Aaron Rolston
March 25, 2020
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8 Free Digital Resources for Creative Professionals
With the whole world turned upside-down, many creative businesses and brands are supporting creative professionals through generous discounts to their most valued resources.
8 Free Digital Resources for Creative Professionals
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Introduction
Introduction
With the whole world turned upside-down, many creative businesses + brands are supporting creative professionals through some pretty generous discounts to their most valued resources — while there are a few direct affiliate links listed below (you still get a discount, so why not?), most of these are in direct response to what’s going on, which is pretty incredible if you ask me.
With the whole world turned upside-down, many creative businesses + brands are supporting creative professionals through some pretty generous discounts to their most valued resources — while there are a few direct affiliate links listed below (you still get a discount, so why not?), most of these are in direct response to what’s going on, which is pretty incredible if you ask me.
01 — Adobe Creative Cloud
Whether you’re a photographer, videographer, designer, illustrator, or just about any other creative profession, you’re more than likely to use Adobe products to create. However, unless you’re a student or qualify for any of their other very specific discounts, it can be a pretty pricey (but necessary) resource… and given our current global state of things, that can be quite a burden.
Thankfully, they’ve responded with a generous 2-months off your current subscription! I can only report the validity of the discount via my own current subscription (monthly, photo plan + Illustrator), but I’ve heard from others that it also applies to newly added subscriptions. It’s fairly easy to access:
Go to your account and click “cancel plan” — select “it’s too expensive” as the reason for cancellation.
Continue through the process of cancelling, past the Feedback and Details pages.
Once you get to the Offers page, look to the furthest left option: It should say “Accept offer of $0.00 for the next 60 days.” Click that, and you’ve just gotten yourself 3 free months of Adobe CC!
Whether you’re a photographer, videographer, designer, illustrator, or just about any other creative profession, you’re more than likely to use Adobe products to create. However, unless you’re a student or qualify for any of their other very specific discounts, it can be a pretty pricey (but necessary) resource… and given our current global state of things, that can be quite a burden.
Thankfully, they’ve responded with a generous 2-months off your current subscription! I can only report the validity of the discount via my own current subscription (monthly, photo plan + Illustrator), but I’ve heard from others that it also applies to newly added subscriptions. It’s fairly easy to access:
Go to your account and click “cancel plan” — select “it’s too expensive” as the reason for cancellation.
Continue through the process of cancelling, past the Feedback and Details pages.
Once you get to the Offers page, look to the furthest left option: It should say “Accept offer of $0.00 for the next 60 days.” Click that, and you’ve just gotten yourself 3 free months of Adobe CC!
02 — Affinity Creative Suite
As one of the few direct competitors to Adobe in creating professional-grade digital tools for creators, the Affinity Creative Suite provides an alternative to those who aren’t interested in monthly payments or having a cloud-based workflow. I’ve only ever tried the iPad version of the Designer app (switched back to Illustrator for my saved fonts), but I can certainly attest to the level of quality and ease of use that these apps provide — and the best thing is that they’re free for 90-days, or available for purchase at 50% off!
https://affinity.serif.com/en-us/supporting-the-creative-community/
As one of the few direct competitors to Adobe in creating professional-grade digital tools for creators, the Affinity Creative Suite provides an alternative to those who aren’t interested in monthly payments or having a cloud-based workflow. I’ve only ever tried the iPad version of the Designer app (switched back to Illustrator for my saved fonts), but I can certainly attest to the level of quality and ease of use that these apps provide — and the best thing is that they’re free for 90-days, or available for purchase at 50% off!
https://affinity.serif.com/en-us/supporting-the-creative-community/
03 — MusicBed + FilmSupply
If you create any kind of video content, you’ve probably heard of MusicBed — they license high-quality music for video projects, and are a genuinely artist-centric company: meaning, they actually pay their musicians fairly and focus on delivering amazing new music on a regular basis, which I really appreciate.
The code below will get you a clean 20% off your purchase.
Use code “CREATIVES”
If you create any kind of video content, you’ve probably heard of MusicBed — they license high-quality music for video projects, and are a genuinely artist-centric company: meaning, they actually pay their musicians fairly and focus on delivering amazing new music on a regular basis, which I really appreciate.
The code below will get you a clean 20% off your purchase.
Use code “CREATIVES”
04 — Honeybook
If you have clients, you need a way to manage them (and, y’know, get paid) — HoneyBook does both of those things, and much more. I’ve been using HoneyBook as my preferred Client Relationship Manager for the last few years, and I’m constantly blown away by their commitment to actually delivering timely and useful tools that their customers ask for. It’s everything you could possibly need: Invoicing, Contracts, Proposals, Emailing, Email Templates, Calendar Sync-ing, and tons of other killer features that really make it stand above the rest, in my opinion. It’s certainly not the cheapest option, but you know what they say… “it takes money to make money”, so you might as well save 50% if you can.
Full transparency: the link below is an Affiliate link, so I’ll get a commission if you decide to go through with your purchase.
http://share.honeybook.com/aaron267
If you have clients, you need a way to manage them (and, y’know, get paid) — HoneyBook does both of those things, and much more. I’ve been using HoneyBook as my preferred Client Relationship Manager for the last few years, and I’m constantly blown away by their commitment to actually delivering timely and useful tools that their customers ask for. It’s everything you could possibly need: Invoicing, Contracts, Proposals, Emailing, Email Templates, Calendar Sync-ing, and tons of other killer features that really make it stand above the rest, in my opinion. It’s certainly not the cheapest option, but you know what they say… “it takes money to make money”, so you might as well save 50% if you can.
Full transparency: the link below is an Affiliate link, so I’ll get a commission if you decide to go through with your purchase.
http://share.honeybook.com/aaron267
05 — Trade Coffee Subscription
It might not necessarily be a digital product or service, but we all know it’s true: Coffee is part of the creative process.
I drink an obscene amount of coffee. And frankly, not just any coffee… Really, really good coffee that’s usually pretty pricey and not very close by. If you’re anything like me, you’re probably already a bit bored of some of the roasters in your area and want to try something new — something that’s legitimately delicious, not just good enough.
I was introduced to Trade Coffee from a friend that had an affiliate link just like the one below, and I’m so glad, because… I found my new favorite coffee roaster from it! Instead of having to do hours of research to find the kinds of roasters I’d be interested in, the regions that they usually buy coffee from, the typical roast dates, etc... They make it incredibly easy by using a Coffee Matching questionnaire that gathers coffee options based on how you make coffee at home. Genius.
It might not necessarily be a digital product or service, but we all know it’s true: Coffee is part of the creative process.
I drink an obscene amount of coffee. And frankly, not just any coffee… Really, really good coffee that’s usually pretty pricey and not very close by. If you’re anything like me, you’re probably already a bit bored of some of the roasters in your area and want to try something new — something that’s legitimately delicious, not just good enough.
I was introduced to Trade Coffee from a friend that had an affiliate link just like the one below, and I’m so glad, because… I found my new favorite coffee roaster from it! Instead of having to do hours of research to find the kinds of roasters I’d be interested in, the regions that they usually buy coffee from, the typical roast dates, etc... They make it incredibly easy by using a Coffee Matching questionnaire that gathers coffee options based on how you make coffee at home. Genius.
06 — Squarespace
If you’re serious about your business, craft, or cause in 2020, you need a website. Period. Squarespace makes doing that so easy — it’s the only place that I’ve ever designed websites, so I’m a tad biased, but… in my opinion, it’s the best out there for the ease-to-quality ratio.
There’s a seasonal 20% off coupon code currently on the front page of the site!
If you’re serious about your business, craft, or cause in 2020, you need a website. Period. Squarespace makes doing that so easy — it’s the only place that I’ve ever designed websites, so I’m a tad biased, but… in my opinion, it’s the best out there for the ease-to-quality ratio.
There’s a seasonal 20% off coupon code currently on the front page of the site!
07 — Lutify.me Color Grading
Another video-specific one here — if you’ve ever tried color grading your footage from scratch, you’re either a trained professional who’s been doing this for a long time, or — more likely — you’re going to be looking for some LUT’s sooner or later. In case you don’t know, LUT’s are essentially color presets for video, just like you’d use on a photo.
Lutify.me has been my go-to source of amazing, filmic LUT’s that I color all of my videos with, and they’re currently offering 30% off all packages, no strings attached.
Use code: CREATIVESTOGETHER
Another video-specific one here — if you’ve ever tried color grading your footage from scratch, you’re either a trained professional who’s been doing this for a long time, or — more likely — you’re going to be looking for some LUT’s sooner or later. In case you don’t know, LUT’s are essentially color presets for video, just like you’d use on a photo.
Lutify.me has been my go-to source of amazing, filmic LUT’s that I color all of my videos with, and they’re currently offering 30% off all packages, no strings attached.
Use code: CREATIVESTOGETHER
08 — Moo Business Cards
Arguably, my favorite part of designing a brand is making business cards — some might think they’re a thing of the past, but they’re missing out. It’s the easiest way to memorably stand out in a face-to-face interaction, and thanks to Moo, it’s never been easier, cheaper, or possible to make some seriously cool cards.
Use the link below to save 25% off your first order.
https://refer.moo.com/s/aaron434
Arguably, my favorite part of designing a brand is making business cards — some might think they’re a thing of the past, but they’re missing out. It’s the easiest way to memorably stand out in a face-to-face interaction, and thanks to Moo, it’s never been easier, cheaper, or possible to make some seriously cool cards.
Use the link below to save 25% off your first order.
https://refer.moo.com/s/aaron434
