A post two weeks ago introduced four new trends dominating web design in 2014, including the rise of flat design and an increased use of infographics and e-newsletters. But, as with all things in web design industry, there’s much, much more coming down the pipeline, especially in regards to online resources offering everything from free templates to stock photography design number crunching.
Here are six resources every designer should be checking out this year.
1. IM Free
Getting your hands on royalty-free photography and images isn’t really that difficult, but IM Free takes it one step further by organizing its collection in a way that makes it more efficient to search—by themes such as people, business, icons, education, sports etc.—and includes tons of great templates as well.
2. Type-Finder
Like finding free stock imagery, finding free typefaces is not such a daunting task. But Type-Finder makes it a little more fun in finding reputable fonts that fit your needs perfectly by asking five questions in the form of a quick questionnaire.
3. Zurb Quips
Break down your website’s success or failure by building on empirical statistics with Zurb Quips. For instance, you can ask “how do email and social media compare for reaching customers” or “how do users react, negatively or positively, to different types of images” and you’ll get detailed “quips” that help you justify your design direction and choices or choose a new course.
4. TLDRLegal
Reputable designers stay on the right side of law by avoiding pirated software and programs. And with TLDRLegal you can find easy-to-read summaries of software licenses in clear language. You can search or browse what’s available, or sign-up for consistent updates.
5. Cute Grids
The newest industry mantra is “design for mobile first,” and Cute Grids offers up clean, responsive grid bases to achieve just that. It also includes five media queries based on em widths and provides detailed documentation.
6. Dewey
Looking for a better bookmark system for Google Chrome? Dewey gives you the ability to add custom tags and screenshots, and you get a much smarter search.
