful program with support for word, excel and powerpoint. You can also create PDFs.
