Design Labels, Mailers, and More with These Free, Online Tools

You don't have to have a design degree to create professional-looking business cards, labels, mailers, and anything else you might need to get the word out about your side gig. From professional, copyright-free photography and illustrations to a quick-and-easy, online design tool, here are five free resources we think you'll love.

Canva

Very intuitive and user-friendly, Canva.com is fantastic and free. You can design with your own custom measurements in mind or begin with one of countless templates, including print posters, business cards, labels, and assorted social media post types, among others. Canva offers numerous fonts, icons, images, and other assets at no cost. (You can also upload your own images to incorporate into your layouts.)

Although some extra-special items aren't free, the site is robust enough to come away with designs you like and you need not spend a penny.

Freepik

If it's artwork or photography you need, Freepik.com has a wide, searchable assortment. Overall, the quality is very good, and much of what you'll find there is free and available for commercial use. Just pay attention to copyright notices and attributions associated with contributors of any items you use. Be advised, while low- and mid-level image resolution sizes are usually free to download, some high-res versions may require login or fees.

Pixabay and Morguefile

There are lots and lots of free image sites online, but Pixabay.com and Morguefile.com are two with good, free images covering a wide range of subject areas. Although some paid images are mixed in, they are clearly identified and can be filtered out of search results. As with Freepik, you should pay attention to copyright notices and attributions associated with the contributors of any items you end up using.

Wikimedia Commons

If you want something historic, unusual, or particularly obscure, you might find it via Wikimedia Commons. The quality of the photos, illustrations, and other files you'll find here vary widely. So do the copyright permissions. Still, many items are available under flexible, open-source licenses or are within the public domain. With a little patience—and depending on the categories you search through—you just might find the perfect graphic here.