Favorite Affordable + Free Design Tools

I always keep my eye out for new design resources, and have built up a toolkit that I’ve used in the past for Shade Made Creative. We are so lucky to have a multitude of inexpensive (and sometimes free!) resources at our fingertips that make it easier than ever to build a business, establish your brand, and create exceptional content for social media. Here are some of my current favorites:

UNSPLASH
Unsplash is an incredible resource for free stock photography. Their imagery can be helpful as placeholders when you’re first starting a business & don’t have custom photos yet, or as filler content on social media. You can easily search their library and when you find a shot you like, an instant download of the high resolution image is available. You don’t have to credit the photographers, but it’s recommended. The only downside is their selection can be limited, and you may not always find exactly what you’re looking for.

Creative Market - Capri Italy Font Pairing

CREATIVE MARKET
Creative Market is my favorite one stop shop for fonts, templates, and photos. I’ve always been a sucker for fonts, and happily pay to download a new selection every few months. They have so many choices that are affordable. Individual fonts typically range from around $12 - $25 for individual fonts and font bundles, where you receive multiple font styles in a single package, go for just a bit more. I always have a hard time narrowing it down, but my current favorite fonts are Halifax, Capri, The Modern Font Bundle, and The Modern Font Bundle 2. They come in an instant download and you can feel good about supporting small and independent designers.

CANVA
Canva is a site that offers simple customizable templates for social media, including Instagram, Instagram stories, and Facebook, as well as templates for flyers, media kits, posters, and more. The site is essentially a simplified version of Photoshop that’s user friendly, making design easy and accessible. Canva is free to use, but there are paid upgrades available within the program. For example, you’ll need to pay to access certain templates, fonts, and illustrations. Once again the pricing is affordable with font and illustration upgrades costing a few dollars each. You can also upgrade to Canva Pro and access their entire library of add-ons without paying additional fees. Canva Pro costs $9.95/month for an annual subscription, or $12.95/month for a monthly subscription. The only downside to Canva is that you may see designs similar to yours on social media if you choose to use popular templates.

Pinterest board for content creation inspiration

PINTEREST
Pinterest is a free site that allows you to build pin boards around different themes. You can save favorite images from across the internet to your boards so everything is neatly in one place. It’s popular to create boards around decorating, wish lists, fashion, and more. I primarily use Pinterest as a place to organize inspiration for different clients. Whether I’m working with someone on a photo shoot or ongoing content creation, it’s a helpful tool to save visual inspiration. If you’re working on something that you'd like to keep private you can also utilize their Secret Board feature.

UNUM
Want your Instagram feed to be perfectly laid out in advance? UNUM is the perfect app for planning your feed. Connect your Instagram account and you’ll see posts that have already been published, and from there can add in potential future post images. UNUM allows you to shuffle squares around so you can see which layout will visually look best, which will help you plot out your posting order.

I’m passionate about empowering small businesses to build beautiful brands and create exceptional content. There are more free and affordable creative resources available to us than ever before, and accessible tools have helped to level the playing field. These are my personal favorites of the moment, but I’m always scouting for additional sites + apps to add to the toolbox. Get out there, experiment, don’t be afraid to stumble, and create something new!