It is amazing how design finds its way into all professions. Whether you are a graphic-design guru, a website developer, a technical writer, or any other professional who has some sort of visual element in their day-to-day (so, everyone), you are surrounded by design. So let us dive into some resources for the non-designers.

Adobe Help
Adobe can be a fickle mistress, controlling our experience through buried functions, robust shortcut keys, and a beautiful array of possibilities. It is amazing how creative a non-designer can be once given the power through Adobe Creative Cloud. But for those who aren’t willing or able to sit in on weeks of Adobe workshops, here are a few resources that may help.

• InDesignSecrets
  InDesignSecrets is a creative network family of sites and services for InDesign users. Considered the world’s best resource for all things InDesign, InDesignSecrets has a robust network of help forums, sites, and services that help users get past the most grueling of holdups.
• LinkedIn Learning
  LinkedIn Learning (formerly Lynda.com) is an online learning platform that has a bounty of lessons on everything from creative practice to business practice. It is primarily for multimedia and software development, and student accounts are affordable and provide valuable resources like software tutorials, design concepts, and coding fundamentals. If you don’t believe me, read the reviews—LinkedIn Learning speaks for itself.

Adobe Resources
Not every design project starts from scratch. Designers often use resources or inspiration from other creators or creative spaces. Often borrowing a simple brush stroke, font, swatch, or pattern will evolve one’s work into something unexpected. So here are a few resources you can mine.

• Jotform.com: A Gold Mine of Adobe Illustrator Resources
  Melissa Scroggins has done the design community a huge favor and listed over two hundred free Adobe Illustrator resources. On the blogging platform Jotform.com, Scroggins lists an awing amount of brushes, patterns, symbols, vectors, and swatches. This is a post worth getting lost in.
• Font Squirrel
  Font Squirrel is a legitimately free typeface resource that has thousands of completely legal and high-quality fonts. Font Squirrel handpicks and organizes popular fonts for easy finds, but depending on the typeface, designers can go down any serif or sans-serif rabbit hole they would like.

There are thousands of resources out there, and these are only a few; but hopefully these help those who either are just getting into design or need some online inspiration. Happy designing!