44 Tools To Help 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.

1. 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.
   
   
   
   
   


2. Communicating
   
   
   
   • Skype
     
     Cheap or free calls from your computer.
   
   
   • Adium
     
     Multi-client instant messaging application for Mac OSX.
   
   
   • Pidgin
     
     Multi-client instant messaging application for Windows.
   
   
   
   
   


3. Brainstorming - Wireframing
   
   
   
   • Bubbl.us
     
     Online brainstorming application.
   
   
   • mindmeister
     
     Collaborative online mind mapping.
   
   
   • gliffy
     
     Create and share flowcharts and diagrams online.
   
   
   
   
   


4. Typography
   
   
   
   • What the Font?
     
     An easy way to identify fonts online.
   
   
   • BitfontMaker
     
     Online tool to create your bitmap font.
   
   
   
   


5. 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.
     
     
   
   
   
   


6. 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.
   
   
   
   


7. 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.
     
     
   
   
   
   


8. 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.
   
   
   
   
   


9. 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.
     
     
   
   
   
   


10. 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.
    
    
    
    

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