Ready to kickstart your design journey?
Whether you’re building your first website, crafting a cool app, or just flexing your creativity muscles, good design resources are your secret weapon. But, let’s face it—most beginners don’t want to spend hundreds of dollars before their first paycheck.
In this blog
That’s why we’ve rounded up the top 10 FREE design resources perfect for beginners.
(And yes, they are actually free—no credit card traps or trial expiry dramas!)
Let’s roll out the red carpet for these pixel-perfect heroes!
Best Free Design Resources
1. Flowbite – Tailwind UI Kit (Free)
What is it?
Flowbite is a complete UI kit loaded with beautifully crafted components, designed especially for developers and designers who love working with Tailwind CSS.
Perfect for:
- Web apps
- Dashboards
- Admin panels
Why Beginners Love It:
- Plug-and-play components you can drop right into projects
- Works seamlessly with Tailwind CSS classes
- Mobile-responsive right out of the box
Flowbite removes all the guesswork from designing layouts with Tailwind. Instead of building everything from scratch, you get ready-to-go components that look professional on any device.
🔗 Related: Just getting started? Learn How to Add Custom CSS to Your WordPress Website in 3 Easy Ways!
2. Humaaans by Pablo Stanley
What is it?
Humaaans is a modular illustration library that lets you create diverse, relatable characters by mixing different hairstyles, outfits, and poses.
Perfect for:
- Onboarding screens
- About Us pages
- Portfolio websites
Why Beginners Love It:
- Super intuitive drag-and-drop building
- Fully customizable elements to match your brand
- Available in SVG and PNG formats for ultimate flexibility
Humaaans empowers you to bring warmth and personality to your projects—without needing illustration skills. Plus, the playful style is universally loved.
3. Heroicons – Beautiful SVG Icons
What is it?
Heroicons offers a treasure trove of clean, scalable SVG icons—perfectly suited for modern apps and sites.
Perfect for:
- Web dashboards
- Mobile apps
- Website navigation and buttons
Why Beginners Love It:
- 100% free for personal and commercial use
- Easy to tweak colors, stroke widths, and sizes
- Offers both solid and outline icon styles for design versatility
Icons might seem small, but they pack a punch when it comes to UI clarity. Heroicons gives you a cohesive set that keeps your designs clean and consistent.
🔗 Need more icons? Check out Free Open Source Icon Libraries for You! (Top 10).
4. UIdeck Free Templates
What is it?
UIdeck provides professionally crafted HTML, Bootstrap, and React templates to get you up and running quickly.
Perfect for:
- Startup landing pages
- SaaS dashboards
- Portfolio websites
Why Beginners Love It:
- Clean, modern designs that are easy to customize
- Save hours of development time
- No complicated setup or hidden fees
Templates can help you launch a polished website in days instead of weeks. UIdeck’s freebies are perfect for getting your ideas live without sacrificing style.
5. Icons8 – Unlimited Free Icons and More
What is it?
Icons8 is like a playground for creatives, packed with icons, illustrations, music, photos, and even AI-generated assets.
Perfect for:
- WordPress blogs
- SaaS platforms
- Social media content
Why Beginners Love It:
- Download assets in SVG, PNG, or even animated formats
- Search easily by style: flat, glyph, outline, 3D, and more
- Explore additional free tools like background remover and icon editor
Whatever your project needs, Icons8 likely has the perfect visual to match—and it saves you from hopping between different sites.
🔗 Want to improve your SEO? Learn How to Add FAQ Schema in WordPress in 5 Simple Steps!
6. Blush Design – Free Illustrations for Every Mood
What is it?
Blush offers a delightful platform filled with customizable illustrations created by top artists worldwide.
Perfect for:
- Storytelling-focused websites
- Pitch presentations
- App onboarding screens
Why Beginners Love It:
- Easy-to-use online editor
- Download high-quality SVG or PNG files
- Many illustrations are free for commercial use
Blush makes it effortless to add visual storytelling to your brand, even if you have zero design experience.
🚀 Pro Tip: Building an eCommerce site? First, Speed Up Your WooCommerce Store: Best Hacks!
7. UnDraw – Flexible Free Illustrations
What is it?
UnDraw is a massive collection of customizable SVG illustrations you can adapt to your brand’s color palette.
Perfect for:
- Tech blogs
- Hero sections
- eCommerce product pages
Why Beginners Love It:
- Easily change the primary color to match your brand
- Download and insert illustrations in just seconds
- Completely open-source with no attribution required
No more settling for off-brand stock images—UnDraw gives you tailored visuals that look sharp across all devices.
💡 Need faster load times? Use 10 Free Website Speed Test Tools to keep your designs crisp and quick.
8. Figma Community – Free Design Files
What is it?
The Figma Community is a goldmine of free-to-use UI kits, wireframes, and components shared by designers around the globe.
Perfect for:
- App prototypes
- SaaS mockups
- Complete website designs
Why Beginners Love It:
- One-click duplication into your workspace
- Tons of beginner-friendly tutorials
- Perfect for remote collaboration
Even if you are new to Figma, the Community files give you a powerful jumpstart on creating professional designs without starting from a blank canvas.
🔗 Selling products? Learn How to Add Custom Product Tabs in WooCommerce: Free and Easy Way!
9. Shapefest – Free 3D Elements
What is it?
Shapefest offers thousands of stunning, high-res 3D shapes, perfect for making your designs stand out.
Perfect for:
- Landing pages
- Walkthrough illustrations
- Presentation backgrounds
Why Beginners Love It:
- No fancy 3D software needed—just drag and drop
- Free for both personal and commercial projects
- Massive variety of objects in a “forever free” pack
3D design elements can instantly give your project a modern, dynamic feel—and with Shapefest, you do not even need any modeling skills.
🎨 Creative Edge: Elevate your typography too! Peek at 10 Best Fonts for Resume for inspiration.
10. Iconscout – Free Icons, Illustrations & 3D Assets
What is it?
Iconscout brings together thousands of icons, illustrations, and 3D assets—all beautifully organized for easy browsing.
Perfect for:
- Business websites
- Print materials like brochures
- Mobile apps
Why Beginners Love It:
- Smart categorization into collections
- Download in multiple formats (SVG, AI, Lottie)
- One-click bulk downloads save tons of time
Whether you are designing a homepage or a presentation deck, Iconscout makes it easy to find cohesive visual assets without spending a dime.
📌 Design Clean: Check How to Remove Quantity Field from WooCommerce Product Page: 2 Easy Ways for cleaner eCommerce pages!
11. TailGrids – Free UI Kit
TailGrids offers a well-organized set of pre-built UI components based on Tailwind CSS, ideal for developers and designers who want speed and consistency. The free version includes essential sections like hero banners, pricing tables, feature blocks, and more.
Why It’s Great for Beginners:
- Tailwind-compatible (perfect if you’re learning utility-first CSS)
- Easy to copy and paste into any Tailwind project
- Organized and modular structure
- Responsive and modern by default
12. Treact – Templates
Treact is a collection of React and Tailwind CSS templates featuring polished and clean designs. It includes several landing page variations, login pages, and call-to-action blocks — all styled beautifully for modern brands.
Why It’s Great for Beginners:
- Free and open source
- Comes with pre-built React components
- Tailored for startups and SaaS websites
- Fully responsive and visually appealing
💡 Use Case Idea: Great for developers building MVPs or those learning React and Tailwind at the same time.
Design Resources Combinations: Why and How to Mix Them Like a Pro
When you’re just starting out, downloading free design resources is exciting, but combining them smartly is what makes your designs shine like pros!
Let’s dive into why mixing resources matters and how you can do it like a seasoned designer, even if you are a total beginner.
Why You Should Combine Design Resources ?🚀
- Create Unique Designs
Anyone can download a UI kit or an illustration pack — but by combining different elements (say, Flowbite UI + Humaaans illustrations + Heroicons), you create something that’s uniquely yours. It helps your project stand out from the millions of “template-looking” designs out there. - Save Tons of Time
Using ready-made icons, illustrations, and templates together means you skip hours of designing from scratch.
Instead, you can focus on creative direction, layout, and storytelling. - Learn Design Systems Naturally
When you blend a UI kit with custom illustrations, you automatically start thinking about consistency — colors, font sizes, padding — which teaches you real-world UI/UX skills without even realizing it! - Build Portfolio-Ready Projects Faster
Combining different free resources gives you high-quality results fast — meaning you can create portfolio projects for clients, internships, or personal growth much quicker.
How to Combine Design Resources the Right Way?
Here’s a simple beginner-friendly method to mix and match like a pro:
1. Start with a Base UI Kit
Choose a UI Kit like Flowbite or a free template from UIdeck as your foundation.
This gives you ready-to-use layouts (buttons, cards, forms) that are already pixel-perfect.
✅ Tip: Stick to one UI kit per project to maintain visual consistency.
2. Layer in Custom Illustrations
Next, add personalized touch with free illustration packs like Humaaans, Blush, or UnDraw.
✅ Tip: Pick illustrations that match your theme. For example:
- Tech websites → use 3D elements from Shapefest.
- Portfolio websites → try Humaaans or Blush.
🎨 Customize illustration colors to match your UI kit’s color palette for a harmonious look.
3. Enhance Functionality with Icons
Finally, use lightweight icons from Heroicons or Icons8 to polish details like navigation menus, call-to-action buttons, or feature lists.
✅ Tip:
- Stick to one icon style (either outlined or solid) per project.
- Keep icon sizing and padding consistent throughout your design.
4. Tie Everything Together With a Unified Color Palette
Before you launch your design, apply a consistent color palette across all resources.
You can generate beautiful palettes for free — check out 10+ Best Color Palette Generators for Stunning Designs for help!
✅ Tip:
Use no more than three primary colors and one accent color to avoid visual clutter.
5. Optimize for Speed and Clarity
Big files slow down your website or app. After combining illustrations, UI, and icons:
- Compress images.
- Minify SVGs.
- Optimize CSS styling.
(Need help with optimization? Here’s How to Minify JavaScript and CSS files in WordPress!)
Sample Combos for Beginners: Ready-to-Use Design Packs
| Combos | UI Kit (Base) | Illustration Pack | Icon Library | Best For |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Flowbite | Blush (Cartoon Style) | Heroicons | Startup landing pages, portfolios |
| 2 | UIdeck Freebies | UnDraw (Monochrome/Minimal) | Feather Icons | Blogs, agencies, personal sites |
| 3 | TailGrids Free UI Kit | Blush (Cartoon Style) | Boxicons | SaaS tools, tech websites |
| 4 | Treact Templates | Humaaans | Tabler Icons | Creative agencies, freelancers |
| 5 | TailGrids Free UI Kit | UnDraw (Monochrome/Minimal) | Icons8 | Product launches, email pages |
How to Use These Combos:
- Download each resource and import them into your design tool (Figma, Sketch, Adobe XD).
- Adjust the illustrations’ color to match the UI kit’s palette.
- Replace placeholder icons in the UI kit with the icon pack you chose.
- Test responsiveness across mobile and desktop.
- Export and celebrate — you’ve just created a pro-level design without spending a dime!
Need help learning CSS to fine-tune your visuals? Check out our post: Top 10 Free Sources to Learn CSS Easily 🎓
Pro Tips for Using Free Design Resources Like a Boss🛠️
1. Optimize before uploading
Always compress images and icons using tools like TinyPNG or Squoosh. Smaller file sizes = faster load times = happier users.
2. Stay consistent
Mixing too many different styles (flat, 3D, cartoon, realistic) can make your project feel chaotic. Pick one or two consistent visual styles.
3. Always check licenses
Even though everything listed here is free, it is good practice to double-check licenses. Some assets require attribution for commercial use.
Common Mistakes When Mixing Design Resources (And How to Avoid Them)
Even with the best freebies in hand, mixing UI kits, icons, and illustrations can go sideways fast if you’re not careful. Let’s break down the most common beginner mistakes — and how you can dodge them like a pro!
1. Using Inconsistent Design Styles ❌
The Mistake:
Mixing a sleek minimal UI kit with hand-drawn doodle illustrations or combining ultra-detailed 3D visuals with flat icons.
Why It’s a Problem:
It creates a jarring visual experience and makes your design feel unprofessional.
How to Fix It:
- Stick to one overall visual style: flat, outline, 3D, or minimal.
- Check if the illustrations and icons use similar line weights, color palettes, and shadows.
- If in doubt, use resources from the same platform (e.g., Blush has multiple illustration packs with matching styles).
2. Mixing Too Many Fonts and Colors ❌
The Mistake:
Downloading a UI kit and then randomly changing fonts or adding colors that don’t match the original palette.
Why It’s a Problem:
It breaks visual harmony and distracts the user from your message.
How to Fix It:
- Limit yourself to two fonts: one for headings and one for body text.
- Use a color palette generator to stick to 3–4 complementary colors max.
- Always pick illustrations and icons that can be custom-colored to match your palette.
3. Ignoring Mobile Responsiveness ❌
The Mistake:
Combining big illustrations, full-width UI components, and icons without checking how they look on smaller screens.
Why It’s a Problem:
You risk creating clunky mobile experiences — especially if you’re building WordPress or WooCommerce sites.
How to Fix It:
- Use responsive-friendly UI kits like Treact.
- Test your layout in tools like Figma’s device preview or your browser’s dev tools.
- If you’re building a WordPress site, here’s How to Customize Your WooCommerce Thank You Page in 3 Easy Steps to make sure even confirmation screens look polished on mobile!
4. Forgetting to Compress and Optimize Assets ❌
The Mistake:
Downloading large SVGs or illustrations and using them as-is without compressing.
Why It’s a Problem:
It slows down your website or app — especially if you’re using multiple illustrations.
How to Fix It:
- Use free tools like SVGOMG to compress SVGs.
- Use TinyPNG to reduce PNG file size.
- For WordPress users, check out ways to speed up your website.
5. Not Giving Credit (When Required) ❌
The Mistake:
Using free assets in commercial projects without checking the license.
Why It’s a Problem:
You might violate the creator’s terms — and yes, legal issues can come up even with free assets.
How to Fix It:
- Always check the license file or terms on the resource’s site.
- Look for “MIT,” “CC0,” or “free for commercial use” labels.
- When credit is required, add a simple line in your footer or about section (e.g., “Illustrations by UnDraw”).
🧠 Bonus Tip: Keep a Personal Resource Library
Over time, you’ll find your favorite combinations — maybe you always pair Flowbite with Humaaans and Feather Icons.
Create a Google Drive or Notion board to keep:
- Download links
- License details
- Example screenshots
This saves you time and keeps your workflow smooth and organized
Final Thoughts
Designing your first website, app interface, or landing page doesn’t have to be overwhelming — especially when you’ve got a toolbox full of free, beginner-friendly resources like UI kits, illustrations, and icons. With the right combinations and a little guidance (you’ve got plenty now!), you can craft professional-looking designs without spending a dime.
Whether you’re a WordPress newbie, a Figma fan, or a code-curious creative, these tools help you skip the blank canvas fear and jump straight into building something beautiful.
👉 Just remember:
- Match styles for visual consistency
- Keep things simple and responsive
- Optimize and test before launch
And if you’re blending design with WordPress, you’re already on the fast track! Check out UI Design: Ultimate Guide for best results and free mockup website for more beginner wins.
Now go ahead — download a kit, open your design tool, and start creating. The internet is your canvas. 🎨
