Additional Resources

During my presentation I referenced a number of resources that you can use to learn more about graphic design basics. To make your life easier, I've collected them all here.
The Actual Slide Deck

You can download a copy of the slide deck I used for this presentation as well as my speaking notes for the session:

Webinar Version
In-Person version
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Getting Started

Typeface

  • I Shot the Serif is a game available as an iOS app and an online game. It challenges you to look at a screen full of different letters in different typefaces, and then “shoot” only the letters in a serif typeface. It’s great for wrapping your brain around the difference between serif and sans serif.
  • TypeConnection is a dating game for matching typefaces together successfully. The site allows you to pick a typeface, learn a bit more about its “personality”, and then set it up with another typeface that’s compatible with it. The games gives you a lot of guided feedback, so it’s perfect for learning more about why certain typefaces work, or don’t work, with each other.
  • Type Matters! by Jim Williams is one of my favourite books for not only explaining aspects of typography, but showing it as well through beautiful examples. Here are links to it in the US, Canada, and UK Amazon stores.
  • KERNME is an amusing web-based letter spacing game. It's an interesting way to explore the precise work that graphic designers do with spacing individual characters so they look balanced.
  • What's the deal with all the hate for Comic Sans? Check out this YouTube video by Vsauce to get a quick explanation.
  • Take a look at this amusing but informative infographic on a key typeface decision: should I use serif or sans serif? 
  • Want to find out more about typography? Then try this link: a list of seven different quick (and easy to understand) typography guides.
  • In this presentation I talk about how different typefaces make you feel. This article, The Science Behind Fonts (and How They Make You Feel), gives you even more detail about the way typeface choice shapes our feelings about what has been created with it.
  • If you're struggling with how to combine fonts, give this article a read: 10 Golden Rules You Should Live By When Combining Fonts.

Graphics

  • The book Presentation Zen by Garr Reynolds is actually about presentations, but it has some fantastic insight into simplifying your graphics that can honestly be applied to any design project. Here are links to it in the US, Canada, and UK Amazon stores.
  • Stock photo sites relatively cheap ways to purchase the rights to professionally created images. I commonly use iStockphoto.
  • The Advanced Search option on Flickr allows you to search specifically for Creative Commons-licensed images.
  • It's worth checking out the free design assets available at the E-Learning Heroes website.
  • There are a ton of other great free design asset sources out there these days too. Here are some of my favourites. For icons, try both the Noun Project and Flaticon. Browse through the selection of images. fonts, code, and more at Freebiebug. For photos, check out Pexels and Unsplash and also sign up for the Death to the Stockphoto monthly newsletter.
  • Looking for sites that are exceptionally good at having diverse stock photos to choose from? Check out this article.
  • Here's a very basic tutorial video on using PowerPoint to create a simple graphic.
  • Once you get comfortable with the basics, try this just slightly more complex tutorial on using PowerPoint to draw a folder.
  • Finally, here's a more advanced tutorial on how to use PowerPoint to draw a TV graphic.
  • On a similar note, here's a great article on how PowerPoint can be easier (and as effective) as Photoshop for some situations: PowerPoint Is Better Than Photoshop.
  • Creating Colour Schemes (Part 1): If you're looking for colour scheme inspiration, check out Design Seeds. This site showcases a huge selection of colour schemes based on existing photographs.
  • Creating Colour Schemes (Part 2): Colour palette generator websites are also quite useful. On these types of sites you choose an image that has colours you think work well with your project, upload it to the site, and the site quickly generates a palette based on predominant colours from the image. Here's a link to one I find works quite well.
  • Creating Colour Schemes (Part 3): Looking for even more colour palette resources? Check out this excellent article on 15 tools for generating colour schemes.

Layout

If you're wondering just how many different ways you can arrange a 3x4 grid, be sure to check out The 892 unique ways to partition a 3 x 4 grid PDF. It literally shows every possible variant of partitioning this type of grid, which is incredibly helpful for when you’re stumped at how you want to layout a page or screen. 

Extras

  • Related note: I'm currently curating a Pinterest board on building design skills.
  • I also curate a Pinterest board of cheap/free design assets.
  • Like the social media icons I used at the end of my presentation? They're available for free here. 
  • If you ever need to fill a design idea with text, but don't have the actual copy written, you can always use Lorem Ipsum text as a temporary filler. Lorem Ipsum is gibberish that sort of looks like Latin and it can used to block out where you’ll eventually put your real text. It gives you a sense of how a layout with text will look, but it’s all nonsense words. One of the best resources for this filler text is this free Lorem Ipsum generator.
  • Want to know more about what exactly Creative Commons licensing is? Give this video a watch. 

Creativity Inspiration
  • Steal Like an Artist by Austin Kleon is a book that's all about tips for how to boost your creativity and just generally help you demystify creativity in general. It’s jargon-free, incredibly conversational, and the advice will give you all sorts of easy to act on ideas. Here are links to it in the US, Canada, and UK Amazon stores.
  • In the book Judge This, designer Chip Kidd looks at a bunch of different items, from book covers to train stations to pop up ads, and quickly describes what works or doesn’t work about their design. Reading someone articulate the details that make or break a design can do a lot to model how you can learn to do it yourself. Here are links to it in the US, Canada, and UK Amazon stores.
  • ​The podcast 99% Invisible is all about the design of every day things. It’s great for helping you see how being creative with design doesn’t just boil down to graphic design skills. It can also come from making something easier to understand, making new connections between ideas, or just finding a new way to use an existing thing.