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Vancouver’s a busy place. If you’re a small business owner in Vancouver, graphic and web design might be the last things on your mind. But no matter how busy you are, you can’t change the facts – digital marketing and web design are crucial to your business’s success.
Luckily for you, we’ve collected 15 free web design tools that are simple enough for you to use yourself.
But if you don’t have the time to get your hands dirty, these tools will be helpful to design amateurs and professionals alike. Be sure to share these tools with your Vancouver web design company to make sure they’re making the most of your online marketing budget.
15) Photos by Icons8
If you’ve spent much time online, chances are you’ve seen the same stock photos again and again. Unsplash is great, but selecting photos from such a popular resource is a double-edged sword. Commonplace photography won’t help your brand stand out.
But worry not! Photos by Icons8 has got you covered. Rather than a library of crowdsourced stock photos, they’ve created a platform with handy pre-cut, images with transparent-backgrounds ready to collage. You can even craft your collages right on their website.
https://photos.icons8.com
14) Benten Sound
Need some background music for that explainer video on your landing page? Finding free music can be a hassle, but these folks have got you covered! This new website has a growing library of completely free music for your next video. Or if you’re feeling retro, maybe your web design could use some background music itself (please don’t).
https://bentensound.com
13) Tawk.to
Do you wish that your website had a chat widget to connect with your visitors, but the $87/mo base price for Intercom seems a bit steep? Enter Tawk.to. This tool lets you add realtime chat to the bottom corner of your landing page web design, completely free.
www.tawk.to/
12) Artibot.ai
Does that chat widget sound nice, but you don’t have the time answer your website visitors questions? Give Artibot.ai a try, which will help you set up your very own chatbot.
http://artibot.ai
11) Lunacy
Chances are if you’re not working at a digital marketing agency yourself, your computer isn’t a Mac. If your designer is sharing their web design project with you through Sketch files you’re out of luck since those work on OSX only. At least, you would be if it weren’t for Lunacy. This tool can open and edit Sketch design files on Windows machines at no cost. Plus, the app comes packed with free stock art and illustrations to help you get started.
https://icons8.com/lunacy
10) Eva Colors
If your website project is on the more interactive side, you’ll need a color system to manage different states of interaction on your website. With Eva Colors, you can hit the ground running with quick and easy AI-powered color suggestions.
https://colors.eva.design
9) Paper Illustrations
Maybe stock photos don’t suit your branding? You want a more handmade and artistic feel, but don’t have the time or budget to hire out an expensive illustrator? Paper Illustrations by Icon Scout is a free collection of papercraft building blocks that you can use to create your very own drawings to explain your product or service.
https://iconscout.com/paper-illustrations
8) Wirify
One of the first steps in the design phase of any web design project is the wireframes. These are simple drawings that show you the “bones” of your layout and website structure. But if you’re not a designer, it can be hard to understand how these translate to the finished product. With Wirify, you can easily generate wireframes from any website you visit. This should give you a good starting point and a better understanding of how wireframes work
www.wirify.com/
7) Lorem.Tools
Sometimes in the web design process, we have the layout ready before all of our content. In times like these, a little bit of dummy text is always handy. And since none of us ready Latin, Lorem Ipsum is the industry go-to. This website is the fastest Lorem Ipsum generator we’ve found yet.
https://lorem.tools/
6) Place Keanu
Another thing that isn’t always ready at the same time as your layouts? Images. Photo selection can be tricky, but selecting your placeholder photos isn’t with this tool. Place Keanu generates a random photo of Keanu Reeves ready for action no matter your photo dimensions. Sure, maybe you don’t want to stare at a screen filled with nothing but Keanus… but then again, are you really living?
https://placekeanu.com/
5) Remove.bg
If you have a great photo but you need to remove the background, you could either painstakingly cut-out your subject over an hour or two yourself, or you could let a little artificial intelligence do the work for you.
https://www.remove.bg/
4) FontPair.co
One of the most important elements of any web design is typography (font choices). But not all of us are experienced typographers, and many of us might not even be sure what that word means. But the truth is, you don’t need to. With this website, you can quickly find beautiful font pairings to make the website for your Vancouver business shine.
https://fontpair.co/
3) Twemoji
Emojis are a fun addition to any web design, but as we all know, Android emojis arent quite as pretty as their Apple counterparts. If you use standard emojis in your web design you can’t be sure your website will look the same across different devices. That’s why Twitter has made Twemoji, a completely free and opensource emoji pack that you can use in your graphics immediately.
https://twemoji.twitter.com/content/twemoji-twitter/en.html
2) Gradients List
A nice gradient can make your website design really pop, but a bad gradient can turn a nice page into a muddy mess. Don’t waste time being finicky with colors yourself. Let a community of designers create the perfect gradients for you.
https://www.gradientslist.com/
1) Random Elon
Where would any web design project be without an ounce of inspiration? This digital tool might not be strictly for web design, but it sure helps! If you’re ever looking for a little direction, give this a click for a random quote from the craziest CEO anyone knows, Elon Musk.
https://randomelon.peterthaleikis.com/
Ready to take action?
Your toolbox is ready: 15 completely free web design tools to take your digital marketing to the next level. Do you have a favourite from this list, or do you have your own tool that you love? Let us know!
Stop by our marketing agency in Downtown Vancouver and let’s chat! (P.S. We always have chocolate.)