July 28, 2015

A Designer's Best Friend

Share the goods.

In today’s world with knowledge only a keyboard click away, the amount of information can be overwhelming. We’ve picked out some of our favorite online design tools to share with you.
Aspect Ratio Calculator
Coding is hard enough without calculating new dimensions for your resized image. The aspect ratio calculator formats your images keeping the original ratio and presents you with new dimensions. Simply enter your image’s original dimensions and then enter your desired width. Poof! You have your corresponding height.

Hex Color Finder
You’ve chosen your website’s hero image but now need to adjust your color scheme. Forget the guess and check method and don’t even think about opening Illustrator! This color finder has you covered. Drop in an image, drag your eyedropper to the color of your choice and go!

Adobe Kuler
The king of color inspiration. Search by keyword through color pallets already crafted or create your own. Pull in an image for inspiration and then sync it directly with your Adobe programs so it’s at your fingertips next time you’re designing.

Envato Market
Images, Graphics, templates, website themes, plugins and so much more. Envato is your one-stop shop for all things design. Interested in dipping your toes into video production? Envato even has music, video clips and animation sequences for purchase.

Images
Finding images on a budget is difficult and can be quite a time-consuming task for designers. Start creating an image database of your licensed and royalty free images to pull from for your future design needs.
Shutterstock
Did you know you can get Shutterstock images for free? Ok, that’s somewhat misleading. The Shutterstock blog picks two images (1 image / 1 vector) every week for a free download. It’s a great way to download interesting images and jump-start your collection.
UnSplash
The hipster of royalty free images. Unsplash is a great resource for slightly desaturated images of nature, coffee and lifestyle photography.
And just because we can never choose our favorite when it comes to free image websites, here are few more we use.
Gratisography
Public Domain Archive
RGB Stock Images
Free Images
Now that you’ve met some of our best friends here at 834, it’s time to start designing and make some of your own!

Recent Musings

Kim stands in front of 3 women, her hand is on her hip and she's in front of a whiteboard smiling.

5 Biggest Mistakes Companies Make in a Crisis (and How to Avoid Them)

Panel table set up with microphones, water bottles and name cards for a perimenopause discussion featuring three guest panelists.

It Is Time to Have More Uncomfortable Conversations About Perimenopause

Kim stands at the front of a room. She's holding a microphone giving a speech to a room full of PR professionals.

Keeping Humans in the AI Loop: A Guide to Responsible AI Adoption

Something on Your Mind?

A little rain didn’t slow @bodespeaks down.

Kim was in Washington, D.C., this past week for #AUSA2026 - three days where Army leaders, industry partners, and the defense community come together for innovation, insight, and connection.

We can’t wait to hear some of her takeaways. Stay tuned for more soon.

@ausaorg #DefenseIndustry #Leadership #AUSA

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A little rain didn’t slow @bodespeaks down.

Kim was in Washington, D.C., this past week for #AUSA2026 - three days where Army leaders, industry partners, and the defense community come together for innovation, insight, and connection.

We can’t wait to hear some of her takeaways. Stay tuned for more soon.

@ausaorg #DefenseIndustry #Leadership #AUSA

Who made all these rules anyway?

Don’t wear color. Don’t share your ideas. Don’t put yourself out there. Don’t talk about your family.

We’re told to follow them, but @bodespeaks says question every single one. Then uncover your big hairy audacious goal, throw out the rulebook, and build a personal brand that actually works for you.

Thank you to Aggie and Cristy for having Kim on the @badass_women_in_business Podcast and, well... for being total badasses.

Listen to the full episode in bio.

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We had some fun in the office this week and asked some of the 8THIRTYFOUR team what “square up” means.

Surprisingly, the Gen Z of the group got it, but one of our Gen X’s did not (not saying any names…)

How do you “square up”?

#trending #fyp #squareup #agencylife

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We had some fun in the office this week and asked some of the 8THIRTYFOUR team what “square up” means.

Surprisingly, the Gen Z of the group got it, but one of our Gen X’s did not (not saying any names…)

How do you “square up”?

#trending #fyp #squareup #agencylife

The 834 Learning Hub is where we throw fun shindigs, where cool people come to work, where Big Deal Energy gathers, and where we push you to get uncomfortable.

It’s not your typical event or coworking space - and we like it that way. The lighting, colors, wallpaper, layout, and yes, the dogs, are all very intentional.

If you need a spot to host your offsite team training, leadership quarterly, photo shoot (dogs can be included), or you just need a space to network or cowork - reach out.

We got the goods:
- A sweet sound system
- State-of-the-art digital whiteboard
- A really big T.V. Like it’s big.
- Your own private entrance
- Free parking
- A dog (or two) if you ask nicely

Drop us a line at hello@8thirtyfour.com or click the link in bio to rent the Hub today.

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The 834 Learning Hub is where we throw fun shindigs, where cool people come to work, where Big Deal Energy gathers, and where we push you to get uncomfortable.

It’s not your typical event or coworking space - and we like it that way. The lighting, colors, wallpaper, layout, and yes, the dogs, are all very intentional.

If you need a spot to host your offsite team training, leadership quarterly, photo shoot (dogs can be included), or you just need a space to network or cowork - reach out.

We got the goods:
- A sweet sound system
- State-of-the-art digital whiteboard
- A really big T.V. Like it’s big.
- Your own private entrance
- Free parking
- A dog (or two) if you ask nicely

Drop us a line at hello@8thirtyfour.com or click the link in bio to rent the Hub today.

We love Dr. Karen May’s mission.

What if we taught our daughters AND our sons about women’s health, hormones, and pregnancy? Not as a whispered “talk” or a one-time awkward conversation. Just normal dinner-table stuff.

The girls deserve to know what’s coming (perimenopause shouldn’t be a surprise party nobody wanted). And the boys? They’ll be partners, dads, coworkers, and bosses to women going through all of it.

Thank you, Dr. May, for sharing your best practices to keep the women’s health conversation going at our Uncomfortable Conversations | The Pause event.

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We love Dr. Karen May’s mission.

What if we taught our daughters AND our sons about women’s health, hormones, and pregnancy? Not as a whispered “talk” or a one-time awkward conversation. Just normal dinner-table stuff.

The girls deserve to know what’s coming (perimenopause shouldn’t be a surprise party nobody wanted). And the boys? They’ll be partners, dads, coworkers, and bosses to women going through all of it.

Thank you, Dr. May, for sharing your best practices to keep the women’s health conversation going at our Uncomfortable Conversations | The Pause event.

Showing up to an interview with an iced coffee? Not the move… unless it’s for @bodespeaks

#icedcoffee #agency #PR #trending #grandrapids

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