Resources

Our favourite tools and resources to help you grow your business and live a more spacious life.

Some of the tools I share on this page are affiliate links, meaning I would get a small commission if you sign up using these links. But please know that I only share tools I highly value and trust.

For Designers

'Start Your Own Design Studio' Checklist mockup on pages on a natural, stone background.

Section Styles full-width

For Designers

Checklist For Starting Your Own Design Studio

Got big dreams but no idea where to start? Grab a free copy of our checklist where we outline our most important steps for starting up your design business.

Section Styles full-width

Read the latest for designers

Trusted Designer Resources

    • Branding w/Bre
      This was the first course I took before I started specializing in branding as a service. It focuses on the behind the scenes process from start to finish and equips you with all the tools to feel confident in starting out as a brand designer.

      *GET $25 OFF WITH CODE ‘BWB25OFF’

    • Standout Squarespace
      This is the most phenomenal, game-changing course to uplevel your website design and development skills on Squarespace. More than just a course, it’s a community - and one that has completely transformed my skillset when it comes to building gorgeous and functional websites on Squarespace.

    • Amplify Shopify
      If you want to learn how to easily build e-commerce websites on Shopify through a seamless process, then this is the course for you. I believe Shopify is the best web platform for e-commerce brands who want to grow and this course will show you how to equip your clients with functional, robust and beautiful websites.

    • Illustrator Essentials
      Whether you’re a newbie designer or a seasoned Adobe professional, there’s something you can learn from this course. From keyboard shortcuts to advanced tools, you’ll walk away from this course feeling 1000% more confident in your design skills on Adobe Illustrator.

    • Design Intensive Master Training
      If you want to learn about how to effectively implement design intensives into your business, then this is the course for you. From pitching them, to structuring them and running them with clients, this course has been a game-changer for this studio.

      *GET $100 OFF WITH CODE ‘ROXYL’

    • Adobe Creative Cloud
      The holy grail of software for designers & creative entrepreneurs. From patterns & vectors to videos & social graphics, Adobe Creative Cloud is the single most powerful software subscription you can have.

    • Loom
      I use Loom to record video walkthroughs of presentations and explain design rationale rather than writing up long explanations. This way, you don’t always have to co-ordinate time zones & jump on a call to explain something.

    • Calendly
      I use Calendly to easily schedule calls with my clients. I set my available hours for Discovery calls and Strategy workshops, and then just send over the relevant link for clients to choose a slot. Calendly integrates with Zoom and schedules the call on your behalf.

    • Zoom
      Ditch the back-and-forth emails, and just have face-to-face conversations with people! Not only will this streamline your process, help you communicate more clearly & make great connections, but it also helps you pick up potential red flags with clients sooner.

    • Procreate (for iPad)
      I use Procreate to create all hand-lettered type and custom illustrations and textures. Procreate is a great, easy-to-use tool for this and easily exports files to embed into Illustrator.

    • Notion
      From saving inspiration and keeping track of day-to-day tasks to managing client projects & timelines with custom client portals, Notion has endless possibilities for organisation and customisation and is a great place to brain-dump everything business-wise.

    • The Noun Project
      A growing collection of icons (in SVG and PNG) to use for your projects - free to use with attribution or without attribution if you opt for a paid plan.

    • Canva
      Whilst I don’t believe in creating original designs or logos in Canva, it’s a great tool for creating branded templates for clients to use going forward. It’s got some great AI functionality which helps the design process.

    • GoFullPage Plugin
      GoFullPage is a great Google Chrome plugin that takes full length screenshots of websites that you can download as PNG or PDFs. Great alternative to a screenshot which only captures the active screen area.

    • Moyo Studio
      Moyo Studio has a beautiful collection of mockups, scene creators and lifestyle stock photos. From digital devices to paper and packaging, they have it all.
      *Use code ‘WILLOWWHITE’ to get 15% off your order!

    • Rebecca Berrington
      Rebecca Berrington’s mockups and templates are the ultimate in editorial sophistication. With an organic and luxurious feel, they’ll have you in neutral heaven.

    • Studio Kynd
      A gorgeous collection of organic-feel mockups, stock photos as well as videos with a very natural and airy, light feel.

    • Studio Standard
      An extensive collection of high-quality, bold and modern templates and premium mockups.

      *Use code ‘WILLOWANDWHITESTUDIO’ to get 20% off your order!

    • October November
      October November offer both free and paid mockups with a specific focus on editorial product, packaging and paper-based mockups.

    • Olivia Atkinson Photos
      If you’re looking for warm, editorial premium stock photos then this is the place to look. A range of lifestyle photos from interiors & decor to food and cosmetics.

    • Stocksy
      Stocksy offers a highly-curated collection of premium and progressive stock photography, illustrations and video with various licensing options available.

    • Pexels (free)
      One of my absolute favourite stock photo resources when it comes to free options. They have a wide variety of diverse and creative photos that can be shared with clients for their own marketing use too.

    • Unsplash (free)
      Another great free stock photo resource with a wide variety of beautiful photos to choose from for client projects.

    • Creative Market
      Creative Market is an online hub with an extremely large variety of verified creatives selling various graphics, mock-ups, fonts, templates and images.

    • Death To Stock
      Death To Stock is a membership that provides you with fresh, authentic stock photos and videos that ‘aren’t cheesy or overused’.

    • Flodesk
      Definitely a designer’s email marketing tool of choice. Flodesk offers it all - beautiful, functional and easy-to-use email marketing.

      *Get 50% off your first year here.

    • Planoly
      Organize, plan, and amplify your social media strategy all in one place. I particularly love using Planoly to plan my IG feed to ensure I’m happy with the aesthetic before I post.

    • Inshot (app)
      When I do create IG reels myself, I use InShot to collate them, add graphics and add effects - all easily from the app on my phone. It’s user-friendly and has all the functionality you need on the free plan.

For Business Owners

Phone screen size mock-ups of an editorial stock image collection.

Section Styles full-width

GRAB THE FREEBIE

Elevate Your Brand With Our Curated Collection Of Editorial Stock Photos

Get your hands on our thoughtfully curated collection of 30 high-quality free stock photos that you can start using now on your social media or website. No need to spend hours searching online, we’ve done the sourcing work for you.

Section Styles full-width

Read the latest for business owners

Section Styles full-width

Business Tools We Love

Our most-reached-for tools for managing a seamless business.

Our go-to web building platform for service-based businesses. Secure, easy-to-manage websites with great support and built-in functionality.

1

Our go-to for e-commerce businesses - it’s easy to manage and has robust, powerful features & functionality to support growth.

2

The holy grail of software for designers & creative entrepreneurs. From vectors to videos, Adobe Creative Cloud is where it’s at.

3

A screen recorder that exists as a Chrome plugin. Send a video explaining a concept to a client rather than sending a lengthy email.

4

Remove the complication of time zones and calendars - Calendly allows you to schedule calls with clients with ease & simplicity.

5

Whether it’s for a client project portal, or to track anything from your goals to expenses - Notion is your one-stop-shop to organization.

6

Working remotely has never been so easy - Zoom allows you to schedule face-to-face video calls with your clients anywhere in the world.

7

Plan out & schedule content for your Instagram feed without the headache. Planoly helps you plan your perfect aesthetic IG feed.

8

Why should you put up with ugly newsletters? Flodesk offers it all - beautiful, functional and easy-to-use email marketing.

9

We use Wise to make and receive payments in various currencies with great exchange rates & low processing fees.

10

Send your invoices through Paypal for ultimate convenience so that clients from across the globe can pay you with a click of a button.

11

Track your monthly income and expenses and send invoices all in one place. *No longer accepting new South African sign-ups.

12

Get your contracts conveniently digitally signed by clients at the click of a button. No more headaches with manual sending & signing.

13

Canva is an incredibly powerful and user-friendly design tool for entrepreneurs. From social graphics to video content, Canva can do it all.

14

Google Workspace seamlessly integrates everything that you and your team need to get anything done, all in one place.

15