VISUAL & business Resources
third-party services I use regularly and recommend
Stock Photography
When Canva first came out, as a professional graphic designer, I immediately judged it to be strictly for amateurs or beginners. Oh boy, was I ever wrong. Canva has evolved into one of my favorite go-to graphic resources, even over Adobe Photoshop for certain things. And their stock photography is decent, particularly if you purchase a Pro account. Their image AI is getting better.
Your Squarespace website offers a great selection of free images that fall under the Getty/Unspash umbrella.
Additionally, you can find “premium” images on your website for only $10 per image. These images are from Getty, but you cannot find the same pricing (and in some instances, the same images) on Getty/Unsplash
When you really need a high end image and you have the budget for it, Shutterstock has a wonderful collection. When you can’t find what you want on Canva, Unslash or Graphic River, Shutterstock has subscriptions that are a little on the high end (considering the quality you can get for a much lower fee).
Envato (the parent company) has been around for a very long time, and they offer much more than just stock images. Before CMS websites, as a web developer, you could buy an inexpensive template that you could edit the HTML and CSS.
On Graphic River, you will find logo templates, vector art, icons, fonts, videos and audio and much more. This website has quite a bit to offer the intrepid designer.
Fun with AI
Unless you’re a total Luddite or have been living under a rock, you know AI isn’t going away.
IMHO, it’s both exciting and terrifying. I’m blown away by what you can do with AI. My current personal, go-to favorite-of-the-moment-ai-friend is ChatGPT.
Even Squarespace has an AI feature if you’re stuck writing copy. Use with caution.
I also had loads of fun with Photoshop creating the perfect image for my home page. I knew what I wanted for a visual, and Photoshop got me there so much faster than a lengthy search for stock images.
Below are a few of my experiments. My search prompt was:
“woman with medium-length light brown hair, arms outstretched with joy staring at the Central Coast ocean.”
Fun, right?
I liked the middle image best, but look at her left hand. She has 6 fingers. LOL. AI is not perfect and should only be used with discernment, not as a singular solution.
Business Help
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I recommend this website all the time for new and/or small businesses because this website has excellent business resources and online seminars that I’ve really enjoyed and gained helpful business info.
This is where my website is hosted. Currently, my favorite CMS hosting platform. I’m also a Squarespace Circle Member ever since they first offered this benefit.
I like to purchase domain names on GoDaddy. It’s just easier than the others. More reliable, and they’ve been around a long time. I like them. They make it easy to connect your domain to GoDaddy.
Be sure to read all the small print and fees when you purchase a domain from less expensive domain name resources. You may wind up paying more than you will be led to believe.
If you’re planning on selling anything on your website, sign up for a free Stripe account. Stripe connects to your Squarespace website so you can sell products and services with a credit card.
Squarespace has their own payment processor service, but I haven’t tried this service yet, so I can’t recommend it.
A critical component to my design process is Project Management. Basecamp has been my go-to for managing my client projects for well over a decade.
For nearly every project, I set up a “basecamp” as a courtesy to my client. On Basecamp, we can track conversations, deliveries, revisions, and more, without digging around through text messages or emails.
Inspiration
