Janet Giampietro | G Design + Communications
G Design + Communications
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Musings

Thoughts, after-thoughts, insights and resources as they relate to design and strategic communications.

Freebies: Images + Fonts

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While there are many royalty-free stock sites, when budgets are small or tight, sometimes free assets are the only options for brand support.

Here’s a selection of my go-to sites for images, vectors or fonts.

Images

  • Unsplash: The best of free images for commercial or personal use with no strings attached – but attribution is nice.

  • iStock: Download one free image, vector and video clip weekly.

  • Shutterstock: Download one free image and vector weekly.

  • Dreamstime: Royalty-Free & Public Domain pictures (under a Creative Commons Zero license), photos and images

  • Public Domain Review: For more unique or specialty imagery, PDR is a collection of historical works from art, literature, and oddities in the public domain. Note that public domain use varies from country to country.

  • New York Public Library Digital Collection: A visual digital database with new materials added daily – this large collection features prints, photographs, maps, manuscripts, streaming video, and more. Approximately one quarter of the database is in the public domain, which can be found in a filtered search.

  • Library of Congress Digital Collections: A huge collection hosting so many categories that include military, history, art, music and rare books, and home to the wonderful WPA Posters collection.

Vectors

  • Vectezy: Some good vectors found here are for use as-is or as a jumping off point. Attribution required.

  • Freepik: As with Vectezy, some good finds are here. Attribution required.

Fonts

  • FontShop and Fontspring: Download one or sometimes two free font faces. Families vary.

  • 100 Best Free Fonts for Designers: Follow the links to download complete sets or some sites offer one or two font weights, but overall a good collection of freebies.

  • Font Squirrel Display Fonts: When a display face is needed in a pinch, this is a good resource. Note that some fonts are limited to personal use.

Have any other resources? Let me know.

Photo illustration: © 2018 Janet Giampietro. Images Unsplash: Metal type photo by Natalia Y | Spinning top photo by Markus Spiske

 
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Resources, InspirationJanet GiampietroTypography, Design freebies, free resources, Photography