Design Networks to Find Brand New Freebie Downloads

Sunday, June 2, 2013

It seems as though every day there are new freebies to be released online. I am usually forcing myself to check out new websites once in a while to see what I am missing. The amount of networks online are simply tremendous! It would suck up at least an hour or more to go through all of the latest releases.

I want to focus on a list of the more popular resources for locating design freebies. The list obviously includes freebie PSD and AI files to use in Adobe software. But icon sets are also typically common among designers. PSD/AI freebies are certainly the most demanded and will provide the best results when creating a website layout. I hope to share a few resources which will benefit web designers and developers around the globe.

Freebbble

Most designers are familiar with Dribbble being an invite-only website for people to share their latest design works. But the related website launch Freebbble is a unique and totally independent curation of freebie downloads. Each of the posts will link back to the original source on Dribbble, along with a preview shot for downloading.

The website layout itself is gorgeous and utilizes a number of helpful interface features. You may select from a categories listing in the sidebar related to mockups, UI kits, backgrounds, and many other topics. The search bar is also quick with pulling related results and offering a solution based on your search keywords. There are simply not enough nice things to say about Freebbble. Go and check it out for yourself to get a sense of the high-quality releases on this website.

Psddd

Another website pulling from Dribbble’s feed would be Psddd. This network is run like a blog which catalogs all of the most recent Dribbble freebies. You can find user stats which are pulled directly from the Dribbble API to show off the number of likes and visits. Psddd is one of the only options which directly connects into Dribbble for showing related stats.

I don’t know if I could really compare both this and Freebbble as two head-on competitors. They both offer a similar service to locate freebie graphics. But I also feel that Psddd is more quickly updated with newer releases, and the minimalist layout is less cluttered. And you also have fewer tags and categories for searching. It is also unfortunate how the main download links will only lead back onto the Dribbble shots page, so if the link goes down then you have no way to grab that freebie anymore.

Source Canvas

Very recently I noticed the popular network Source Canvas had updated to a freebie gallery. This is unique because it includes links to both graphics and source code projects. This means you can download freebie PSDs along with jQuery plugins and PHP frameworks all from the same location. It is like a webmaster’s paradise of free resources.

The design is pretty nice and easy to follow along. Many of the freebies are originally hosted on Dribbble by the user who uploads the shot. This could mean the PSD file is either on Dribbble’s servers, or hosted on an alternate cloud service like CloudApp or Dropbox. But Source Canvas has the PSD files hosted right on their servers and the source codes will pull the most up-to-date repo out of Github. It is an excellent freebies gallery with a lot of potential to cover future releases.

PSDHome

The last major resource I want to cover in this post is called PSD Home. One reason this website stands out over all the others is their homepage layout feature. You can easily access the most recently published freebies as they are listed using thumbnail images. I like this grid-style interface design because there is not a lot of wasted room. So you can quickly scan the entries and choose something which may be of interest for your project(s).

I have found almost everything in this network from iOS user interfaces to full-blown website mockups. And obviously everything in-between for typical website and mobile layouts. The freebie graphics on PSD Home are updated constantly, and the quick layout design makes it easy to grab what you need and move on. Each of the PSDs will link back to the original source, where you may also find other related goodies for free download.

Closing

I know there are bound to be another 10+ examples which I could not cover in this post. Many of the resources which I check have been online for years, and they continue with new releases added constantly. This is why so many other competitors have shut down or stopped adding new freebies altogether. But if you have any similar ideas or suggestions for locating design freebies you may share with us in the post discussion area below.