29 Free Resources for Creating Online Visual Content

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is an effective marketing tool.

Words are processed by our short-term memory. Images, on the other hand, go directly into long-term memory where they are indelibly etched. Dr. Lynell Burmak, Ph.D. Associate at the Thornburg Center for Professional Development

Why Visual Content Rules It is quick and easy to process It is an attention grabber It offers proof and tells a story

Want to create visual content, but dont have any design software?

Check out these 29 FREE resources that can help you create the visuals you need!

For Inspiration Get the Wheels Turning Dribbble Comprised of the work of web designers, graphic designers, illustrators, icon artists, typographers, logo designers, and other creatives, Dribble offers a glimpse of these professionals pride and joy.

For Inspiration Get the Wheels Turning Creattica Creattica is a gallery of great design that is submitted, voted upon, and accepted as the best work. There is a ton of stuff on the site, so make the search function your friend and get inspired!

Stock Images Compfight Compfight is an image search engine that utilizes flickr. It allows you to search by license: Any license, Creative Commons, or Commercial.

Stock Images Pixabay Here all pictures are published under Creative Commons public domain deed CC0, which means you can copy, modify, and distribute the work, even for commercial purposes, without asking permission.

Stock Images MorgueFile Named with a term that derives from the newspaper business, MorgueFile is an easy-to-use site that simply asks that you credit the photographer when possible.

Stock Images stock.xchng Here you can find over 350,000 free stock images.

Stock Images Stock Free Images Here you can find over 900,000 free stock images.

Imaging Tools AwesomeScreenshot: Capture & Annotate A free Google Chrome extension, AwesomeScreenshot makes it easy to take screen shots, mark them up, and blur sensitive information in one simple interface.

Imaging Tools Placeit This site provides you with dozens of free, high-quality images featuring electronics such as smartphones, tablets, and laptops in realistic settings. The best part is that Placeit allows you to easily place your own images in the screens of the electronics. It is definitely worth checking out.

Image Editors Pic Monkey Pic Monkey is great for first-timers and veterans alike. The program is simple and self-explanatory, making it easy to edit photos, make a template collage, or design from scratch.

Image Editors Pixlr This free online program features three different photo editors, each varying in complexity. Pixlr Editor has both functions and complexities similar to Photoshop. Pixler Express is an easier version that is great for quick fixes. Pixlr O-Matic features pre-made filters that you can easily apply to your photos.

Image Editors Gimp Gimp is the most complex program out of the bunch. Download it onto your computer and use it as a paint program, expert photo retouching program, or a batch processing system. Add plug-ins and extensions to do just about anything.

Image Compressors JPEGmini Upload your JPEG images and wait a moment while the file sizes are reduced by up to 5 times! Woot!

Image Compressors TinyPNG TinyPNG dramatically reduces the file size of your PNG files while preserving transparency.

Fonts Google Fonts Google has developed this to make it easy to add creative fonts to your websites and apps. The fonts are open source and can also be used in print and on your computer.

Fonts Font Squirrel Here you can be sure to find hand-picked, high-quality, fonts that are free for commercial use. Check out the trendy fonts or make a custom search to find the one that is perfect for your project.

Fonts Dafont Dafont has thousands of fonts to pick from. Although it has plenty of great fonts, be weary of the ones that should be reserved for scrapbooking. Also, pay attention to the license before you download. Not all of these fonts are for commercial use and several ask for a donation to the author.

Fonts What The Font Need help identifying a font? Just take a screen shot and throw it into What The Font. This free online resource will help you uncover the identity of the mystery font.

Colors Pantone Color of the Year Pantone, a color authority in the design world, shows you which colors are in and predicts the stylish colors of the upcoming year. See what they have to say about next years color trends.

Colors Adobe Kuler Pick a color and Adobe Kuler will give you several colors that match analogously, monochromatically, and more. Pull colors from a photo or check out some hot color palette trends. This site makes matching colors easy and fun.

Vectors Vecteezy Vecteezy has its fair share of great stuff and not-so-great stuff. So, just pick the great stuff.

Patterns Subtle Patterns At subtlepatterns.com, preview and download hundreds of patterns that are perfect for backgrounds. The patterns are repeatable which makes them great for improving page load time.

Infographics Infogr.am Add colorful graphs to one of six pre-made templates. You may also add a photo or video to encourage interactive engagement.

Infographics Piktochart Pick from several different templates and start adding graphics, colors and text to make your very own infographic. Then download, publish online, or share.

Charts & Diagrams XMind Create a structure for collecting and organizing ideas with XMind, a mindmapping tool that makes it simple to get your ideas out on the table in visually pleasing way.

Charts & Diagrams Lucid Chart Drag and drop shapes and text to create all kinds of diagrams from flow charts to conceptual data models.

Charts & Diagrams Chartgo Need a chart? Chartgo can help you make simple bar, line, and pie charts like no ones business.

Presentations SlideShare With SlideShare, you can upload presentations and embed them on blogs and websites or share them on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn. Add mp3 audio and turn your presentation into a webinar.

Presentations Prezi Make a presentation that lets your audience step into your world. With the ability to zoom in and out of images, Prezi creates a learning atmosphere that is engaging and fun.