
Designing a website doesn't have to break the bank. With the right tools and resources, you can create a professional-looking site without spending a dime.
Canva is a free design tool that offers a wide range of templates and drag-and-drop functionality, making it perfect for beginners.
If you're looking for a more comprehensive design solution, GIMP is a free and open-source alternative to Adobe Photoshop.
With GIMP, you can access a vast library of tutorials and resources to help you get started.
Website Builders
Website builders are a crucial part of designing websites free. You can use a website builder to create stunning websites with ease.
There are many types of website builders available, including HTML Website Builder, WordPress Website Builder, and Joomla Page Builder. These builders offer a range of features to help you create a professional-looking website.
Some popular features of website builders include website templates, WordPress themes, HTML templates, and CSS templates. These templates can be used to create a wide range of website designs, including website designs, web page designs, and eCommerce designs.
Here are some popular website builders:
- Website Builder
- HTML Website Builder
- WordPress Website Builder
- Joomla Page Builder
- WYSIWYG HTML Editor
- Static Site Generator
- HTML Code Generator
Wix
Wix is one of the biggest names in free web design. It's a website builder with many different types of pricing plans, including a free version.
You can use Wix to create many types of websites, including blogs, e-commerce sites, and online stores. It's great for people who are new to web design but want an alternative to WordPress.
One of the best things about Wix is that it has many free features that are perfect for beginners. You can create a professional-looking website without needing to know how to code.
Wix also has a user-friendly interface that makes it easy to use even for those without web design experience. The tools included in the editor are designed to be accessible to everyone.
Here are some of the key features of Wix:
- Many types of pricing plans, including a free version
- Can be used to create blogs, e-commerce sites, and online stores
Website Builder
Website builders are a crucial part of creating a professional-looking website without needing to know how to code. They offer a range of features and tools to help you design and build your website.
One of the key features of a website builder is the ability to choose from a variety of templates, including website templates, WordPress themes, HTML templates, CSS templates, Joomla templates, and HTML5 templates.
Here are some examples of website templates you can choose from:
- Website Templates
- WordPress Themes
- HTML Templates
- CSS Templates
- Joomla Templates
- HTML5 Templates
- One Page Templates
In addition to templates, website builders often come with a range of tools, including a website builder, HTML website builder, WordPress website builder, Joomla page builder, WYSIWYG HTML editor, static site generator, and HTML code generator.
These tools allow you to create a website that is tailored to your specific needs and goals.
Worth a look: Hugo Static Website Generator
Templates
Templates can be a game-changer for website builders, allowing you to create professional-looking designs without starting from scratch.
PSDgraphics is a go-to place to browse and download high-resolution backgrounds, textures, PNG collections, and PSD icons for your web and graphic design project.
Templatenet offers thousands of free templates, designs, and documents on everything you could need, including poster templates, daily planners, and wedding invitations.
A different take: Website Template for Free
StockLayouts is a leading provider of graphic design templates for creating printed marketing materials, offering pre-designed, customizable page layout templates.
You can also find free design templates on other websites like Canva, Pixeden, and Unblast.
Here are some popular websites for downloading free design templates:
- PSDgraphics
- Templatenet
- StockLayouts
- Canva
- Pixeden
- Unblast
PNGtree is another great resource, offering over 3 million high-quality PNG elements and 800,000 background materials for free download.
Lovepik provides free download stock of PNG images, PowerPoint templates, photos, creatives, backgrounds, and illustrations for your graphic design needs.
FreePSDFiles offers a range of free PSD templates, including graphics, flyers, and business cards, which are absolutely free for personal and commercial use.
Design Elements
Designing websites free can be a breeze with the right tools. You can design great-looking pages with essential web design elements like Text, Image, Hyperlink, Icon, Shape, and Button.
The Hyperlink element is a text that works like a Button to call action or go to a specified destination. It has States, but you can stylize it more similar to the Text Element and add Icons.
You can place all design elements freely in the Editor with the powerful drag-and-drop feature. This makes it easy to arrange your design elements just the way you want them.
Shapes allow improving the graphics of your web pages by adding various modern vector figures. You can resize the Shapes without distortion and add the Fill, Gradient, and Shadow on basic shapes like Rectangles and Circles.
Here are some design elements you can use:
- Text Element: define a text with standard formatting options like bold, italic, and more.
- Image Element: embed images into your web pages with support for primary formats like SVG and WEBP.
- Button Element: the primary call-to-action element of your web pages, with stylizable States and alignment options.
- Icon Element: small vector or raster images that illustrate and explain your text ideas.
You can also use the Button Presets, copy and paste the Button Styles, and align Buttons in one row. This makes it easy to create a consistent design look across your website.
Elements
Elements are the building blocks of great web design. You can choose from a variety of elements to create visually appealing web pages.
The Hyperlink is a text element that allows users to click and go to a specified destination. You can stylize it more similar to the Text Element, and even add Icons.
Shapes are a great way to improve the graphics of your web pages. You can resize them without distortion, add Fill, and use Gradient and Shadow on basic shapes like Rectangles and Circles.
The Image Element allows you to embed images into your web pages. It supports all primary formats for pictures, including SVG and WEBP.
The Button is a primary call-to-action element that can be styled separately for each state. You can also align Buttons in one row and use Button Presets to make design faster.
Text Elements are used to define text on your web pages. You can use standard formatting to emphasize parts of the text in Bold, Italic, and others.
Icons are small vector or raster images that illustrate and explain your text ideas. You can choose from a library of 1’000’000+ icons or upload your own icon.
Icons
Icons are a great way to enhance the design of your web pages and apps, and there are many free resources available to help you get started. You can choose from a library of 1,000,000+ icons or upload your own icon.
Related reading: Free Icons for Website
The Hyperlink element, like the Button element, has States, but you can stylize it more like the Text element and add Icons. Icons improve the design of your web pages by visually expressing objects, actions, and ideas.
There are many websites where you can download free icons, including IconFinder, which is the world's largest marketplace for creative resources. You can also visit Flaticon, which offers a wide catalogue of free icons made by professional designers.
Here are some popular websites for downloading free icons:
Icons can be used to enhance usability and improve the design of your app and web page, and they are an essential part of many user interfaces.
Fonts
Fonts are a crucial element in design, and there's often confusion about the laws governing their use. It's always best to use fonts from a trusted, free online font generator to avoid legal issues.
Google Fonts is a well-known library of licensed font families with over 1003 free and open-source fonts. You can browse their library or use their APIs for convenient font use via CSS and Android.
Consider reading: How to Use Any Website for Free
There are many websites where you can download free fonts, such as DaFont, which has over 60,000 fonts with no restrictions on public domain fonts. Adobe Fonts is another option, offering a robust catalog of open-source fonts and icons.
Here are some popular websites for downloading free fonts:
- DaFont
- Google Fonts
- Adobe Fonts
- FontBundles
- Zetafonts
- Urbanfonts
You can also find free fonts on Behance, SkyFonts, Unblast, and other websites.
Logo Maker
Using a logo maker can be a great way to create a logo for your project, especially if you're on a tight deadline. A logo defines your brand identity, so it's worth taking the time to get it right.
You can use a free online logo generator if you're in a hurry or want something for a side project. FreeLogoDesign offers thousands of free logo templates that you can customize to fit your needs.
The user-friendly editor at FreeLogoDesign allows you to edit the colors, shapes, and text of your logo template. You can download the finished project in PNG file format for free.
For more insights, see: Project Web Page Design
Mockups
Mockups are a crucial element in design, allowing you to visualize your ideas and projects in a realistic way. You can find high-quality mockups for free on websites like GraphicBurger, which offers premium design resources for free, including PSD files, Mock-Ups, UI Kits, and more.
GraphicBurger allows you to use and modify these images personally or commercially, but you may not resell or redistribute the design files. This means you can use their resources to create your own designs, but you can't sell them as your own.
Pixeden is another great resource for downloading high-quality web and graphic design templates. For free, you can access all their web and graphic design templates, and for just $6 a month, you can get access to all their Premium files.
Unblast is a website that gathers the best design resources from around the world, saving you hours of searching. They offer free resources for designers, including graphics, fonts, mockups, icons, and templates in PSD and AI formats.
Here are some popular websites for downloading free graphic mockups:
- GraphicBurger
- Pixeden
- Mockplus
- Unblast
- GraphicPear
- Mockupworld
- Iconfinder
- Placeit
- Freepik
Design Resources
Designing a website can be a daunting task, but having the right resources can make all the difference. You can find thousands of free fonts on DaFont, one of the oldest and most popular free fonts websites in the world.
DaFont contains over 60,000 fonts with zero restrictions on the use of public domain fonts, making it a go-to destination for designers. You can browse fonts alphabetically, by style, author, or popularity, making it easy to find the perfect font for your website.
Google Fonts is another excellent resource, offering a robust catalog of open-source fonts and icons that can be easily integrated into your design. With over 60,000 fonts to choose from, you're sure to find the perfect font to match your website's style.
Here are some top websites to download free fonts:
- DaFont
- Google Fonts
- Adobe Fonts
- FontBundles
- Zetafonts
- Urbanfonts
These websites offer a vast range of fonts, from script and sans serif to serif and dingbats. With so many options available, you're sure to find the perfect font to elevate your website's design.
Pexels
Pexels is a fantastic resource for free stock photos and videos that can be used by designers, bloggers, and anyone else.
This platform has given talented photographers a huge audience to display their beautiful products and designs.
Google Fonts
Google Fonts is a web font service owned by Google that offers free and open-source font families. It's a great resource for designers and non-designers alike.
Google Fonts has an impressive library of 1003 fonts that are all free and open source. This means you can use them in your projects without worrying about licensing issues.
One of the best things about Google Fonts is its interactive web directory, which makes it easy to browse and find the perfect font for your project. You can also use its APIs to use the fonts via CSS and Android.
Google Fonts is a great way to make your design work more beautiful, fast, and open through great typography. Its robust catalog of open-source fonts and icons makes it easy to integrate expressive type and icons seamlessly.
Here are some key features of Google Fonts:
- 1003 free and open-source fonts to choose from
- Interactive web directory for browsing fonts
- APIs for using fonts via CSS and Android
Overall, Google Fonts is an excellent resource for anyone looking to add some great typography to their projects.
Pixlr
Pixlr is an online alternative to Adobe Photoshop, making it a great option for those who want to get started with graphic design without committing to a software installation.
It's incredibly easy to use, making it perfect for beginners who are new to graphic design.
Six for Inspiration
Designing for inspiration is a great way to spark creativity and engagement in your audience. The key is to use visual elements that evoke emotions and stimulate thought.
The Pantone Color System is a great resource for selecting colors that inspire and evoke emotions. With over 1,000 colors to choose from, you can find the perfect hue to match your brand's tone.
Typography can also be a powerful tool for inspiration. The Open Sans font, for example, is a popular choice for its clean and modern aesthetic.
The use of high-quality images can also add to the inspirational quality of your design. Stocksy's vast collection of high-resolution photos can help you find the perfect image to convey your message.
The principles of good design, such as balance and contrast, can also be used to create inspiring designs. The Golden Ratio, for instance, can be used to create visually appealing compositions.
The importance of typography in design cannot be overstated. A well-chosen font can make or break the aesthetic of your design, as seen in the use of the Montserrat font in the article's logo.
Additional reading: Can Chatgpt Create Web Designs
Design Tools
Designing a website can be overwhelming, especially if you're on a tight budget. Fortunately, there are many free online design tools that can help you create a professional-looking website without breaking the bank.
One such tool is Canva, which offers a vast library of web design templates. You can customize these templates with your own colors, images, and typography to create a unique look.
Canva's drag-and-drop editor makes it easy to build web pages without any previous design experience. This feature is especially useful for teams who need to collaborate on a project.
Some of the main features of Canva include:
- Endless customization opportunities
- Free hosting with some Canva branding elements
- Easy to use
However, Canva has some limitations. It can be difficult to search through templates, and it's not built for SEO. Additionally, the free version has limited functionality for eCommerce or blogging.
Despite these limitations, Canva is a great option for simple graphic design projects, such as creating social media graphics or event flyers. Its template library contains a wide range of sizing options for different social media platforms.
You can also use Canva to create a one-page website, which is a great way to get started with web design. The tool offers a huge collection of free illustrations, photographs, and fonts, making it a great resource for digital design projects.
Readers also liked: Great Web Page Design
Website Planning
Planning your website is a crucial step in the design process. It involves identifying your target audience, determining the purpose of your website, and defining its scope.
A clear understanding of your goals will help you determine the type of website you need, such as a blog, e-commerce site, or portfolio.
Identifying your target audience will also help you choose the right design elements, such as colors and fonts.
You can use online tools to create a sitemap and wireframe, which will help you visualize your website's structure and layout.
A sitemap is a visual representation of your website's pages and how they are connected.
A wireframe is a low-fidelity sketch of your website's layout, including the placement of text, images, and other elements.
It's essential to keep your website's design simple and user-friendly to ensure a good user experience.
You can use free website builders like WordPress or Wix to create a website without needing to know how to code.
Free website builders often have pre-designed templates and drag-and-drop tools that make it easy to create a website.
A well-planned website will also help you to achieve your online goals, such as increasing traffic or generating leads.
You might enjoy: Responsive Design Layout
Design Assets
You can find a wide variety of free design assets online, including illustrations, icons, and templates.
Freepik is an online marketplace that provides almost every kind of design resource, including premium looking designs completely free to use. They offer over 10 million graphic resources, including photographs, PSDs, illustrations, and vectors.
UnDraw provides open-source illustrations for any idea you can imagine, granting you a nonexclusive, worldwide copyright license to download, copy, modify, distribute, perform, and use the assets provided from UnDraw for free.
Here are some popular websites to download free design assets:
You can also get free icons from IconArchive, SoftIcons, and Iconstore, and free illustrations from UnDraw, Freepik, and Vecteezy.
Illustrations
Illustrations are a major part of website design, making your product stand out from the rest.
Freepik is an online marketplace that provides almost every kind of design resource, including premium looking designs completely free to use. You can find over 10 million graphic resources, including photographs, PSDs, illustrations, and vectors.
Openclipart is an online media place of free to use vector clip art, with over 170,000+ illustrations and clip arts available. It's one of the largest communities of artists making the best free original clipart for you to use.
UnDraw provides open-source illustrations for any idea you can imagine, granting you a nonexclusive, worldwide copyright license to download, copy, modify, distribute, perform, and use the assets provided for free, including for commercial purposes.
VectorStock is a specialized stock agency offering the best vector only images, graphics, icons, and illustrations, all of which are royalty-free. You can find and download the vectors you want.
Vecteezy is a platform that offers millions of free vector graphics contributed by professional artists from all over the world. You can explore royalty-free vectors, clipart graphics, icons, stock photos, stock videos, backgrounds, patterns, banners, and designs.
Here are some popular websites to download free illustrations:
- Freepik
- Openclipart
- UnDraw
- VectorStock
- Vecteezy
- Craftwork
- PNGtree
- Lovepik
- Icons8
Unsplash
Unsplash is one of the most popular collections of stock photos, featuring more than 2 million high-resolution images.
These images are free to use for personal and commercial purposes, making them a valuable resource for designers and creatives.
Unsplash is a go-to destination for anyone looking for high-quality stock photos.
Icons to Download
Icons are a crucial part of any design project, and there are numerous websites that offer high-quality icons for free or at a low cost.
Iconfinder is a web company that has been around since 2007 and is now the largest icon search engine with over 2 million unique users per month. It offers a vast collection of icons in various formats, including SVG, AI, and PNG.
Flaticon by Freepik is another popular platform that offers over 33,99,000 vector icons in various formats, including PNG, SVG, EPS, PSD, and BASE 64. However, to download icons in these formats, a premium subscription is required.
SoftIcons offers a wide catalog of icons and icon sets that can be downloaded for personal use, with over 475,655 icons/images in 2,849 sets. IconArchive is a tag-based icon search engine with over 580,000 free to use icons for creative designers and web developers.
Here are some popular websites to download free icons:
- Iconfinder
- Flaticon
- SoftIcons
- IconArchive
- Icons8
- Iconstore
- DeviantArt
- FreePik
- Unblast
These websites offer a vast collection of icons in various formats, making it easy to find the perfect icon for your design project.
Fonts to Download
DaFont is one of the oldest and most popular free fonts websites in the world, containing over 60,000 fonts with zero restriction on public domain fonts.
You can browse DaFont's vast collection by alphabetical listing, style, author, or popularity, making it easy to find the perfect font for your design project.
Google Fonts is another fantastic resource, offering a robust catalog of open-source fonts and icons that can be easily integrated into your design work.
With over 1,000 free and open-source font families, Google Fonts makes it easy to make your design work more beautiful, fast, and open through great typography.
Adobe Fonts provides its subscribers with access to its font library under a single licensing agreement, making it a great option for designers who want to access thousands of beautiful fonts without worrying about licensing.
Here are some popular websites to download free fonts:
- DaFont
- Google Fonts
- Adobe Fonts
- FontBundles
- Zetafonts
- Urbanfonts
These websites offer a wide range of fonts, from script and serif to sans serif, and can be a great starting point for your design project.
Downloading Assets
Downloading assets is a crucial part of designing a website, and there are many resources available that offer free and high-quality assets.
GraphicBurger is a marketplace that offers premium quality design resources for free, including PSD files, Mock-Ups, UI Kits, Icons, Text Effects, and Backgrounds. You can download these assets for personal or commercial use, but you may not resell or redistribute them.
Pixeden is another great resource for downloading high-quality web and graphic design templates, including PSD files and UI Kits. They offer a free download option, and you can also access their premium files for $6 a month.
If you're looking for free photo-realistic mockups, Mockup World is the place to go. They offer hundreds of high-quality Photoshop files (PSDs) that you can download for free.
For illustrations, you can check out Freepik, which offers over 10 million graphic resources, including photographs, PSDs, illustrations, and vectors. You can also use Openclipart, which has over 170,000+ illustrations and clip arts that you can use for free.
You might enjoy: Web Page Ui Design
If you need icons, Iconfinder is the largest icon search engine, with over 2 million unique users per month. They offer a wide range of icons in various formats, including PNG, SVG, and AI.
Here are some websites that offer free assets for download:
- GraphicBurger
- Pixeden
- Mockup World
- Freepik
- Openclipart
- Iconfinder
- PNGtree
- Lovepik
- Icon8
- Iconstore
These resources can save you a lot of time and effort when designing a website, and they're all free to use!
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I create my own website for free?
Yes, you can create a website for free, but be aware that free plans often come with limitations on storage, features, and branding. Consider exploring free website builders like Wix, WordPress.com, or Weebly to get started.
Is there a free design app?
Yes, Canva offers a free design app for creating and editing designs. Get started with a wide range of design tools and templates at no cost.
Is Wix website design free?
Yes, Wix offers a free website design plan, but it comes with limitations, such as Wix-branded subdomains and ads. Upgrade to a premium plan for full features and customization.
Is it free to design on Canva?
Yes, Canva is free to use for anyone, but upgrading to Canva Pro unlocks premium features for work or side hustles. Get started with Canva's free plan and upgrade to Pro for unlimited templates and more.
Featured Images: pexels.com