What’s new for designers, October 2016

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October 17, 2016
What’s new for designers, October 2016.

In this month’s edition of what’s new for designers, we’ve included color tools, icon sets, automation tools, design tools, printables, Sketch plugins, and 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!

Color Library

Color Library

lets you separate the colors in an image to print with colors other than CMYK (or RGB). Pick two, three, four, or five-color palettes. color library

Paperworks

Paperworks

lets you keep all of your receipts, invoices, and payments in one place. It even automatically scans your inbox for things to add. paperworks

Kap

Kap

is an open-source screen recorder that uses web technology. It’s easy to use and fast, plus it’s extensible. kap

Hero Patterns

Hero Patterns

is a collection of repeatable SVG patterns for backgrounds on your digital projects. Select foreground and background colors prior to downloading. hero patterns

Fireflies​.ai

Fireflies​.ai

is a Chrome extension that acts as a personal assistant for your daily tasks. It has natural language processing to automatically identify and suggest relevant tasks. fireflies

Push by Zapier

Push by Zapier

is a Chrome extension and app for building small, single-purpose workflows that live inside Google Chrome. push

Disrupt Cards

Disrupt Cards

are like a Silicon Valley-inspired game of Cards Against Humanity, with references and situations that will likely only make sense to those in the world of tech. disrupt cards

Internet Curated

Internet Curated

is a collection of more than 100 resources on the web. There are collections for apps, design, business, development, inspiration, and more.
internet curated

Mastodon

Mastodon

is a free, open-source social network server that’s decentralized. It allows anyone to build a social network seamlessly. mastodon

Figma

Figma

is an interface design tool that offers up real-time collaboration tools. It works for designing everything from icons to responsive layouts. figma

Break

Ever started a project and then realized 8 hours later you were still sitting at your desk, without taking any breaks? Break will remind you to take frequent breaks from your computer, which in turn increases productivity and reduces strain on your eyes, joints, and hands. break

UI Movement

UI Movement

is a curated collection of animated UI designs, including everything from chat to menus and more. You can also subscribe to their weekly newsletter to get the best UI inspirations delivered to your inbox. ui movement

React Color

React Color

is a collection of color pickers from Photoshop, Sketch, Chrome, Github, and more. react color

FramerJS Club

FramerJS Club

is a showcase of FramerJS prototypes and articles. There are examples of tools, inputs, modules, games, and more. framerjs club

Open Color

Open Color

is a color scheme for UI design that’s provided as CSS, SCSS, LESS, Stylus, Adobe library, Photoshop and Illustrator swatches, and Sketch palette. open color

Greyprint

Greyprint

is a starting point template for icons, symbols, and glyphs. It includes pre-made styles (for Photoshop, Illustrator, Sketch, and Affinity Designer) to speed up your workflow. greyprint

Affinity Designer 1.5

The newest version of Affinity Designer brings a host of UI, UX, and web design tools to the app, including tools for responsive designs. affinity designer

Sneakpeekit

Sneakpeekit

is a set of printable grids for design wireframing. There’s a precision grid, browser and grid, 2‑up and 4‑up grids, and more. sneakpeekit

TheDirectory​.io

TheDirectory​.io

is a directory of digital design agencies. It also includes tools to find a job at one of the agencies listed. thedirectory

Sketchode

Sketchode

is a Sketch plugin that provides graphical representation of any project, and aims to smooth the hand-off from designer to developer. sketchode

90 Free Line and Solid Icons

These 90 Free Line and Solid Icons are available for both Sketch and Illustrator. They include things like magnifying glasses, hearts, stars, message icons, and more. 90 free line and solid icons

The Vox Media Designer’s Toolkit

The Vox Media Designer’s Toolkit

is a look a the tools the team at Vox uses most often to brainstorm, moodboard, design, prototype, and test. vox media designer's toolkit

Cat Ipsum

Need some filler copy? Love cats? You’re in luck with Cat Ipsum then! cat ipsum

Jpeg​.io

Jpeg​.io

lets you convert any major image format (jpg, png, gif, svg, bmp, eps, psd, tiff, and more) into a highly optimized JPEG file. jpeg.io

Citysets

Citysets

is a growing collection of free city-based icon sets. So far it includes, London, New York, Paris, and Sydney. citysets

Ghostlab

Ghostlab

lets you connect any number of browsers and devices for synchronized browsing. It automatically tracks changes to your local files and refreshes them on all connected clients. ghostlab

Enformed

Enformed

is an easy way to manage HTML forms, with no PHP, Javascript, or server-side coding. enformed

TransparentStartups

Transparent Startups

lets you see how much revenue a variety of tech startups are actually making on a monthly basis. It includes data from 39 companies, some you might not recognize, but also ones you probably will (Buffer, ConvertKit, etc.). transparentstartups

Qlutter

Qlutter

is a collaboration tool for teams that helps you plan, measure, and reach you own long-term goals. qlutter

Community Bot

If you use Slack for communicating with a community, then you’ll want to check out Community Bot for your community management. community bot

Google Noto Fonts

Google Noto Fonts

is a family of typefaces that support all languages with a harmonious look and feel. It has multiple styles and weights and is available free to all. google noto fonts

Nomes

Nomes

is a free font with stark differences between thin and thick stroke lengths that make it great for headlines, posters, flyers, and more. nomes free font

Alva

Alva

is a minimalist geometric font for posters and headlines, that solid character glyphs with accent lines. alva

Wild Youth

Wild Youth

is a hand drawn brush script font that’s modern with a distinct influence of adventure and nature. wild youth

Devious

Devious

is a handmade font with a simple, antique feel. devious

Cornerstone

Cornerstone

is a straightforward modular font that’s perfect for sports-related or urban designs. cornerstone

Monophone Grunge

Monophone Grunge

is a fancy, vintage-style free font that’s great for headers and branding. monophone grunge

Buffalo

Buffalo

is a free monoline script font with a vintage look and feel. buffalo

Humger

Humger

is a free grunge sans serif display font. It includes uppercase, narrow glyphs and is free for personal and commercial use. humger

Hane

Hane

is a free vector font that’s inspired by exciting city life, with architecturally inspired glyphs. hane

Cameron Chapman

Cameron Chapman is a freelance writer and designer from New England. You can visit her site or follow her on Twitter.

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