REGISTER NOW: Uncomfortable Conversations: The Skills Crisis
REGISTER: 8THIRTYFOUR Skills Survival School Founding Cohort

A Designer's Best Friend

Written by

Share This Post:

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!


Colors of Summer-02Adobe 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.
photo-1429277158984-614d155e0017UnSplash
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!

Responses

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Search

Recent Posts

Something on Your Mind?

The way you show up at work shapes how people remember you.

Last month, alyshiahull joined bodespeaks on Happy Hour Hustle to talk about what workplace authenticity really means. Alyshia is a New York-based freelance journalist who writes for Business Insider, Fast Company, USA Today, Inc., and Entrepreneur. If you are ready to bring your authentic self to work, episode #134 is for you. 

Listen to Happy Hour Hustle on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and Youtube. Link in bio.
The power of the Women's Entrepreneurial Fellowship, in a graduate's own words:

"Growth is never accidental, it comes from being willing to learn, adapt, and embrace change. After nine months of dedication, reflection, and business development, I proudly graduated from the Women's Entrepreneurial Fellowship (WEF) during the Small Business Association of Michigan Annual Meeting.

Throughout the program, I challenged myself to evaluate every aspect of my business, celebrating what was working while identifying opportunities for growth and improvement. The journey was made even more meaningful through the support of an incredible cohort of women entrepreneurs, the guidance of mentor Gina Jacquart Thorsen, and the leadership of bodespeaks and her team.

A sincere thank you to smallbusinessassocofmichigan for investing in second-stage women business owners and creating opportunities that empower entrepreneurs to build stronger, more sustainable businesses."

— Mary A. Barton, President and CEO of Equitable Accounting Solutions and proud WEF graduate.

Applications for the next cohort are now open. Link in comments.
"Out of failure comes growth – you have to see it as an opportunity." 

bodespeaks joined cuzzinjustin on the strictlyfromnowhere Podcast for an honest conversation about entrepreneurship, embracing your superpowers, and building a personal brand that's actually yours, the wins, the setbacks, and everything in between. And naturally, dropped an f-bomb or two along the way. You don't want to miss it.

Full episode in the comments 👇
AI doesn't treat every source equally; it trusts what's credible, cited, and current, like news coverage.

Showing up in the right places isn't just good PR. It's how the robots (and the humans) get you right.

Read the full blog at the link in bio.
"If you don't get up and grind every day, the needle isn't gonna move."

We sat down with brandonmccraney, founder and Master Blender behind olderaleighdistillery in Zebulon, North Carolina. Brandon spent fifteen years just thinking about whiskey before he finally opened his doors, and even then it took four more years, a dozen rejections, construction delays, and a global pandemic to get there. Two years later, Olde Raleigh had already won Best Micro Distillery in the US.

Check out the latest episode of Happy Hour Hustle, where Brandon shares what it actually took to grow a business through COVID, the military discipline that kept him going when everything else said quit, and how working with people turned out to be the hardest part of the job.

Listen to Happy Hour Hustle on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and watch the whole episode on Youtube. Link in bio.
It's 9 months that is impossible to sum up in a video - but here's just a taste. 

This Women's Entrepreneurial Fellowship is resources, mentorship, and connections that you can't build anywhere else. We're so exicted for what the next cohort will bring.

Apply now at the link in bio.
smallbusinessassocofmichigan