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tools of the trade

P.S. Some of the links below are affiliate links. If you decide to purchase any of these tools and resources, we will earn a small commission at no additional cost to you. we recommend these products and services only because we’ve personally vetted them and use them in our business. 

Stock Photos

PAID

Shutterstock 
Shutterstock is our go-to stock photo resource for all client work.
 
It has the largest, most diverse and most complete collection of images including icons, illustrations and original images like the one below.
 
Their monthly plans start at $29/mo for 10 downloads.

FREE

Unsplash
Unsplash has a diverse library of gorgeous images by talented photographers from all over the world.
 
We especially love the diversity of the people pictures and the "realness" of the pictures which look more like Instagram shots and less like your typical canned stock photos.

PAID

Creative Market
Creative Market is where we go when we need more "artsy", unusual and original stock photos we won't find anywhere else. 
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And at an average of $5-$10 per image, their photos are very affordable even on a tight budget.

Icons

FREE + PAID

Flaticon
Flaticon is a great resource for icons.
 
Our favorite feature of Flaticon is that they give you the ability to customize your icon (line, color, style, etc).
 
You can also use their "Icon Editor" to customize icons even further.
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Another great feature of Flaticon is that you can purchase an entire family of icons (called a pack) so that you have a library of icons with a clean, consistent look.
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They offer both a free and premium subscriptions at an affordable price.

FREE + PAID

The Noun Project
You'll find literally every icon imaginable on this site. AND you can customize your icon colors to match your theme and branding. 
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You can download icons for free (if you agree to credit the designer) but for a nominal monthly fee, you can have unlimited downloads, no attribution required.
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Their Noun Pro plan starts at $9.99/mo or $39.99 per year.
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They also offer great integrations with Google Docs, PowerPoint and other design apps.

FREE + PAID

Iconfinder
Iconfinder offers a massive selection of icons that can be filtered by FREE or premium icons.
 
Our favorite feature of Iconfinder is that you can choose the exact size and format of your file before you download it which can save you from the hassle of having to resize and convert your files in Photoshop.
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Another great feature is the Iconfinder "Icon Editor" which lets you fully customize your icon, adding elements, changing colors, etc. So if you want to get fancy with your icons and customize to your exact taste, Iconfinder is for you.

Fonts

PAID

My Fonts
My Fonts offers the largest collection of professional fonts on the internet. They probably have close to every font ever made. The fonts you'll find here are all paid but well worth the money.
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​They also offer a handy little tool called "What the Font". If you ever see a font you love on a website or ad, just snap a screenshot of it, upload it to WTF and it will detect which font is used or offer you a selection of similar fonts.

PAID

Creative Market
Creative Market is one of our favorite places to discover and shop for fresh new fonts.
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And the most awesome thing about Creative Market is that you can purchase entire font packs for under $20.
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You can also scroll down the fonts library for design ideas if you're low on creative juices.

FREE

Font Squirrel
Looking for awesome FREE fonts? Meet Font Squirrel! 
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Font Squirrel collects gorgeous free fonts from all over the internet and sorts them for you in one convenient place where you can download and install them in just a few clicks.
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All fonts are free for personal and commercial use. This means you can embed these fonts on your website or create documents and graphics for commercial use using these fonts. 

Color

FREE

Adobe Color CC
Adobe Color CC is an awesome free tool. It's part of the Adobe Creative Cloud Suite.
 
If you need color inspiration, you can use this tool to explore pre-made color schemes, play around with their color wheel to create your own or even upload a picture you love and let the tool extract a custom color palette from your image.

FREE

Color Hunt
Color Hunt is a super fun website where you will find hundreds of amazing color palettes. 
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We love the way the different color palettes are displayed and the ability to sort them by Trendy, New or Popular. You can see how many "likes" each palette got as an indication of what color combos people are most attracted to.

Mockups

PAID

Place It
PlaceIt is a paid service that lets you showcase smartphone, tablet or computer screenshots in beautiful mockups.
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Just upload your image, place it and download your ready-to-use file. No messing around with Photoshop or dealing with freelancers.
 
They've got everything from clothing mockups and banners to mug mockups and book mockups. They even have video mockups which look really nice.
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You can either pay a flat fee of $29/mo for unlimited downloads or pay $8 per download. 

FREE + PAID

Smart Mockups
Smart Mockups is another great mockup creation service. Their subscription pricing ranges from free to $14/mo for their premium plan.
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They've got hundreds of digital, print and apparel mockups.
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You can use their editor to customize your mockup scene by changing the background and device color. You can even insert GIFs into your mockups which is pretty cool.
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Smart Mockups integrates nicely with your favorite apps like Dropbox, Canva and Marvel.
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