Design 101: Best Design Resources & Articles of 2017

 

If you’re a designer, you’re in for a treat this week. In this edition of Design 101, I’ve scoured the web to compile the ultimate one-stop-place for designers to have access to the best design resources of 2017. This includes great books to purchase, nifty tips, staying healthy and other design goodies. What are you waiting for? In the words of Tom Haverford on Parks & Rec, “Treat yo’ self!”

Staying Healthy as a Designer

It’s important to stay healthy as a graphic designer. For a 1/3 or more of your day, you probably spend it sitting at your computer. That’s terrible for your body. What’s more is that it can have a mental effect on your body as well and can contribute to “…stress and depression…” and even “…relationship problems.” I’m not saying to quit your job, I’m saying you can prevent and mend these things. Here are some helpful articles to do just that!

“Creative people are at risk of certain conditions because we like what we do.” – Dr. Gail Kinman as quoted on the Creative Bloq blog (@CreativeBloq)

Articles to Help You Stay Healthy:

• “6 ways for designers to stay healthy” from Creative Bloq
• “12 Realistic Ways You Can Stay Healthy at Work (Without Breaking a Sweat)” from Daily Muse
• “7 Ways to Stay Healthy and Energized at your Desk Job” from Tingalls Graphic Design, LLC

As a #designer you can accumulate problems such as #stress, #depression, and #relationship problems. Share on X

Staying Inspired as a Designer

As a creative professional, you can NOT let yourself get burnt out or fall to creative block. Though it’s sometimes unavoidable, you can rise above it by getting inspired. Do this by using Pinterest daily, searching for inspiration before you start a project, going to a local design conference or simply reading a good design book. Here are some great sources of inspiration to keep your design mojo going!

Did you know that music is a great source of inspiration, too? Check out how you can harvest inspiration from your favorite music, here!

Resources to Keep Inspiration Going:

• “19 Ingenious Design Books to Inspire You in 2017” from Wired
• “How I Stay Inspired and Come Up with New Ideas” from Ugmonk
• “Staying Inspired: My Favorite Ways to Nourish My Creativity and Find Inspiration” from AllieMarie Design, LLC

#Designers fear losing our mojo. There’s a cure. Find out in this edition of #design101! Share on X

Get Free Stuff

If there is one thing everyone can agree on, it’s getting free stuff — and it never fails to make us feel awesome. One thing that contributes to being a successful designer is having an amazing resource library. Whether it’s an image subscription, mockup subscription, etc., you need to be able to provide your clients with the best and most captivating designs around, and that usually happens by having a vast collection of resources. Now, if you are a budgeter, you need to know where you can get all the goodies for free. I got you.

Download ALL the Goods:

• “Essential Freebies for the Modern Day Graphic Designer” – my article here at Red Branch Media
• “25 Design Freebies Websites Every Designer Should Know” from Forbes
• “50 fresh, essential and free resources for your graphic design projects” from Creative Boom

We love helping people at Red Branch Media, which is why we created our own icon pack for you to download for FREE. Get it here!

#DYK, @RedBranch can do you a solid and give you free #icons? Get the #free RBM icon pack here! Share on X

Nifty Tips from Your Fellow Designers

The last thing I can share with you that will only make you a better designer is to stay educated. This means not only going to design events or conferences but to take lessons (online or in the real world) and reading relevant articles to help solve your project’s design hurdles to keep your design mind updated. Here are the best sources to do just that. This includes both free and for-purchase resources. Get it!

Nifty Tips from Their Lips:

• 60+ Design 101 articles I’ve written here at Red Branch Media
• “20 Graphic Designers to Watch on YouTube” from HOW Design
• “10 best graphic design tutorials & tips” from Digital Arts (part of IDG)

Bookmark this page to know which @Adobe #program to use for each project you will ever create. Share on X

You can take this article to the bank and bookmark it right now. With all these design goodies, don’t keep it to yourself! Help out your fellow designers and share this up. As always, stay tuned for more Design 101 articles as I’m always writing each week! You can stay up to date easily by signing up for our newsletter at the top of this article.