15 Best Tools & Resources for Designers in 2022

Every designer has tools and tips that find use in most every project. Since some of these design tools become dated over time these designers have to be constantly on the lookout for ones that can help them keep up to date with the competition.

Keeping up to date by making incremental changes can be fine. But you really need to be on the lookout for products that can put you ahead of the game and there are more than a few out there. They range from applications that can streamline and speedup project and business operation workflows to contemporary design aids such as advanced interactive, animation, and eye-catching visual effects.

Search hard enough and you might even come across a genuine game-changer.

The fact is you just might find one of those among the following top 15 tools and website design resources.

1. Trafft

While Trafft may be relatively new, its automated booking solutions are already being used worldwide to help businesses manage their appointments. Trafft is easy to install and put into use and operates without requiring any special technical support.

Trafft offers a free plan and 3 paid plans, which include a 14-day free trial and each plan can be tailored to fit your business’s needs. Some of the possibilities for managing your business through Trafft are:

• Trafft can manage an unlimited number of appointments at multiple locations.
• Trafft integrates seamlessly with Google Calendar, Google Meet, MailChimp, SendFox, Zoom Meetings, Zapier, and other services.
• With Trafft, your booking page can be customized to fit your brand.
• All Trafft plans come with SMS and Email notifications, group booking capabilities, employee scheduling, and online payment features including taxes.

Trafft software is GDPR compliant and provides highly secure end-to-end encryption.

Click on the banner to learn more about what Trafft can do for your business.

2. Be — The Biggest WordPress and portfolio WordPress theme

Three BeTheme key features, BeBuilder, Theme Options 3, and the 650+ customizable Pre-built Websites, together with this theme’s other core features give Be’s users unlimited design opportunities.

• The fast and flexible BeBuilder offers an array of page-building features that allows you to create limitless layout possibilities by importing from Be’s pre-built website’s 3000+ pages and import, export, save, and retrieve blocks of content and design revisions to create pages the way you’ve always wanted to.
• Theme Options 3’s 600+ settings allow users to globally set portfolio, shop, and blog page styles and modify design elements and their layouts.
• Be’s 650+Pre-built Websites get designers off to a fast start. Users can then create virtually any layout using BeBuilder and other of Be’s core features.

Click on the banner to learn more about BeTheme and the new BeBuilder.

3. Total WordPress Theme

Total is a powerful WordPress theme that lets you build your page layouts the way you want to without being distracted by restrictions or limitations some software tools impose.

Total also makes web design easy for both designers and developers –

• by providing easy access to 90+ Section templates, 75+ pre-styled post entry cards, and 45+ quick-import sample demos to help them build websites fast.
• enabling them to create and customize their web designs with its drag & drop front end page builder, 500+ live customizer settings, and a built-in font manager.
• making complete control of the development process using Vanilla JavaScript with its built-in hooks & filters, 600+ snippets, and custom addons.

Total is compatible with WooCommerce, bbPress, WPML, Toolset, LearnDash, Sensei, TablePress, and other plugins.

Click on the banner to see what Total could do for you.

4. Amelia

Amelia offers an easy-to-use, automated, and highly customizable solution to businesses that rely on manual or semi-automated appointment booking processes.

• Amelia is an excellent choice for beauty, healthcare, fitness, consulting, educational, and training enterprises.
• Clients can make or manage appointments online 24/7.
• Amelia manages individual and group bookings, events, and employee schedules at multiple locations.
• Amelia integrates seamlessly with Google and Outlook Calendars, WooCommerce, Zoom, various payment methods and several most famous page builders.

5. Slider Revolution

If you have trouble bridging the gap between what your clients want and what you are able to provide, Slider Revolution could be the solution to your problem.

This versatile WordPress plugin was designed to satisfy clients’ demands for trendy, over-the-top web designs and features –

• 200+ awesome website and slider templates and 25+ powerful addons
• eye-catching WebGL slide animations
• the ability to import dynamic content from social media outlets

6. wpDataTables

Most table or chart-building plugins on the market are limited in the amount of data they can easily process out in the usability of the tables or charts they can produce. wpDataTables does not have these limitations.

With this premium WordPress plugin, you can –

• create responsive, interactive, informative, and front-end editable tables and charts
• process massive amounts of data from various sources and formats in seconds or minutes
• highlight or color code key data.

7. WHATFONTIS

WHATFONTIS is the only tool that helps designers identify fonts regardless on the foundry (yes, even Google Fonts!) . In a matter of seconds you can find an uploaded image in a matter of seconds.

• Powerful AI search algorithms and the 850K+ font database are at the core of this apps impressive capabilities.
• Although positive identification is achieved 90% of the time, one-on-one support is available should the AI algorithms yield an awkward result.
• Cursive fonts can be recognized if the letters are separated.

8. Essential Grid

The developers of the premium Essential Grid WordPress gallery plugin have created a collection of artistic, easily-customizable plug-and-play templates that make creating a breathtaking portfolio gallery that will inject new life into a website easy and rewarding.

• Your galleries will load super-fast and will display perfectly on any device.
• There is a variety of layouts to choose from and you can mix and match adjustable grids to get exactly what you want.

9. LayerSlider

LayerSlider could do a lot to make 2022 a banner year for you. This powerful WordPress plugin is loaded with features to transform your website with eye-catching graphics and breathtaking animations together with -

• a collection of 150+ website, slider, and popup templates
• an intuitive and modern editor like those found in professional desktop applications
• thousands of icons, custom typefaces, shape generator, and other helpful add-ons

10. Uncode — Creative & WooCommerce WordPress Theme

Uncode is a pixel-perfect multiuse theme for creatives, and agencies. Uncode’s key features include –

• A souped-up Page Builder
• An advanced WooCommerce builder with supporting capabilities that include a Single Product builder and a host of customer-centric design elements and options
• A Wireframes Plugin and 550+ section templates that give users maximum design flexibility
• A gallery of inspirational websites created by some of Uncode’s many users.

11. XStore — Best WordPress WooCommerce Theme for eCommerce

XStore is a popular feature-packed WooCommerce theme that is fast, easy to work with, and is available at a bargain price.

• XStore’s 110+ customizable shops, 550+ pre-made sections, and built-in Single Product page builder make creating your own shop as easy as possible
• XStore integrates smoothly and seamlessly with the Elementor and WPBakery page builders
• $510 worth of handpicked “must have” premium plugins come with the package

12. Get illustrations Stock Illustrations Bundle

Get illustrations’ library of premium illustrations could change for the better the way you go about designing your websites, apps, and presentations.

• Its 10,000+ illustrations library is the biggest of its kind.
• Featured formats include Vector AI, PNG, Sketch, SVG, Figma, and Adobe XD

Each illustration you download comes with a commercial license and is yours to keep and use as you wish.

13. Litho — Multipurpose Elementor WordPress Theme

Litho is a multipurpose Elementor WordPress theme that is a deal for designers and agencies that build small business niche, portfolio, blog, or eCommerce websites.

• Litho’s WordPress Customizer and Elementor custom widgets give its users the flexibility they need to build what they want.
• Litho users have ready access to 37+ home pages, 300+ design templates, and more than 200 creative elements.

Litho’s provides detailed online documentation and offers excellent user support.

14. Mobirise Website Builder Software

Mobirise is fast, easy and intuitive to use, and the best offline website builder on the market.

• Mobirise does not tie you to a specific platform; you own your site, you can edit it locally, and host it wherever you want to.
• Access to HTML allows you to code if you choose.
• 5,500+ blocks and templates are included.

The Mobirise website builder is free for commercial as well as personal use.

15. 8bio — Link in Bio Tool

Social media platforms like Instagram and TikTok allow you to include a link that allows followers to visit your website or an important landing page. With 8bio you can create a link that a visitor will feel compelled to click on.

Your link can –

• Present a brief biographical profile of your business or yourself
• feature a catchy animated image
• be monetized and include a shopping cart
• use your existing domain or a “yourname”.8b.io domain.

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Continual improvement is something all designers seek, or at least should seek. Incremental improvement is fine most of the time, but it often requires something more in order to keep abreast of or charge ahead of the competition.

That something more can range from game-changing design tools or resources that can streamline and speedup workflows to implementing trendy new design practices including special effects.

You might have come across a game-changer among the following top 15 tools and resources for designers presented here. But at the very least you should find one or more that will help to keep you up with or ahead of the rest of the pack.