When it comes to the process of designing something – anything – in the 21st century, the internet is awash with millions of ‘resources’ that are both free and for sale. Whether the resources are 3D CAD files for a motor assembly, an After Effects template for a video transition, a Photoshop mock-up for a package design or a collection of UI icons for screen mock-ups, it can be difficult to navigate the ever-expanding forest of what’s out there in the wild.
For art director Craig Barber, he knew that there had to be a better way to wade through all of these valuable and time-saving assets – without the hassle of wasted time.
The result is a new site that he recently launched called Makerbook. The site – which he built in a mere 3 days – is a hand-picked directory of the best free resources for creatives that is perhaps the best collection that exists online.
Inspired by Bram Kanstein’s StartupStash (which is a similar directory of resources for the startup community and equally worth checking out), the directory is more or less an interactive folder of an art director’s favorite bookmarked sites.
Currently, the week-old site features eight categories for resources with more categories on the way. Those that are currently on the site include photography, mockups, graphics, textures, audio, video, fonts and colors.
In order for the resources to meet the criteria for being featured on Makerbook, they had to meet two simple rules: They had to be free and they had to be of a high-quality. As anybody who has navigated for design resources before knows, these two qualities aren’t necessarily easy to come by.
“It was not about quantity. I didn’t want to cram heaps of crappy links onto a page just for the sake of having lots of links,” said Barber in a recent Medium post. “Just the best, free sites.”
Within days out of the gate, the site has already received over 345K views – so Barber is clearly on to something. Next up, the art director will be adding new sections that focus on free and high-quality 3D content as well as custom tools…so keep your eyes peeled!
