Whatever stage of your design journey you’re at, we all find ourselves having to design on the cheap with some frequency. Here are some great free resources – and some reasonable paid ones that are worth the investment if you can afford it!
Free
unsplash
How much do we love Unsplash? Don’t let us count the ways because we’ll be here all night. Unsplash is the best resource for gorgeous stock photography – all free for commercial use.
Pixabay
Pixabay is another free-for-commercial-use stock photography site. While its resources are generally not as glamorous as those of Unsplash, but what it lacks in style it more than makes up for in variety.
Google Fonts
Google Fonts has great fonts, and they’re free. Anyone can use them for any reason, web or print, they’re easy to use, and there’s tons of variety.
Antonio Rodrigues jr.
If you’re looking for some slightly more stylized fonts, Antonio Rodrigues Jr. is an independent type designer who has made his gorgeous fonts free for commercial use.
Cheap
Vecteezy
For a ridiculously low monthly fee ($10) Vecteezy has an incredible wealth of vector art that arguably rivals that of any major stock photography site.
Flaticon
Like Vecteezy but specifically for icons, Flaticon is a steal for only $10/month.
Adobe Fonts
Adobe Fonts (formerly Typekit) isn’t technically free, but it comes with an Adobe CC subscription which you need to get anyway. They have the highest quality fonts and an incredible variety. AND they integrate seamlessly with all Adobe programs. Win-win-win-win-win.