I’m always on the lookout for more resources to help me do my job—design and production for promotional products. I’m especially excited when those resources are free. But, most often, it is not enough to explore YouTube or use a quick Google search. Instead, I rely on a list of online resources that I have compiled over the last few decades. In the May/June 2022 Insights issue, I wrote about free resources for finding fonts, images, tutorials and more. This is the sequel to that article.
Your Guide to Free Online Resources (Part II)
Use these tips to find color combinations, free images, general advice and more.
(Originally printed in the January/February 2023 issue of Insights.)
I’m always on the lookout for more resources to help me do my job—design and production for promotional products. I’m especially excited when those resources are free. But, most often, it is not enough to explore YouTube or use a quick Google search. Instead, I rely on a list of online resources that I have compiled over the last few decades. In the May/June 2022 Insights issue, I wrote about free resources for finding fonts, images, tutorials and more. This is the sequel to that article.
Color Combos
I’m often tasked with creating T-shirt and poster designs—one of my favorite tasks I do for my clients. But my least favorite part of those projects is choosing a color scheme. That’s why I rely heavily on pre-made color combinations and historical images of posters for reference. Typically, my designs have five or fewer colors, especially if the design is going to be screen printed.
Colorcombos.com is a great resource (Figure A). Click on “Combos” in the menu tab and then “Library.” There are hundreds of color combinations. Just right click on a color combo, save the file and import it into the workspace. Whether you’re using Coreldraw, Illustrator or another design program, an eyedropper tool can be used to sample the colors for the project. These will be in RGB color mode, so you may have to convert them to CMYK colors at some point, depending on the production process. Other great color combo resources include colorhunt.co, schemecolor.com, color.adobe.com/explore and coolers.co.
Historical posters are also great for finding harmonious colors. Works by numerous artists can be found at the Library of Congress website, loc.gov. Search the Works Progress Administration (WPA) posters for a real treat (Figure B). Want to learn more about complementary, analogous and triad colors? Check out color.adobe.com/create/color-wheel.
Help Forums
It takes a village. When I’m stumped about a design issue, substrate or software bug, I turn to the community of online experts. Often, I find that if I’m having an issue with a project, there is likely someone else who has experienced this issue as well. (Hopefully it was documented and archived somewhere.)
Along with social media groups that can be found with a simple online search, online forums have saved me on numerous occasions. Depending on the question, one of the following may have an answer: t-shirtforums.com, engravingforum.com, laserengraverforum.com, sawmillcreek.org, cnczone.com, reddit.com/r/coreldraw, talkgraphics.com, forum.uscutter.com, and community.coreldraw.com.
I have used most of these forums at one time or another over the last 20 years. And don’t forget to use the APA Member2Member forum as well!
Images
Finding the right image for a project can be difficult. An even more difficult challenge is to find good, copyright-free images. But there are excellent options for image repositories.
One of my top tools for finding copyright-free images is wordpress.org/openverse (Figure C). With over 600 million options, the right image is just a click away. Their search tool finds images that are under the Creative Commons license or in the public domain. A search filter tool can be used to find either type. Other great repositories for free-use images include pxhere.com, flickr.com/photos/internetarchivebookimages, unsplash.com and pikwizard.com. For more information about photo and image usage, go to creativecommons.org/about/cclicenses.
Education
My last graduation happened years ago, but self-education never ends; it just takes different forms. It goes without saying that APA is a great resource for education for what we, as producers and designers, do for a living.
There are other avenues for knowledge as well. Openculture.com (Figure D) has all kinds of topics to explore, including thousands of free downloads for e-books, textbooks, college courses and lectures. The art, photography and graphic design classes seem to be the most relevant for our industry, but there is so much more to explore. This website always makes me wish for more time to take it all in.
I believe lessons can also be learned by reviewing what other people are creating in our world. It’s less about education per se, but thisiscolossal.com is still my favorite website for recharging my brain’s creative side. I come back to this site over and over, digging through its archives for inspiration. It’s also a way to see what is trending in color and with different media.
Vector Graphics
I do not use pre-made graphics often; I prefer to create from scratch. However, in a pinch, designbundles.net has handy, ready-to-use artwork (Figure E). Probably with vinyl cutting crafters in mind, this website offers trendy designs in an SVG format (vector) that can be opened with most graphic design software, including Coreldraw. Beyond this website, there are several others to try, including freesvg.org, svgrepo.com, vecteezy.com and freepik.com. Some of these websites do require an account setup to access the free goodies.
To be sure, websites will come and go, and what is free today may not be tomorrow. Until then, absorb all that you can, and use the online community for the challenges that are sure to come.
For a spreadsheet file with all the resources listed and more, use my bio information below to contact me. I’m happy to help.
Want More Resources?
See (Part I) of this article
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