CREATE SMARTER, NOT HARDER

It’s the little things that can make a big difference in streamlining your creative process. Here are some of our favorite tools and platforms that do just that.

Adobe Creative Cloud Express

Mobile Creative Production. Create title pages for social video and make custom social posts, with access to thousands of high quality stock assets. If you have a Creative Cloud subscription package, chances are you already have access to the premium features in this app. A free version is available.

Color Hexa

Design Tool. Color Hexa is a color encyclopedia, enabling you to convert from hex code to RGB to CMYK. Free to use.

Coolors

Design Tool. Easily create, save, and share custom color palettes that help you maintain visual consistency across creative projects.

Creative Live

Professional Development. Online courses ranging from camera tutorials to music technique to calligraphy. Additionally, they provide free guides for photography and writing basics. This platform is a treasure if you’re looking up uplevel your creative skills. Use the link above to save $15 off your first class.

Eye Dropper

Design Tool. With this Chrome extension, your web browser is a color picker. You can grab colors from any and every website you navigate to, and create and save palettes, right in your toolbar.

Fiverr

Human Resources. This platform is perfect for when you’re in that in-between phase of scaling up: a little money to invest in having a creative professional, not yet at the level of making a part-time, full-time, or even contract hire. Pro-level photographers, retouchers, graphic designers and illustrators are at your reach. Don’t forget technical services such as SEO research, sales funnel setup, ecommerce development, and more, which are key complements to creative production processes. Use the link above to get 10% of your first order amount, up to $100.

For QR

Design Tool. Generates QR codes free, with unlimited click-throughs. You can customize the colors, embed your logo, and download your results in png, svg, fdf, and eps formats. You can embed more than just links: wi-fi instructions, locations, email templates, and more.

Iconfinder

Design Tool. This platform carries thousands of free icons, available in .svg, .png, and .jpg formats, with several resolution options. For premium icons, you can subscribe or add money to an account.

ilovecreatives

Creative Resources. A platform that has become a central place where creative professionals of all kinds can upskill, find work, connect with colleagues, and more.

Inshot

Mobile Creative Production. This is one of the most easy-to-use, feature-rich smartphone video production apps out there. Almost all features are available in the free version, which is ad-supported. Premium filters, stickers, and fonts can be unlocked with a monthly subscription or one-time payment.

MockupTree

Pre-visualization. Show people what that sticker is going to look like on a notebook, what that sign will look like on the subway, what that Facebook post will look like. MockupTree is a free site, supported by banner ads (so be careful where you click!). A small price to pay for access to hundreds of high-quality mockups that will help you close sales, whether they’re B2B, B2C, or D2C.

Moo

Premium Paper Products. Business cards, flyers, letterhead, stickers, notebooks: Moo has everything, and it’s worth every penny. Businesses who sign up can get a company template, account management, bulk discounts, and more.

Paletton

Design Tool. A color palette creator for color theory enthusiasts. Pick a color, view its complements and supplements, play with saturation and transparency, and export detailed custom palettes for sophisticated projects.

Peerspace

Location sharing. Peerspace is like the Airbnb of the events and production world, giving you access to office space, studio space, warehouse space, and more. Use this platform to book space for an event, a photo or video shoot, quarterly meeting, workshop, and more. And use the link above to save $50 off your first booking of more than $150.

Premium Beat

Royalty-free music. This platform has been around for a long time, and was eventually acquired by Shutterstock. A great budget-friendly resource for businesses and brands who create massive amounts of video content. Use promo code GHISEBSA at checkout to get 25% off your first purchase.

Preview

Mobile Creative Production. This feature-rich app enables you to plan your Instagram feed at a detailed level. Use the grid view coupled with their high-quality filters to make your grid aesthetically pleasing. Within the app you have access to analytics that show you the best times to post, you can create hashtag groups, and you can upgrade to expand your access to more filters.

Printful

Print-on-demand. Create merchandise, promotional items, custom prints and props and apparel using their dropshipping model. Printful provides Photoshop templates and demo videos to accompany their products. A great resource for art and wardrobe departments.

Splash

Event Management. Create gorgeous, intuitive event microsites. Collect ticket sales, promote promo codes, export RSVP lists, and view very detailed analytics with an upgrade. Additionally, Splash provides lots of free guides to help you plan, market, and iterate your events.

Tonl

Diverse Stock Photography. Scores of high-quality stock photography featuring people of all ethnicities and skin tones. This stock resource’s value is in the site’s organization, making it easy to find exactly what you’re looking for. Tonl is best for blogs and sites needing a high volume of stock photography. Offering a la carte and monthly subscriptions, and both editorial and commercial licenses.

Unfold

Mobile Creative Production. Create beautiful, contemporary vertical video/photo stories with this Squarespace-produced app. Available on iOS and Android for free, with an option for a monthly subscription for access to premium templates.

VSCO

Mobile Creative Production. The premiere and most OG photo editing app. You get access to tons of sophisticated filters and editing tools that you can save, or share to VSCO’s own social network. The premium version allows you to edit video.

DISCLAIMER: all opinions expressed are those of KRAFTED. KRAFTED may receive a commission from some of the links above.