Resources
Design tools
Indies rarely need a full Adobe suite on day one. These tools cover UI, marketing pages, and light asset work with a small learning curve. Favor whatever gets a credible landing page and product screens live. Polish can wait until users care.
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Figma
Default UI and design collaboration tool for mockups, systems, and marketing layouts.
Framer
Design-to-site tool for polished marketing pages without a separate frontend sprint.
Bannerbear
Jon Yongfook’s API for auto-generating social images, OG graphics, and video from templates.
Coolors
Fast palette generator for establishing a simple brand color system.
Excalidraw
Hand-drawn style diagrams for architecture sketches and product explainers.
Fontshare
Quality free fonts for marketing sites and product UI without licensing drama.
Penpot
Open-source design platform for UI work when you want an alternative to Figma.
Photopea
Browser Photoshop alternative for quick asset edits without a subscription.
tldraw
Infinite canvas whiteboard for wireframes, flows, and collaborative sketching.