Software Recommendations
Some of our favorite free and almost-free web tools that we’ve used to support our work over the years.
Audio/Visual & Design
- Canva Online design tool helps amateurs create appealing logos and graphics.
- Coffivity Ambient café sounds at your fingertips.
- Sticker Mule Our go-to website for creating custom stickers and other swag.
- Background Music Sprout’s favorite sonic backdrop for events and gatherings.
- Color Calculator A powerful tool to create color combinations that work together well.
- Immersive Soundscapes Multifunction website for creating aural environments.
- Noun Project Top-notch library of icons and non-language-based imagery.
- Raining.fm A website that makes you feel like you are standing in the rain.
- Unsplash Excellent collection of searchable, Creative Commons-licensed images.
- Working Music Listen to this while working on an experience design project.
Collaboration
- Etherpad Color-coded text lets many users read, write, and collaborate at once.
- G Suite Our favorite live collaboration tool. What did we do before Google Docs?
- HackMD A simple and elegant markdown editor.
- SignNow A secure way to share and sign documents.
- Slack A helpful platform for communicating that isn’t email.
Events
- Egg Timer Display a countdown timer on screen at an event.
- Eventbrite Best-in-class tool for advertising and managing in-person events.
- Icebreaker Tags A quick nametag generator for your next get-together.
- Meetup Simple-but-mighty platform helps organize events related to interest areas.
Feedback
- Typeform Super-flexible, mobile-friendly tool for creating surveys and applications.
Planning
- Bullet Journal Our favorite method for organizing your handwritten notes.
- Calendly Meeting and appointment scheduling tool with great calendar integrations.
- NeuYear Calendar A designerly calendar for multi-month planning.
- Pomodoro A time-based way to structure your working sessions. Also a fruit.
- Todokyo Lists expire at the end of each day, so hurry up.
- When Is Good? Super-simple tool for finding a time for busy people to meet.
Project Management
- Asana Our communications team swore by this task-management tool.
- Basecamp Collaborative project management tool for teams.
- Trello Organize your project using boards, lists, and cards.
Social
- Crowdrise Highly customizable crowdfunding platform with chummy customer service.
- Hootsuite Flexible social media scheduling tool; works well with multiple platforms.
- Tweetdeck Twitter-specific social media scheduling tool.