If you’re anything like me, you’re always looking for the next big design tool that will absolutely positively revolutionize your workflow. The fact is that, as creatives, we despise repetitive tasks because they take away from the more inventive side of our job. Instead of spending time coming up with a novel design solution for a problem, we find ourselves knee deep in routine to-dos that are doing something for our creative output. Felt it? I urge you to read along and check out these design productivity tools that I’ve been curating for some time now.
(Hey, they even featured this list last week, so Product Hunt clearly agrees!)
GREAT collection of Design Productivity Tools by @LauraBusche ???????????? https://t.co/9nt9tDCH81 pic.twitter.com/rRrB34DujX
– Product Hunt (@ProductHunt) July 8, 2016
Pexels
A site offering free stock photos for designers.
Coolors
This tool will help you generate awesome color schemes quickly.
f.lux
Ever wanted to dim your computer screen’s light depending on the time of the day? F.lux is just what you need.
Illustrio
In Illustrio, you can search, customize and download illustrations that are tailored to your desired color scheme and other brand elements.
Wirify
Grab the wireframe behind your favorite websites as you browse. Wirify is a simple browser extension that allows you to visualize the web’s “bare bones”. This can come in handy as you make design decisions for your next website.
Type Anything
Literally type anything and visualize your very own typography scheme coming together in real time. This nifty tool is great to preview the legibility and readability of your typography choices.
Snappa
Snappa brands itself as the easiest graphic design tool you’ll ever use. Unlike other DIY design tools, its pricing plans include everything you’ll want to use, from fonts to icons to templates.
Fontfit
Fontfit allows you to grab a domain’s typographic scheme in seconds.
Craft by InVision LABS
Craft allows you to maintain a library of assets and data that you can later import into your Sketch designs.
SiteSee
The team behind SiteSee curates wonderful and modern web design inspiration.
Stencil
Stencil used to be called “Share as Image”, and it is here to speed up your social image creation workflow.
Fontea
Get hundreds of Google fonts without leaving Photoshop & Sketch with this plugin.
Ecommerce Website Design Gallery
Pretty self-explanatory, this resources is all about inspiring you to follow the very best examples in ecommerce website design.
Marvel for iOS
Bring your ideas to life by prototyping entire desktop and mobile design projects right on your iPad or iPhone.
Colicious
Just a simple site to obtain brilliant color ideas by hitting refresh.
Lorem Fucking Ipsum
Your typical Lorem Ipsum placeholder text generator, plus some much-needed attitude.
blink.am
Blink is a screenshot enhancer, and it allows you to share what you see with layers of emojis, highlights and annotations.
Say goodbye to that awful creative slump. Download this printable with 40 little things you can do to break it.
Download your free printChroma
A simple color picker for your browser.
Designer’s Block
Designer’s Block provides hundreds of ideas to get out of your creative slump with simple activities.
GroovyCV
Design a better resume with GroovyCV’s visually appealing templates.
Designfeed.io
Out of all the DIY design tools available focused on social media graphics, Designfeed is definitely among the fastest. Quickly remix your favorite styles with custom copy and easy tweaks.
Adobe Express
With this new suite of tools (which are also available as mobile apps) by Adobe you’ll be able to create Videos, images, and stories in minutes.
Color Schemr
If you’re struggling to come up with a color scheme, this is your tool. Color Schemr allows you to quickly build out a mood with color, with advanced preview functions and automatic palette generation.
MockupsJar
Realistic app mockups in 3 steps. Use MockupsJar if you want to show how your app would look in seconds.
Sticky
Sticky is a platform for measuring eye movements, survey responses and emotions. It works as a layer on top of your website, and provides metrics related to visual engagement.
DesignersMX
What are top designers jamming to these days? Find the answer in DesignersMX, a curated gallery of music provided by creatives.
Design Hunt
So maybe Product Hunt has too many categories for you. If that’s the case, check out Design Hunt, a Chrome extension specifically designed to inspire people like you.
Ripl
One thing is to create static social media graphics, and another thing is Ripl. If you’ve ever wanted to try your hand at animated visuals, be sure to check out this engaging mobile app.
Design Shots
A Dribbble client for your phone. Because sometimes you just need to get inspired on the go.
Did we miss anything?
Feel free to add your own picks in the comments area below.
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Say goodbye to that awful creative slump. Download this printable with 40 little things you can do to break it.
Download your free print
Brand strategist. Creating design tools to empower creative entrepreneurs. Author of the Lean Branding book. MA in Design Management from the Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD).
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