Are you an entrepreneur or a creative and don’t know anything about design? Don’t worry, I’ve gathered some resources for you to immerse yourself in this design world without feeling overwhelmed.

Everyone is able to jump into graphic design and all you need are design fundamentals. Design programs or certificates are long and expensive and if you’re a business owner, they might not be worth your time and/or money.

Now, explore these resources and remember that with everything, it takes practice, discipline, and patience. I’ve split everything into these categories, Software, Typography, Font Pairings, Color, Images, and Tools.

Software

1. Canva
   An online design and publishing tool that allows its users to create social media content, printable assets, and even video animations. A great starting point for anyone in the need of a free design option.
2. Figma
   A free and real-time collaboration tool that can be used to create digital products. Often compared to Adobe Illustrator and XD, it’s a design tool that allows design to be accessible to everyone. Ideal for website design/development, app creation. logo design, and even print design (Plugins required).

Typography

1. Kern Type
   A game that shows you how to properly space letters. In typography, kerning is the process of adjusting the spacing between characters in a proportional font.
   
   Created by Method of Action

Font Pairings

1. Google Font Perfect Pairings
   Here is a collection of font pairings that will help guide your branding and content to look beautiful and balanced. I usually recommend a 2 font pairing system and use those same fonts for other components.
   
   Collection created by Colophon Foundry: https://www.colophon-foundry.org/
2. Ultimate Collection of Google Font Pairings
   This collection was created by Lou Levit. She compiled and designed all 50 of the fonts in the article. You can even download the post as a PDF.
   
   Collection created by Lou Levit.
3. Figma Google Read-Made Font Pairings
   If you’re using Figma for one of your projects, use these Ready-made Google font type pairing palettes for your projects.
   
   Collection created by Figma.
4. WhatFont (Google Chrome Extension)
   The easiest way to identify fonts on web pages. With this extension, you could inspect web fonts by just hovering on them.

Color

1. Abode Color
   A free color tool to develop color palettes for your projects. Explore creating your own palette or explore new color trends as well.

Images

1. Unsplash
   The best royalty-free (freely-usable) image database on the web. It’s powered by photographers and creators.
2. Pexels
   Here is another website that provides stock photos, royalty-free images & videos shared and created by creators.

Tools

1. The Bezier Game | PEN
   A game to help you master the PEN tool. Applicable to Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Photoshop, and Figma.
   
   Created by Method of Action
2. The Boolean Game | SHAPES
   A game to help you create shapes by understanding the functions behind union, subtract, intersect, and difference. Vital for when you are designing custom shapes for logos.
   
   Created by Method of Action

These are just a few resources that I’ve come across. Make sure to follow and drop a hello on any of my social media accounts, @sixthmanlou. Thank you.