Graphic Design Resources
Last updated September 26, 2024.
A quick note: Each section of resources is listed in ascending order, from most to least useful. Since we have different needs and personal taste is a factor, I encourage you to find what is best for you.
Table of Contents
Tools
Improve Your Workflow
WebAIM Contrast Checker | Compare two colours to find out how accessible they are across AA and AAA web standards.
WeTransfer | A way to send and share large files with others when email limits are too small.
TinyPNG | Compress WebP, PNG, and JPEG file sizes without sacrificing (much) quality.
Convert Case | Handy tool that changes words to be capitalized, uncapitalized, mixed case, and more.
Capitalize My Title | A tool that uses title capitalization rules published by leading professional organizations to ensure headlines are capitalized correctly.
Typopo | Fixes common microtypography errors that require an attentive eye and knowledge of local typography rules.
Adobe Color | A tool for creating colour harmonizations and themes, easily transferable to Adobe libraries.
This Person Does Not Exist | Get a random AI-generated profile picture of a human every time you refresh the page. (Great for persona profiles and UI filler.)
QR Code Monkey | Generate custom QR codes, adjust their appearance, and download as a vector or raster graphic.
Social Media Ads Mockup | Easily create mockups of realistic ads for Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter, Google, Snapchat, TikTok, and YouTube.
Handbrake | An open-source application for converting video from nearly any format to a selection of modern, widely supported codecs.
Image Archives
Available Online
Biodiversity Heritage Library | An open access digital library for plant and animal images boasting a collection of 300,00 scans.
The Internet Archive | A digital library with a mission to provide universal access to all knowledge. You can find nearly anything here.
Internet Archive Book Images | A Flickr library of over 4.7 million images from the Internet Archive’s book collection.
The Public Domain Review | Project dedicated to curious and compelling works that have fallen into the public domain and are free to enjoy, share, and build upon without restriction.
Vintage Stock Photos | A collection of authentic faded, blurry, scratched, grainy, and misfit images depicting life in the middle of the 20th century.
The British Library’s Commons Collection | Millions of public domain images from one of the world’s largest libraries, which they specifically “encourage you to explore and re-use”.
SwellMap’s Flickr Collection | Over 11,000 scanned postcards and QSL cards featuring scenes of classic American life stained with authentic print artifacts.
Flickr Commons | A unique collection of historical photography from over 100 cultural institutions, all with no known copyright restrictions
Old Book Illustrations | A modest collection of scanned book illustrations available within the limits of the public domain.
Library and Archives Canada | Archive of historical Canadian material, such as: letters, diaries, government documents, photographs, maps, and artwork.
Canada Modern | A physical and digital archive of Canadian graphic design, especially focused on modernism.
Pastforward Winnipeg | Images, audio, and more, related to Winnipeg’s past, such as postcards, historical directories, and oral histories.
Morguefile | Over 400,000 royalty-free stock photos openly available for commercial use.
NASA Image and Video Library | NASA’s very own media library with an abundance of space-related goodies.
archives.design | A curated collection of graphic design related items available on the Internet Archives.
The People’s Graphic Design Archive | A crowd-sourced virtual archive of inclusive graphic design history.
Japanese Graphic Design (1800–2010) | A collection of visual research surveying the history of graphic design in Japan.
International Advertising & Design Database | A project that aims to give direct access to everything the world of advertisement and design has to offer. [It’s currently being restructured so URLs may change.]
Articles
Tickle Your Brain Cells
It’s Nice That | Inspiration for the global creative community through stories and insights, featuring content with actual value and not just pretty pictures.
AIGA Eye on Design | Hundreds of intelligent articles regarding graphic design, type, illustration and more. (Sadly, they have been on hiatus since 2022.)
PRINT | Inspiration and design dialogue by people who truly care, like Debbie Millman and Steven Heller.
Roger Black: Archives | The blog of Roger Black, who’s been involved in the design field since 1970. He has great stories about work in magazine publishing.
Inspiration
Great Artists Steal
FontsInUse | An independent archive of typography and how it’s used, with fantastic organization and documentation.
Art of the Menu | A catalogue of fantastic menu designs and solutions from around the world.
FPO (For Print Only) | A blog dedicated to the visual stimulus, detailing, development, and production of printed matter.
Art of the Title | Online publication dedicated to title sequence design in film and television.
Dieline | A platform for the packaging industry, promoting sustainable solutions through creativity and innovation.
Coverjunkie | A celebration of creative magazine covers and their ace designers.
Siteinspire | A showcase of the finest web design out there. I especially appreciate their filter system.
Awwwards | The awards that recognize the talent and effort of the best web designers, developers, and agencies in the world.
Movie Poster of the Week | An extraordinary collection of movie posters along with contextual commentary. [Despite the name, they publish monthly.]
shillPages Movie Title Screens | A unique catalogue of screen captures of 7,614 movie title screens.
Identity Designed | Website and book devoted to the design of visual identities.
Icon Libraries
Why Use Many Word When Icon Do Trick?
Material Symbols & Icons | Google’s collection of over 3,210 icons available in adjustable styles (fill, weight, grade, and optical size).
FontAwesome | Online icon library and toolkit, used by millions of designers and developers.
The Noun Project | The most comprehensive icon collection in the world. Offers numerous downloads for free.
Mockups
For That Extra Touch
Mr.Mockup | Diverse collection of Photoshop mockups with a great offering of free downloads.
Mockupworld | A curation of free mockups from other sites so you don’t have to search for it yourself.
Anthony Boyd Graphics | Mockups from a “self-taught artist who just loves making cool shit and sharing it”.
Education & Learning
Old Dogs Welcome
Butterick’s Practical Typography | An incredible resource teaching everything from how to treat punctuation, to mixing fonts, to typeface alternatives.
How to use OpenType Features | An article explaining how to activate and use a few common OpenType features in fonts.
Designers Toolbox | Information about the standardized sizing of common printed and digital items, with notes on regional differences.
Color Lisa | A curated list of color palettes based on well-known masterpieces.
Book Recommendations
Treat Your Eyeballs
The Elements of Typographic Style (Fourth Edition) by Robert Bringhurst | The book Hermann Zapf called the “Typographer’s Bible”. It bounces between poetic writing about letterforms to dry instructions for wielding them.
Thinking with Type (Second Edition) by Ellen Lupton | A comprehensive guide to using typography in visual communication. Very accessible for new designers!
Typography for Lawyers (Second Edition) by Matthew Butterwick | The first guide to typographic essentials aimed specifically at lawyers (enjoyed by non-lawyers too.)
Typographic Systems of Design by Kimberly Elam | Explores structural frameworks within and beyond the grid complete with exercises, student work, and professional examples. I recommend this book for newcomers or professionals.
Grid systems in graphic design by Josef Muller-Brockmann | An incredibly dry book on grid systems, but well written and in-depth. I recommend this book for professionals.
The Politics of Design by Ruben Pater | The cover of this book makes me puke everytime I glance at it. The content inside though is pure gold, and absolutely worth your time. Just read it.
CAPS LOCK by Ruben Pater | A book that explains how graphic design and capitalism are inextricably linked. I am still pissed about the things I learned from it.
