Resources for brand designers.

The AI tools, brand guidelines, fonts and mockups we would point a friend to. Picked by hand, nothing here is paid for.

AI tools

The AI tools that actually help in identity work, from moodboards to vectors and motion.

Images Midjourney

Fast route to mood, texture and art direction frames when you are exploring a visual territory.

Images Krea

Real-time image generation, upscaling and style training. Good for building moodboards live with a client.

Images Ideogram

Renders readable text inside images, so poster, packaging and signage concepts show real type.

Images Adobe Firefly

Image and video generation trained for commercial use, and it plugs straight into Photoshop and Illustrator.

Vectors Recraft

Generates editable SVG icons and illustrations, with saved styles that keep a set consistent.

Vectors Vectorizer.AI

Turns a JPG or PNG of a logo or sketch into clean SVG paths, with very few stray points.

Vectors Linearity Curve

Vector app for Mac and iPad with auto trace and background removal built in.

Motion Runway

Video generation and editing. Use it to animate key visuals and pitch motion ideas before a full build.

Motion Kling

Image-to-video with steady camera moves. Handy for short brand loops and social cuts.

3D Meshy

Makes textured 3D models from a prompt or image, for packaging, objects and brand props.

Type WhatTheFont

Upload a photo of lettering and it suggests matching or similar typefaces.

Mockups Flair

Drop in a product or package and generate styled scenes around it for brand presentations.

Presentation Gamma

Drafts decks and one-pagers from a prompt. A quick first pass on a brand book you then refine.

Figma Figma AI

AI built into Figma: rename layers, generate images, rewrite copy and prototype faster.

Assistant Claude

Helps with naming, positioning, brand voice, tagline variants and long brand guideline copy.

Assistant ChatGPT

General assistant for research, naming lists and briefs, plus built-in image generation.

Brand guidelines

Public brand guidelines worth studying, from the 1975 NASA manual to live brand sites.

1975 manual, PDF NASA

The worm logo manual by Danne and Blackburn, hosted free by NASA. Still a lesson in rigour.

Live site Mozilla

Open brand hub for Mozilla and its products, with logo, colour, type and voice rules.

Live site Firefox

How a product brand system works: logo family, icon rules, colour gradients and typography.

Live site Dropbox

One of the best-known brand sites. Clear sections on colour, type, illustration and motion.

Live site Mailchimp

Logo, Freddie mascot and usage rules from a brand known for its illustration and voice.

Live site Shopify

Shows how a big platform explains logo use, clear space and partner co-branding.

Live site Atlassian

Logos, colour, type, iconography and illustration rules for a multi-product family.

Live site LinkedIn

Practical guidance on logo use, colour and partner co-branding for a global network.

Live site GitHub

Well-organised toolkit covering brand attributes, logo, type, colour, graphics and voice.

Live site Discord

Short, friendly guidelines for logo, Clyde mascot and colour. A good model for a light brand site.

Live site Linear

A one-page brand guide done well: naming, logo, colour and assets in a few tight sections.

Live site IBM Design Language

Deep reference for the 8-bar logo, IBM Plex, grid, colour, icons and motion at enterprise scale.

Live site NHS

Public sector identity at huge scale: logo rules, colour, type, tone and real examples.

Live site Spotify

Logo, icon and colour rules plus downloadable assets from one of the most copied brands.

Live site Ubuntu

Open-source brand guide covering values, the Circle of Friends logo, Ubuntu font and colour.

Live site Figma

Clear do and don't rules for the Figma logo and name, written for partners and makers.

Type, mockups and assets

Fonts, mockups, textures, icons and colour, the everyday kit for presenting a brand.

Paid Future Fonts

Buy typefaces while they are still in progress, at lower prices, from independent designers.

Free Fontshare

Quality typefaces from Indian Type Foundry, free for commercial use, including Satoshi and General Sans.

Free Google Fonts

Open-source fonts you can use anywhere, including variable fonts and full language support.

Free + paid Pangram Pangram

Contemporary foundry where every font is free to try before you license it for a client.

Free Velvetyne

Libre foundry with experimental open-source display faces for bolder identity work.

Free + paid Mockuuups Studio

Thousands of device and print mockups you can fill in the browser, Figma or the Mac app.

Paid Rotato

Mac app for animated 3D device mockups. Good for presenting app and digital brand work.

Free Unblast

Free PSD and Figma mockups for packaging, print and stationery, plus fonts and icons.

Paid True Grit Texture Supply

Analog textures, halftones and brushes for Photoshop, Illustrator and Procreate.

Free Texturelabs

High-res photographed textures like paper, grain, dust and light, free for commercial use.

Free Phosphor Icons

Open-source icon family with six weights, so icons can match the stroke of your type.

Free + paid Coolors

Generate, lock and export colour palettes quickly, with contrast and colour-blind checks.

Know a resource we should add?

A tool you use every week, a brand guideline worth studying, a foundry people should know. Send it over.

Suggest a resource