44 tools to help you in your design work

The web is full of resources, but they’re often hard to reach. This is the reason why I think it’s important to organize them with a coherent structure and share it with you. So just bookmark this page for whenever you’ll need it, it’ll be useful. Please also mention if I missed anything.

1. Organizing
   • Sample contract for WebDesign
     Example of a Webdesign contract to adapt for your needs.
   • Design brief sample
     Example of a brief for a Poster design that you can adapt for your needs.
   • Things
     Simple task management for Mac OSX.
   • Remember The Milk
     Online Task Manager.
2. Communicating
   • Skype
     Cheap or free calls from your computer.
   • Adium
     Multi-client instant messaging application for Mac OSX.
   • Pidgin
     Multi-client instant messaging application for Windows.
3. Brainstorming – Wireframing
   • Bubbl.us
     Online brainstorming application.
   • mindmeister
     Collaborative online mind mapping.
   • gliffy
     Create and share flowcharts and diagrams online.
4. Typography
   • What the Font?
     An easy way to identify fonts online.
   • BitfontMaker
     Online tool to create your bitmap font.
5. Webdesign
   • Typetester
     Compare fonts for webdesign.
   • Em Calculator
     Convert your pixel font size in its scalable em font size.
   • HTML entity lookup
     Quickly find HTML entities.
   • sIFR
     Insert rich accessible typography in your websites.
   • Blueprint CSS framework
     Save time on your CSS developement with this framework.
   • Web Developer Toolbar
     The do-it-all Firefox extension for webdesign.
   • MeasureIt
     Firefox extension to measure anything on a webpage.
   • ColorZilla
     Pick any color on a webpage with this Firefox extension.
   • Firebug
     Debugging Firefox extension.
     
6. Colour
   • ColourLovers
     Create, search and share colour palettes online.
   • Kuler
     A copy of ColourLovers, with a better interface.
   • Colour Blindness simulator
     Upload an image to visualize it like color blind people do.
   • ColorTools.net
     A collection of Color tools.
7. Layout
   • Lorem Ipsum generator
     Generate the amount of fake latin text you need.
   • Designers Toolbox
     All kind of print and web documents sizes.
   • InDesign scripts
     Official InDesign scripts on Adobe’s site.
   • InDesign templates
     Official InDesign templates on Adobe’s site.
     
8. Image editing
   • Photoshop brushes
     More Photoshop brushes than you’ll ever need.
   • Photoshop textures
     Free Photoshop textures.
   • Photoshop textures
     More free Photoshop textures.
   • Photoshop scripts
     Free Photoshop scripts.
9. Stock photography
   • Photocase
     Free stock photos.
   • stock.xchng
     Free stock photos.
   • StockVault
     Free stock photos.
   • Fotolia
     Cheap and free stock photos.
   • Getty Images
     High-quality professional stock photo.
     
10. Backing up – Archiving – Copyrighting
    • 7-Zip
      Open Source file archiver for Windows.
    • The Unarchiver
      Open Source file archiver for Mac OSX.
    • Copyscape
      Check if your website content has been ripped off.
    • Mozy
      Online data backup solution.
    • IdleBackup
      One-click backup utility for Windows.
    • ChronoSync
      Backup and synchronization utility.

Image credit: dipster1