But for those designers just starting out, or for those designers who are considering getting into design, the amount of information can be a little overwhelming. Couple this with Paper Leaf’s desire to give back to the design community, and this is what you get: the All-in-One Graphic Design Starter’s Kit. The idea behind this kit is for it to be a one-stop shop for those getting into design – and for it to be completely free. It includes free software (for both Mac & Windows – photo/raster editing, vector editing, and HTML/CSS WYSIWYG editing), eBooks, textures, vectors, brushes, and awesome fonts. If you were to have no idea where to start, you could come here, download everything, read the eBooks and corresponding software guides, and have a great starting point.

This “kit” was originally intended to be a zipped file containing all of the links below; however, it clocked in at about half a gigabyte, which I thought most people wouldn’t want to sit and download (plus it would put a strain on our hosting). Thus, I’ve broken down the kit into the elements that made it up, and linked to them all below – and making this All-in-One Graphic Design Starter’s Kit a series of links and downloadable sections, which allows people to pick and choose what elements they want.

All of these items are free, open-source and legal for both me to share & you to download – however, please don’t claim any of them as your own. All of the items in this design kit required a lot of time & effort from their respective creators, so give ‘em some love! Hit the jump for all the amazing links and downloadables that make up the Free All-in-One Graphic Design Starter Kit!

Software

Not everyone can afford the industry-standard design software – that being Adobe’s Creative Suite – so here are three open-source alternatives that will allows you to do virtually the same kind of work.

GIMP (Snow Leopard) (Leopard) (Windows)

GIMP is a free, open-source raster-editing program – like Photoshop.

Inkscape (OSX) (Windows)

Inkscape is a free, open-source vector-editing program – like Illustrator.

Kompozer (OSX) (Windows)

Kompozer is a free, open-source HTML/CSS WYSIWYG editor – like Dreamweaver.

EBooks

You can’t learn everything about design from a few eBooks, but they can sure give you a good launching point! Below is a zipped file with 3 awesome, free design eBooks from Scribd.

Compilation of three great design eBooks!

Textures

(via Bittbox)

Much love to Bittbox, a site that has been around a while and consistently shares great design elements – like these textures, below.

High-res wood textures

High-res grunge textures

High-res paper textures

More textures!

Fonts

There are a ton of free fonts and free font sites out there, but most are garbage. FontSquirrel is the best, in my opinion, and here are some of their top free fonts.

Top Free Serif Fonts

Top Free Sans-Serif Fonts

Top Free Display Fonts

Top Free Hand-drawn Fonts

Top Free Script Fonts

Vectors

No sense reinventing the wheel if you just need some design elements to complement your design. Below is a zip file containing a bunch of free vectors. Most of these come from Vecteezy.

Compilation pack of free vectors!

Brushes

Same as above – a zip file containing a bunch of free raster brushes. Some from Bittbox, some from Brusheezy.

Compilation pack of free brushes!

Keep in mind that no single “kit” or post will ever make you a complete and well-rounded designer. Use this kit as a starting point, but keep learning! Become involved in the design community – both your local one and the web’s – and you’ll grow faster than you ever imagined. Happy designing, and if you liked the post, please share and subscribe to the RSS feed!

Below are the 15 Best Holiday Gifts for Designers. Now, it’s not like these gifts are only available to members of some ultra top secret Designers Club of the Universe or anything – I picked them because they are either directly design-related, or the design of the object is something unique – a design that someone who is a design professional would most likely appreciate. If you want more, check out the 10 Cool Items for Your Design Workspace article too! Share, enjoy & subscribe to the RSS feed!

Objectified DVD

Directed by Gary Hustwit (also did the Helvetica documentary), this look into the minds of industrial designers will provide both entertainment and inspiration to any designer. BluRays are also available, but the DVD is $20.

Mimo Mini USB Monitor

I know – we would all love to rock two Apple Cinema displays in our workspace. Unfortunately, I do not sleep on a pile of cash at night and you probably don’t either (if you do, call me & let’s hang out). For those of you who are in the same boat as me, I present to you the Mimo Mini USB monitor. Tiny, USB-powered and useful, you can plug this in to your laptop or desktop computer and have another screen for items like your Photoshop tools, reminders, IM screens and such. $129-$229.

Hit the jump for more!

Typography Poster
(via swissmiss)

What fun is having a killer design workspace if you can’t decorate it a bit? Check out this beautiful floral typography poster – handscreened and $100. Various others in her store too.

Helvetica Notebook

Every designer has or needs a notebook, and near-every designer loves the Helvetica typeface. Well look here – two birds with one stone! $22.

Very Secret Sketchbook

Remember how I said near-every designer loves Helvetica? Well, if the designer you’re shopping for hates Helvetica, here’s an alternative – the Very Secret Sketchbook. $29 (because it’s $7 extra for the secrecy).

Fossil Analog Watch

Us designers have to keep track of our hours or else we end up working for peanuts, which isn’t cool. Help keep track of time with this sweet analog Fossil watch – beautifully designed. $95

Timber T-Shirts

So I’ve become ridiculously picky with how my tees fit, and pretty much only wear American Apparel. I was getting tired of wearing design-free tees though, so I went online and looked around. I came across Timber t-shirts – hand-illustrated and screened by a guy on Etsy, and they are glorious. I have 4 now – the illustrations are amazing, the print job is fantastic, he gets orders out quickly, and the shirts are comfy as hell. Pick one (or four) up for between $18 and $27 each.

iPhone Felt Case

Seems that every person on earth either has an iPhone, or wants one. But the iPhone’s slick design means it’s viable to get busted up pretty bad if you drop it – enter the iPhone Felt Case, another Etsy find. Cute, affordable, practical and handmade – so order one quick. $40 – if it’s sold out, there’s others kicking around, or send the guy a message.

Manhattan Portage Messenger Bag

A messenger bag is a messenger bag, right? Nope. Wrong again. The beauty of this bag lies in its simplicity – no extraneous, bulky cargo pockets or any of that junk. Just a simple bag that works. I have the red one though, so don’t bite my style. $65

Laptop Drybag
(via swissmiss)

So you can fire your laptop in your new Manhattan Portage bag, but what happens if you fall into a pond? Or decide to swim a few laps and forget to take your bag off? Or any number of more realistic water-ruining-your-life situations. You could put your lappy in this drybag and save yourself a ton of heartache & cash by preventing water damage – $? (sorry, site’s all German – but dig around and you can find the cost).

Nooka Wallet
(via swissmiss)

Since we’re all designers and thus high rollers with fat wallets, why not pick up this rubber Nooka wallet? It’s expandable to hold all that mad coin you got from that last design job for your cousin the realtor. $35

Not a Paper Cup

Is it a cup? Is it a paper cup? Is it a porcelain cup? WHO KNOWS?!?! Well, actually, it says right on the box that it’s specifically not a paper cup and is, in fact, made out of porcelain. But whatever, it’s sweet. $18

Woodgrain Portfolio

Your print design work is sweet, so don’t present it in a cut-out-and-taped-together Miller Lite box. Try this gorgeous woodgrain portfolio from Veer – $179

Iomega StorCenter

For those who are looking for a more techy gift, check out the Iomega StorCenter. Cheap & feature-laden, it provides a ton of storage and Time Machine support. $279 (1TB)

Pentagram Calendar

The new year is almost here – keep track of all the awesome jobs you have booked in 2010 with the Pentagram Calendar. Pentagram the design studio, not the devil’s symbol, that is. $26 or $44.

There you go – 15 of the best gifts for designers (or yourself, if you want) this holiday season. If you enjoyed the article, please share it, subscribe, or buy me any of the above items as a token of your appreciation. Later!