Where do you get your own design resources when you don’t have your own designer?

Whether you’re a small business just starting out or you are already established, your branding and design supports the integrity and enhances the visibility of your business. It is an essential element in your marketing. You need to make sure the content you deliver reflects of your brand promise, overall business personality and is in tune with the vision you have for your business.

Okay, I can hear you asking … how on earth do I do that? Surely I need a designer? I don’t have any budget for one yet!

I hope this article will help you to think again …

Most small businesses dream of contracting their own designer who can create all their gorgeous branding and marketing materials! But before they are in the position to take that leap they need to do it all themselves. I know, that’s not your thing, not your forte! You are really good at {fill in the blank} but you don’t have a design bone in your body!

I’m here to tell you about some cheeky options that will put you ahead of the game. There are a growing number of websites that can provide you with resources that give you a good start for a small fee, or better yet, FREE!

Fonts, Graphics, Images, Templates, Themes, Bundles, Illustrations … you name it, they’ve got it! While, most of these sites do have paid content (after all they are in business too), but there are a diverse range of freebies out there for you to grab.

For example The Hungry Jpeg has a weekly freebies! All you need to do this is to register a free account and download away or jump on their mailing list so you get an email to remind you to get that weeks freebie!

The prices on all other products do vary, but most are extremely affordable for the quality of material you receive, this makes for an easy way to brand or re-brand your business and create beautiful imagery and content for your social media, website or anything you please. They also have $1 deals – now you can hardly get better than that!

Many stock libraries also have weekly or monthly downloads, all you need to do is sign-up so having great design doesn’t always mean employing a designer, try out your creative talent with the aid of some of these materials and there you are! DIY love to the rescue!

I’ve compiled a list of my favourites for you to choose from. Yes, there are many others out there but these are just a few that I have come by and learnt to love!

COLLECTIONS

Creative Fabrica

Creative Fabrica is a graphics subscription site where you can download fonts, icons, web templates, photos, textures and so much more.

 

♥ Creative Market

Creative Market is a lot of entrepreneurs goto for photos, graphics, templates, themes & fonts. Their prices are very reasonable & you are supporting individual artists by purchasing. They also do a lot of themes bundles for under $100AUD.

screenshot of creative market

Sign up to hear about their 6 weekly freebies. The image above is an example of one weeks freebies.

Design Bundles

Design Bundles was built to cater for independent crafters and design companies alike to purchase top quality resources at low prices. 

Envato Elements

Find everything you need for your project in Envato Elements – themes, photos, fonts, graphics and so much more. For a monthly low fee, creatives can download, high-quality and unique assets which they can use for their projects may it be for advertising, website or blog.

Fancy Deal

The Fancy Deal is yet another bundle site but it also specialised is t-shirt graphics.

screenshot of the Fancy Deal site

 

 

 

 

 

Sign up to hear about their 6 weekly freebies. The image above is an example of one weeks freebies.

Font Bundles

If you are a glutton for gorgeous fonts then Font Bundles is sure to be your bestie. They do bundles & deals of the day as well as individual fonts categorised into new, regular, script, logo, foreign, symbols & other.

& yes, if you are after free fonts they have several each week but be sure to check up on the individual licence. For the freebies, you need to sign up or you can log-in using your facebook account.

screenshot of font bundles page

Sign up to hear about their 6 weekly freebies. The image above is an example of one weeks freebies.

Mighty Deals

Mighty Deals promotes is offerings as daily deals for designers offering massive discounts for creatives. But there is nothing to say you can’t jump on & have a peek.

As well as library resources, they have courses, eBooks, fonts, plug-ins & software.

screenshot of the Might Deals site

Photo Dune

Photo Dune is a collection of royalty free stock images from a community of photographers. Price starts at $2.

BOUTIQUE STOCK libraries

Arcangel

Arcangel is a premium stock photography site which offers “first class service with the primary objective of helping clients find the right images or creative stock footage for their projects.”

Their clients include include international book publishers, record labels, advertising and design agencies and magazine publishers.

 

Bloguettes

Bloguettes is a great resource for the not-so-tech-savvy entrepreneurs. As it states in their website, “We provide comprehensive training and tools for elevating your digital presence in the entrepreneurial age.”

They also provide comprehensive trainings via Workshops, Webinars, Tutorials and Video Classes. Learn the hacks and the how-to’s with a click of a button.

Bloguettes also offers Stock Photos which they call Stock that Rocks.

The Designer Blogs

The Designer Blogs has free printables. I really love their free monthly calendar wallpaper (although the seasons are the wrong way around for we aussies!

screenshot of The Designer Blogs

They also have some excellent blogger & wordpress tutorials.

 

 

Digital Juice

Digital Juice is the one-stop shop for graphic designers and video makers. Browse through great contents of animation, sound fx, texture patterns, video blends, and so much more.

 

Etsy

Etsy shouldn’t be dismissed too quickly. I’ve had colleges who have bought some really great templates & branding designs there.

Although be a bit wary, with prices this low you may be buy templates .. before you buy do a reverse lookup for similar designs.

screenshot of the esty site

F8 Photo Library

F8 Photo Library is a boutique website which focuses on food, travel and lifestyle. The site features the work of internationally renowned photographers Geoff Lung, Petrina Tinslay and Warwick Orme.

Fontspring

Fontspring is a font license distributor. It has a simple premise of “Buy it and use it”. This means that the buyer of the font won’t need to worry about font licenses and can use the font for as many projects as the buyer likes.

Choose from thousands of fonts that can be used for your website, blog, ebook, etc.

fStop Images

fStop Images is a photo agency based in Berlin which offers a huge collection of premium royalty-free images.

The platform also offers HD footage clips.

Glasshouse Images

Glasshouse Images is a boutique stock photo catering to a select group of creatives. The site offers innovative, evocative and vintage images, but what sets it apart from the others is the animated GIFs, cinemagraphs, 3D stereo images and moving illustrations aptly called Come Alive.

Haute Stock

Haute Stock (formerly Haute Chocolate) is a style stock library created mainly for women entrepreneurs, bloggers and creatives.  Members of Haute Stock benefit from gorgeous lifestyle images, social media quotes images, styled desktop images, mockups, seasonal images and exclusive graphics.

Her Creative Studio

Her Creative Studio is curated for women entrepreneurs, bloggers, web designers and creatives.

Gain easy access to 800+ stunning visuals at an affordable price.

Icons8

Icons8 is not only for icons, it contains stock photos as well.

  • Free plans can download photos of low resolutions.
  • Paid Plan is at $19/month at 50 downloads per month – photos at full resolution in PSD and PNG.

Ivory Mix

Ivory Mix could easily be an entrepreneur’s favourite website. It contains stock photos – free as well as paid monthly subscription, tips and tricks to enhance your business, and online courses.

Head over the Ivory Mix website and see for yourself.

Kate Max Stock

Kate Max Stock contains more than 3000 style stock photos.

For a price, you can get instant access to professionally-styled photos that can reflect your branding, which you can use for your website, social media or as marketing collateral.

Lensmodern

Lensmodern is a collection of works of art from the best photographers. You can choose unique pictures from a wide range of categories – Portrait, Leisure, Emotions, Still-Life – to name a few. Photos can be used for advertising and other graphic designs.

Lum3n

Lum3n offers high-resolution images with exclusive usage rights to creatives and businessmen.

Lum3n’s collection is minimal; however, clients can pre-order the specific images they need.

 

Magnum Photos

Magnum Photos has the premise to educate through visuals. Members can choose from Editorial, Cultural and Commercial Categories.

As its website states, “Magnum is a community of thought, a shared human quality, a curiosity about what is going on in the world, a respect for what is going on and a desire to transcribe it visually.” – Henri Cartier-Bresson

Pixeden

Pixeden provides quality web resources such as WordPress Themes, Media Icons, Stationery branding – almost anything and everything you need for your website, branding, and social media.

Photocase

Photocase is a relatively little known, Berlin-based stock agency that specialises in ‘edgy’ content. The collection is largely EXCLUSIVE so its pictures are seldom seen elsewhere.

For a fair price, get photos that are definitely unique.

 

Pixel Perfect Library

Pixel Perfect Library offers image Packs for social media status posts in Facebook, Instagram and Etsy which can also include your very own branding; Facebook Kits – everything you will need for your Facebook Page.

This is a great site for busy business owners.

Pixistock

Pixistock is a membership styled stock photography site for the busy hardworking women – businesswomen, bloggers, and creatives can incorporate their branding to the the high-quality images Pixistock has to offer – be it for their website, blog post, Instagram and other social media sites.

Redux Pictures

Redux Pictures is a huge collection of commercial and editorial photos.

From its website, it states, “Redux takes pride in being a strong advocate for the power of modern photography and the creative individual’s ability to effect change.”

SC Stock Shop

SC Stockshop is a premium-styled stock site used by classy brands including BRIDES magazine, Vogue wedding.

Shop by colour or collections.

Sign up to their newsletter and receive 20 Styled Stock Images for free.

Shafaq Omair

Shafaq Omair is a web designer and creative. Her website also offers free boutique photos which you can use for personal and commercial purposes on your website, blog, or social media. Sign up and get your stock.

She Bold

She Bold, formerly Color U Bold, is a stock photo site which offers girly and style stock photos especially created for women bloggers and entrepreneurs.

Be a member and get over 1000 stock photos and 50+ more delivered every month. Although you can get 100 custom stock photos for FREE simply by subscribing.

 

Social Creative Stock

Make your brand stand out with stylish high-res images from Social Creative Stock.

Subscribe, take a hold and choose from a wide range of professional styled stock images which you can use for your website, social media sites, newsletters, and blogs.

Social Creative Stock also offers custom-designed stocks.

Social Squares

Social Squares is “little sister” of widely used SC Stockshop.

This is a site where small business owners can shop for creative styled images which they can use for their social media.

Stock Gallery

The Stock Gallery is a royalty-free stock photography membership site. It is a collection of photos from contributor photographers, carefully curated so members can download and use high-quality and creative images.

Stocksy

Stocksy is a curated collection of exclusive, royalty-free stock photography and footage.

You can find great photos in the site where you can buy the rights and use the images however you please.

 

Styled Stock Society

Styled Stock Society is a feminine-styled stock photo subscription site.

Busy business owners who do not have the time to take pictures and are looking for easy access to affordable, unique, classy feminine-branded photos can subscribe and be a member of this site.

The Photo Forest

The Photo Forest is a relatively new collection of photos taken by photographer and graphic artist, Nora Wendel, and resident photographer, Fleassy.

The Photo Forest is not your ordinary stock photography site; it has the premise of belongingness, family, diversity and wellness.  Healthy lifestyle, beauty within, conscious living, spirituality explored are among the various categories you can find from the site.

Trunk Archive

Trunk Archive is a full service licensing agency.  Professional artists collaborated to create a collection of magnificent photos.

Choose from an extensive array of photos categorized as Celebrity, Still Life, Hair Care, Upcoming Film Releases, and so much more.

Twigyposts

Get a hold of beautifully-styled yet affordable stock photos from Twigyposts.

Choose from a range of bundles and a variety of categories such as Spring-Styled, Wedding, Coffee Mug. Make your branding stand out with styled stock photos from Twigyposts.

Twigyposts also contains free photos of YoungLiving and Doterra Essential Oils that distributors can use. All they need to do is sign up to Twigyposts’ newsletter.

Urban Rose Stock Photography

Urban Rose Stock Photography is a collection of professional high-quality photos which can be used by bloggers, business owners, or stylists for their branding and social media.

Users have the option to buy a Single Image, a Bundle of 10 or subscribe monthly for unlimited downloads at an affordable price.

“PEOPLE OF COLOUR & DIVERSITY” libraries

Affect: Disabled And Here

Affect: Disabled And Here is a free stock photography + interviews and portraits site which features disabled Black, Indigenous, People of Colour (BIPOC) in the Pacific Northwest in the United States.

 

Austock Photo

Austock Photo – 100% Australian, 100% Royalty-Free

Price Options depend on the image size and web use:  From $10 XSmall Basic web use to $110 Xlarge big enough for anything

Black Illustrations

Black Illustrations is a site where you can get ILLUSTRATIONS of black people, free for personal and commercial use.

You can get the illustrations by pack, and you can choose in different formats – PSD, AI, etc.

Blend Images

Blend images has a small range of free images, or unlimited use for as long as you like. Price is based on file size, just select the resolution you need and go!

Price:  Royalty Free – From USD 5 to USD 250  |  Rights Managed – From USD 99 to USD 1,399

Brwn Stock Imaging

Brwn Stock Imaging features beautiful, positive photos in a variety of settings and collections.

Price:  From USD 25 to USD 45

Color Stock

Color Stock was launched in August 2015, with a catalog offering images of Black, Asian, Latins, and other ethnically-diverse people at work and at play, reflecting their nuanced lives in realistic ways.

Price:  Royalty-free USD 20  |  Exclusive use USD 250

Create Her Stock

Create Her Stock is a curated collection for female bloggers, creatives, and online influencers of color.

Price:  USD 7 per month

Diversity Photos

Diversity Photos markets itself as diverse Images that speak to your audience. I love that you can request a particular photo and they deploy all of their contributing photographers around the world who are skilled at authentically capturing diversity. If you like what they come back with, you pay for it.

 

 

Envato Elements

You can use Envato Elements‘ search tool to find images of people from all different cultures.

Price:  USD 29 per month

Jopwell

Jopwell is a free stock photo site where images are categorised as College, Intern, Office, Professional, Students, Workplace Photos.

 

 

Mocha Stock

Membership or Pay As You Go; As well as photos, Mocha Stock also has illustrations and videos.

Eye for Ebony

Eye for Ebony is a lifestyle stock photography site that focuses on African-American models.

Iwaria

Iwaria has Free African high-quality photos for your projects. Photos include landscapes and cultures.

 

 

Nappy

Nappy is a free stock photo site which specializes in “beautiful, high-res photos of black and brown people”.

 

 

PicNoi

PicNoi sought to create a space where publishers, bloggers, website owners, marketers, designers, graphic artists, advertisers and the like can easily search and find diverse multi-racial images. After initial download, users get all updates every two weeks for up to a year after initial purchase.

Price:  USD 49.99

The Startup Photo Library

The Startup Photo Library is a publicly-available library of images which showcases the diverse and startup life within the City of Melbourne – free for the startup community to use. 

TONL

TONL has created an inclusive culture takes both commitment and action. A diverse mix of voices leads to better discussions for everyone. Find culturally-diverse photo stock that represents the true world we live in.

Price:  USD 20 per photo.

UK Black Tech

UK Black Tech provides stock photos which convey diversity in advancing equality and equity in tech.

You can download photos but you have to give attribution to the site or UK Black Tech.

Unsplash Brown Skin

Unsplash Brown Skin is a section of Unsplash devoted to free images of people of colour.

Wocintech

Wocintech is a project to develop a library of free-to-use photos of women of color in tech.

 

 

Others

There are a number of sites which have of culturally-specific stock photos featuring races from all over the world in their collections if you do a specific search. Try iStock, Pixabay, Stocksy or Adobe Stock.

 

 

Having a beautifully branded business doesn’t have to be blood, sweat and tears, it can be as simple as a click of a button! Having a good library of resources is a great asset for any business!

If you have favourites sites we’ve missed please put them in the comments, if we love them as much as you do we will be sure to add them.