We will be working with Diabetes Solutions of Oklahoma, the February winner of our free non-profit website. We are looking forward to helping Casey Bottoms and Kim Wilson in the overhauling of their current website.
We’ll be giving away another website in March. You can fill out an entry form on the details page.
Free. Something everyone wants and something designers thrive on. Smashing Magazine is constantly giving away inspiration to designers, which we’ll always accept with open arms. Here is a link to some desktop calendars that will spark some design creativity, and you can alternate monthly! These were created by designers around the world, and Smashing Magazine is always looking for fresh designs. I am constantly amazed with the quality of their website; their information is insightful, they always have freebies, and they’re innovative. Check out the website with the calendars and download one for your desktop; don’t hesitate to browse the rest of the site!
http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2008/10/31/desktop-wallpaper-calendar-november-2008/
No, I’m not trying to put my designers out of a job. I just know that many people starting a business have time to set up a website themselves, but not all the skills. Here are a few websites you can use to get free designs. Warning: You will still need to modify some code to fit these to your specific needs.
A great way to shortcut some ideas or at least get a design started, is by looking at some custom photoshop brushes. There are thousands, if not more of bushes out there customized in tons of ways. For instance, I found two amazing brush sets from Smashing Magazine that are freebies. Check them out:
These brushes also can be handy in that they can can be scaled as large as needed, and can be edited in illustrator and re exported as your own customized brush. Brushes can help add the fine details to your design that you may not have time to create from scratch. They are excellent tools that in my opinion should not be overlooked.