Freebies Of The Week: ‘Bad Print’ Effects, Brand Mockups, Royalty-Free Music…
Image via Pixeden
If you’re looking for a good perk-me-up during this work-from-home period, look no further. What could be better than browsing the internet and stumbling upon a whole selection of freebies?
DesignTAXI has started a series where we find some of the most compelling goodies on the internet that are hot off the press.
This week, get your hands on free royalty-free music, a printable health flyer, and a whole customizable collection of hand-drawn people.
There’s also a free custom URL shortener and a background removal tool for videos and GIFs. Take a look.
‘Bad Print Effects’ Photoshop Action
Image via Spoon Graphics
This free Photoshop action by Chris Spooner of Spooner Graphics replicates the flawed effects of low-cost printing methods from back in the day, such as ink bleed, misregistration and halftone dot patterns on cheap paper used in magazines and comic books. While the results weren’t deemed as ideal, they’re part of the aesthetic for retro graphic design.
This resource adds that “bad print” look on your work in three ways. ‘Ink Effects’ recreates uneven edges and bleeding corners caused from high ink absorption, as well as converts all hues into halftone screens, ‘Misregistration’ separates black areas to replicate a crooked printing plate, and ‘Texturing’ adds an overlay of old ink and paper textures.
Newsletter template for InDesign
Image via Stock InDesign
If you need a newsletter template for your clients or portfolio, this modern and simple one by tock InDesign might do the trick. It’s highly versatile with easily customizable text areas you can quickly edit on InDesign.
The template is available in two sizes: A4 210 x 297mm with bleeds, and US Letter 8.5 x 11 inches with bleeds. It’s free for both personal and commercial use as long as you provide credit, according to the website’s terms and conditions.
Cuttly: Free (and improved) URL shortener
Image via Cuttly
Cuttly is a free URL shortener with customizable aliases, analytics, and even designated QR codes. Better yet, it lets you create a free domain for your own brand URLs, instead of the typical cutt.ly links, “without any hidden commitments” to help you increase conversion rates.
Printable health flyers for flu and coronavirus
Image via Sketch App Resources
This timely PSA by Sketch App Resources presents the steps you can take to prevent the flu, common cold, or the novel coronavirus from spreading. It’s available in a free ZIP folder including a Sketch file and various PDF variations.
Unminus: free premium music
Music artist Wowa knows how tricky music copyright issues can be, so he set out to launch a free royalty-free platform beginning with his own music. The tracks available in Unminus do not require attribution, and are cleared for YouTube. Wowa hopes to turn it into the “Unsplash for music.”
“I decided to give my own music away for free as I can assure the rights,” he explained. He aspires for the free premium music collection to grow with contributions by like-minded souls.
Glossy paper brand mockup
Image via Pixeden
Pixeden has created a sleek PSD mockup featuring paper with a stunning sheen. Just look at that gloss—you know you want this.
The freebie is available for personal and commercial purposes, but can’t be resold or redistributed.
Unscreen: remove backgrounds in videos and GIFs
A while back, DesignTAXI featured a tool that seamlessly erases backgrounds from photos for free. Unscreen is just like that, but for videos and GIFs.
With this website, you can remove backgrounds from your footage without chroma keying or having to film in front of a green screen. Also, imagine all the potential memes you can create with new backdrops in GIFs. The tool does it all instantly.
Open Peeps: customizable, hand-drawn character illustrations
Open Peeps is an incredible, wholly free project by designer Pablo Stanley that lets you bring diversity to your work. The hand-drawn collection, available for Sketch, Studio, Figma, and Adobe XD users, lets you mix and match hairstyles, clothing, emotion, limbs, and emotions as if they are “building blocks.”
The illustrations fall under the CC0 license, which means you have free will to reuse, edit, and distribute them. The possibilities are endless—Stanley says they’re good for “product illustration, marketing imagery, comics, product statements, user flows, personas, storyboarding, invitations for your quinceañera… or anything else not on this list.”
[via various sources]
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