The Design Archive

September 1, 2021 ⌦ Graphic Design ⌦ Design ⌦ Resources ⌦ Publishing

There are a ton of resources online and in print for good design practices. Keeping track of them can be unwieldy and I usually lose my favorites in a sea of unread bookmarks.

Bookmarks can also be difficult to share and compile so here is a list of some of my favorite resources. This is as much for anyone reading as it is for myself to act as an easy archive¹ to pull from when starting a new project.

General Design Practices

Online

These are listed in order of which I go to first when starting a new project.

Layout and The Grid by Clay Notestine

Quintessential.

Clay also does great breakdowns of design in specific RPGs. This one primarily focuses on use of the Grid in publication layout.

Setting A Body Text by Johan Nohr

Master Class in a thread.

Setting Better Type By Dai Shugars

Another Master Class in a thread.

Thinking With Type by Ellen Lupton

I originally started this post because I wanted to share how much I was enjoying the print book. In the process of writing this I discovered it’s available almost entirely online.

This might replace my previous stance of Butterick’s being one of the most comprehensive online resources.

Butterick’s Practical Typography

While heavily salted with authorial opinion, this was one of the first resources I discovered when I wanted to get into design and before I was able to do so full-time. It remains one of the most informative resources for type and design to date.

The cliff notes version can be found here.

Bonus Resources

Method.ac

A great resource for training basics on things like bezier curves, boolean shapes, color theory, and k e r n i n g.

Obys Agency’s 4 Types of Grid

Breaks down four grids. Primarily written and geared towards Web Design but can be applied to all aspects of design.

Print

Thinking With Type by Ellen Lupton

Also available online (see above).

Design Resources

Asset Packs and Tools

Dread Labs

I’ve yet to use some of the vector packs but they look great and this guy also does extremely helpful tutorial videos.

Frankentoon Studio

Has asset backs and brushes specifically to work with Affinity.

True Grit Texture Supply

I abuse these assets. I should probably stop. But the best thing about this shop is they have Affinity specific assets.

Color Theory

HEX to RGB Converter

Color Resources for RPG Design by Clay Notestine

This Twitter thread specifically goes into resources for accessibility in color theory. That’s something that I am interesting in moving forward and I always try to keep in mind during my process.

Accessibility

Contrast Ratio

Primarily for web accessibility as it focuses on RGB Hex colors but can be used for basic contrast.

Color Blindness Simulator

Not an end all but can help when determining where you may have issues with color contrast for specific types of Color Blindness such as Red-Weak/Protanomaly, Blue-Weak/Tritanomaly, Red-Blind/Protanopia, etc.

The Guide to PDF Accessibility by Kris Rivenburgh