If you're starting out as a designer or been in the industry for some years, our aim at Graphic Tide is help provided you with the best and most useful information out there. We frequently get asked the same questions from the community so we thought it would be great to provide you all with a constantly updated resources page for artists and designers alike. If you have a great resource or tool that you think will benefit others, please do let us know and we'll feature it here, more the merrier!
These tools are essential to every artist / designer out there. To make sure you've got the best chance to succeed in your creative field, there's no doubt you'll need these tools and resources. If your missing any of these you're possibly not at your full potential! The resources below have been hand picked by Graphic Tide staff, so everything we've recommend is top notch!
By far the best and most powerful image editing software out there. We don't have to explain what it is or does but if you haven't used Photoshop before or it's currently not installed on your machine then now is a better time than ever. We all use CS6 here in the office, and we all highly recommend it. We haven't ventured to the Creative Cloud as of yet but if you're looking for a cheaper option, this is a great option. Which ever version you decide to go for make sure you've included Photoshop as part of your default design toolkit.
Grab a copy of Photoshop CS6Yep! Might be slightly obvious, but if you don't have a set of pencils to hand, you're hardly a designer! Even if you'll just be doodling, having a good set of pencils is key, because that's just what we artists do! Our in-house illustrator, Haydn, recommends Koh-I-Noor Graphite Drawing Pencils.
Pack of artists' pencilsHaving good quality pencils isn't going to help unless you're allowed to draw on your office desk. So make sure you're stocked up and have plenty of space to get your creativity out. We recommend the Moleskine sketchbook, we use them here and they're very high quality whilst still being excellent value for money.
Moleskine SketchbooksThis isn't a tool rather an essential resource. Your brain always needs to stay creative. Your mind needs new ideas, so what better way to indulge yourself in most current up-to-date design then inspiration posts! There are many ways you can fuel your creativity, but we've setup a blog to help do just that.
Grab your fix of Art and Design InspirationThese resources are aimed at Graphic Designers and have been put together by our in-house Graphic Designer, Cam. For me Graphic Designers use more digital products then ever before and arguably more then other creative fields. So here's my list of essential Graphic Design resources to help you out in your creative adventure.
First thing I couldn't live without is the beautiful vectorness of Adobe Illustrator. If you haven't already got a copy, you need too because creating scalable graphics is essential, be that be logo's, banners or t-shirt designs. Your designs need to be pixel perfect and using Illustrator instead of Photoshop will help you achieve just that!
Grab a copy of Illustrator CS6These resources are aimed at designers who have an online website or portfolio and have been put together by our in-house Web Designer, Ash. Having being making websites for over 10 years i've seen trends come in and others drop out. However there are things that have always been true, a user friendly design, website speed to name a few. Here's my list of web design resources that will make sure portfolio or website isn't holding your success back!
Getting your own site up and running is a great feeling. Designing to coding, whatever your passion, having your own site that is yours to look after and to be proud of. Before you can get online you need webhosting and/or a domain name. We use Vidahost here at Graphic Tide and have hosted various other personal sites with Vidahost since 2009!
The reason we use Vidahost is because not only are they super fast but their support is cut above the rest, seriously! Support tickets are normally answered within 10 minutes and they are extremely friendly. To give you an example, we sent them a support email at 1:30am (YES AM) one morning thinking it wouldn't be answered until office hours. We were wrong, our query was replied to just 7 minutes later, now that's customer support!
As an added bonus we've managed to get an unique 10% off coupon code. Use code at checkout: GRAPHICTIDEHOSTING
Fast, Reliable Webhosting & DomainsIf you want your online portfolio or website to gain traction in search engines, you'll need to ensure your website is SEO friendly. One book i've read front to back numerous times is The Art of SEO. This book is great if you're new to SEO or want to refresh your memory. If you're looking to expand your SEO knowledge this book ticks all the boxes.
Art of SEO BookThinking about getting started as a designer? Follow Haydn's checklist to help you get up to speed with the latest technologies and set you on the path for designing success!
