It’s a fantastic time to be a student at Platt College San Diego. There are so many amazing resources Platt students can access right now, from design blogs featuring the work of people all over the world to forums where design and art students can share resources and learn. Here are some of our favorite resources for our art and design students.
Free tutorials and guides
Tutsplus: part of Envato, this site lets you learn more about web and mobile development, HTML, WordPress, CSS, and endless other topics.
Premium Pixels: lots of design elements and free tutorials.
AIGA
AIGA, the professional association for design, has a vibrant community of professionals and students who share a passion for all things design. You can join AIGA as a student, and when you do you get many benefits; check out their advice and resources page for more information.
Online design networks
Behance Network: a spot to discover and showcase creative graphic design, illustration, and other related work.
Envato: one of the world’s biggest creative marketplaces for courses, files, freelancers, and learning to code, build websites, create apps, and otherwise hone your craft.
Smashing Magazine: for the latest on UX, coding, graphics, mobile, design, and other important topics for design students.
Dribbble: online designer “show and tell” for images or GIFs and feedback.
Awwwards: web designers submit their work here and nominees get voted on by hand-selected juries, leading to Site of the Day, Site of the Month, and Site of the Year awards; there are also weekly Developer Awards.
Patterns and colors
Subtle Patterns: hundreds of free patterns are in this regularly updated collection.
COLOURlovers: awesome color palettes, trends, channels, and tools.
Color Hunter: this tool lets you create color palettes using images.
The Pattern Library: a truly huge collection of custom, artists’ patterns
3D animation resources
Blender: free and powered by its active open source community; use Blender for 3D modeling, animation, particle simulation, rigging and skinning, smoke and liquid simulation, texturing, and UV unwrapping. K-3D is another great free option, and so is 3DCrafter.
Typography resources
Google Web Fonts: hundreds of fonts that are free.
Font Squirrel: free fonts for commercial use.
I Love Typography: resources, news, and information about typefaces, fonts, and typography.
MyFonts: the largest collection of fonts in the world.
Typekit: this is a great resource for using fonts on your site easily.
Design blogs
Webdesigner Depot: explores various graphic and web design techniques.
Creative Bloq: a daily delivery of posts that focus on creative and inspirational tips on 3D design, web design, digital art, graphic design, current general design trends, and more.
It’s Nice That: daily posts of design news, creative work, design professional interviews, and more.
1stwebdesigner: this is a useful source of articles, inspiration, roundups, tutorials, and other resources.
Co.Design: Co.Design is among the oldest and largest design sites and is excellent for its focus on the ways design and business intersect.
We hope this was a useful list of resources for you as you pursue your art and design studies. Remember to reach out to any of your instructors if you have questions.
References
https://www.nyfa.edu/student-resources/six-best-options-free-graphic-design-animation-software/
http://justcreative.com/2015/05/14/30-free-web-design-resources/
http://blog.hubspot.com/agency/graphic-design-tools