😍 My Favorite Design Tools (That I Actually Use)

Let’s be honest, designing something from scratch can sometimes feel like staring at a blank page and waiting for divine inspiration (or caffeine) to kick in.

But once you’ve got the right tools? Suddenly design feels… fun again. Not to mention easy.

I’m all about keeping things simple and intuitive, especially when it comes to design. The goal is to make something beautiful without losing an hour picking the perfect shade of beige (yes these are things I think about 🙈).

Here are my tried-and-true favorites 🙌 the tools I reach for again and again to make the process easier, faster, and a lot more enjoyable.

Selecting a Color Palette 🎨

Coolors is my color-palette lifesaver. This tool is incredibly versatile.

You can upload photos and pull colors from it, use a generator to select and refine a color palette, or search from tons of popular color palettes in their library.

So let’s say you absolutely love the color of your sofa. You can upload a photo of it and let Coolors pair it with colors that go well with it. Instant brand palette, no overthinking required. You literally press the spacebar, and poof 💨 a new set of color combos appears. Lock in what you love, skip what you don’t, and before you know it, you’ve got a full palette.

Finding Fonts 🔍

Have you ever seen a gorgeous font online and thought, what is that?! WhatFont for Chrome will find it for you. This little browser extension lets you hover over any text and tells you the exact font name, size, and style.

It’s dangerously addicting. It’s the easiest way to find fonts that fit your vibe without squinting through endless font lists in Canva.

*A note on using Coolors and WhatFont. Please use these tools to pull inspiration, NOT to directly swipe someone’s exact font pairings and/or brand colors*

Nailing the Perfect Shot 📸

These are my go-tos for stock photos that don’t look like stock photos.

Unsplash is all about those clean, polished, slightly artistic shots that make everything you design look elevated.

Pexels, though, deserves a special shout-out. Their library has tons of diverse, real-life photography including people of all backgrounds, body types, and styles. It feels authentic and human, which makes a huge difference when you’re building visuals for your brand. Bonus: both connect right inside Canva, so you can drop photos in without leaving your design.

Kaboompics is like the stylish best friend of stock photo sites. They have a library of bright, modern, and effortlessly put together. It’s full of cozy lifestyle imagery and workspace scenes that are perfect for creatives, coaches, or small businesses with a softer aesthetic. Incredible bonus: each photo includes a color palette so you can instantly see how it fits your brand. (Why can’t all stock photo sites do this?)

Creating Editable PDF’s (for free) 🤑

Sejda is my little secret weapon for all things PDF (without an Adobe subscription that you need a bounty hunter to cancel). Need to edit, merge, or sign something quickly? Done. Want to tweak a lead magnet without reopening the design file? Also done.

It’s free, clean, and works straight from your browser. There’s no downloading clunky software that makes your computer sound like it’s about to take off.

Brand Consistency ✅

This next one is part of Canva’s Pro Membership, but if you use Canva often, the Brand Kit feature is a total sanity-saver. Store your fonts, colors, and logos in one spot so you’re not constantly trying to remember which hex code was “the slightly bluer blue.”

And if you haven’t played with Canva’s Shuffle tool yet, then please do. It automatically switches through different brand color and font combinations. It’s like playing the slot machines, but you always win!

Finding Inspiration ✨

Pinterest is my creative caffeine. When I hit a design wall, I hop on for a few minutes and instantly feel re-inspired. You can search for color palettes, layouts, or design styles, then save your favorites to a private board to reference later.

Half the time, I open Canva with a clearer vision and a fresh cup of motivation. (The other half, I get lost in cottagecore kitchens, but that’s part of the process.)

The Takeaway

Design doesn’t have to be complicated. You don’t need a degree in typography or a perfectly calibrated monitor. All you need is a few reliable tools and a dose of creative curiosity.

The right resources help you create designs that feel like you 💛 cohesive, intentional, and totally magnetic.