What’s new for designers, February 2015

February 16, 2015

What's new for designers, February 2015.

In this month’s edition of What’s new for designers and developers, we’ve included lots of new apps for design teams, portfolio resources, new design tools, JavaScript resources, resources for startups, new podcasts, new mobile apps, and much more. And as always, we’ve also included some awesome new free fonts!

Almost everything on the list this month is free, with a few high-value paid apps and tools also included. They’re sure to be useful to designers and developers, from beginners to experts. If we’ve missed something that you think should have been on the list, let us know in the comments. And if you know of a new app or resource that should be featured next month, tweet it to @cameron_chapman to be considered!

Concepts

is a sketching app for iOS that features infinite canvas and a minimalist interface. It includes zoom, infinite undo, and the responsive Fluid Ink Engine.

Trov

is a personal inventory app for mobile, that includes features to automatically store information about your stuff. While it’s built for keeping track of what you own personally, it’s also useful for keeping track of the stuff you have for your business.

PopKey

is an animated GIF keyboard for iPhone. It includes a library of GIFs, as well as the ability to use your own.

Aurelia

is a next-generation JS framework for empowering your creativity. It’s modular, simple, and testable, with modern architecture and two-way databinding, among other features.

Papaly

is a link manager that lets you create boards of your favorite content, to either share or keep private. You can import links, discover new content, and connect your social media accounts.

AndroidLibs

is a collection of libraries for Android app development. Libraries are sorted by category, or you can search to find what you need.

ContentTools

is a simple service for creating interactive content for your website. It includes creation tools for shareable content, tools to embed on your website, and analytics for tracking engagement and interactions. There’s a 14-day free trial, and then plans start at $25/month.

Isso

is a commenting server that’s similar to Disqus. Comments can be written in Markdown, and you can import comments from Disqus and WordPress, hassle-free.

StockSnap.io

is a free stock photo site with photos that are free from copyright restrictions. You can search for photos, or browse by date, views, or number of downloads.

MailChimp Pattern Library

The MailChimp Pattern Library includes a huge variety of design patterns that were developed as a result of MailChimp’s switch to a responsive app. It includes patterns for navigation, form elements, typography, and more.

Developer Tea

is a podcast series that limits its episodes to just 10 minutes. It’s engineered to be highly-focused and short, so you can check out episodes on your tea (or coffee) break.

Pixlrbrowser

is a quick way to find designers’ websites. Just click on a portfolio to launch in preview mode, or submit your portfolio for consideration.

Illustrio

is a marketplace that lets you upload illustrations that people can customize before purchasing and downloading, making your designs more valuable.

Campfires.io

is a collection of interviews with your favorite designers. They share insights, tips, and behind-the-scenes stories for you to learn from.

Hipster Logo Generator

The Hipster Logo Generator is a fun app that lets you create your own hipster-style logo. It includes base shapes, swag, personalization, and more.

The UX Reader

was originally created as a fundraiser for the non-profit RailsBridge, but has now been made available for free. It’s a collection of the most popular articles from MailChimp’s UX Newsletter, plus extra exclusive content.

Kredo

is a creative network for photographers, designers, artists, and illustrators. The app is free to download, and includes sharing functions, high resolution images, external display support, and more.

Materialize

is a responsive front-end framework that’s based on Material Design. It has a focus on UX, speeds up development, and it’s easy to work with.

Underdog

Looking for a job at a leading startup? Underdog lets you quickly apply to New York City’s leading startups in just 60 seconds, with other cities coming soon.

Trippeo

is a simple business travel and expense management app. Track your trip expenses, use it as a business trip concierge to keep everything in one place, and even synchronize your calendar to generate expense reports based on your schedule.

Vivaldi

is a new browser, currently available as a technical preview. It features quick commands, notes, speed dials, and tab stacks, among others.

The Design Sprint

, from Google Ventures, is a five-day process for working through design, prototyping, and testing ideas. It combines business strategy, innovation, behavior science, design thinking, and more.

Mixmax

makes your Gmail way more useful, with faster meeting scheduling, read receipts on emails, and email templates, among other features.

AppVirality

](http://www.appvirality.com/) is a growth hacking toolkit for mobile apps. Just enter your App Play Store URL to get started.

Brand24

lets you keep track of your brand online. They monitor over 22,000 brands of all sizes, including companies like Panasonic and Ikea, as well as startups.

Pushforms

are mobile forms that work natively on Android, iOS, and offline. You can integrate the data with more than 300 applications, or send it to your servers.

Usersnap

makes it easy to get understandable bug reports to make collaborating with colleagues and clients easy. You get visual feedback directly from your site with the Usersnap feedback widget.

Siteleaf

is a cloud-based content management system that lets you publish anywhere. It supports FTP, SFTP, Amazon S3, GitHub Pages, and Rackspace Cloud Files, keeping your data independent of their service.

Kibako

is a Mac app for sharing screenshots, images, and more. Your files are stored securely in your S3 or Dropbox, and you can even add support for screen recording and custom sharing domains.

Clef

offers secure two-factor authentication without passwords or tokens. It’s affordable and incredibly usable.

AnyPerk

is a perk and reward system for your employees. You can provide meaningful perks like preferred pricing for hundreds of products and services, easy-to-use rewards for noteworthy achievements, and analytics to track it all.

Abacus

is a simple way to manage and pay business expenses. Features include real-time expenses, fast deposits to your bank account, receipt forwarding, and more.

JotForm Theme Store

The JotForm Theme Store gives you inspired, creative, stunning form themes that fit your needs. It has a comprehensive selection of forms, with form design for every purpose. You can even sell your own themes to make money.

Thirsty Dog

is a free hand drawn typeface, designed by Simon Stratford. It was created using Faber Castell Pens, ink nibs, and a pot of ink before being digitized.

Cluster Font Family

The Cluster Font Family comes with a variety of hand-drawn fonts, including shadowed versions. It’s free for personal and commercial projects with attribution.