Discounted Graphic Design Tools During COVID

By Yay Images

The coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has had a major impact across all industries, and stock media companies are no different. Over at Yay Images, we’ve been through our fair share of ups and downs, just like many agencies in our field. This crisis has motivated our team, along with many major players in the stock media industry, to come together as one and give back to businesses and designers in need.

We’ve talked to several amazing stock media and graphics companies, and asked them to contribute to this post. Their immediate response was, “How can we help?” While our beloved CEPIC conference has been postponed, we’ve been overwhelmed by the support and generosity from our industry’s top agencies and graphics companies.

A big thank you to all who have contributed. Without further ado, here’s a list of discounted graphic design tools for content creators during this time, along with how they’re responding to the crisis.

Discounted Graphic Design Tools During the Coronavirus

Creative Assets and Stock Media Collections

Yay Images
Dreamstime
Depositphotos
Shutterstock
Getty / iStock
Alamy
Pond5
AGEfotostock
imago images
Gaopin Images
Purestock
123RF

SaaS Graphic Design Tools

VectorGrove
Canva
Freepik
Stencil
Fotor
Crello
Pickit
RelayThat
Snappa
Designs.ai
Visme
Pixlr Premium

Creative Assets and Stock Media Collections

1. Yay Images

With over 11 million high-quality images, vectors, and graphics, Yay Images has grown from its humble Norwegian roots and become a big player in the stock media industry.

The team has taken a big interest in supporting businesses online and offline during this pandemic, along with their customers. For current YayImages customers, any accounts past due will remain active for an additional 60 days with no penalty.

New members can get their first 3 months free on any image plans. Just use the promo code “YAYHELP” at checkout, valid until May 31th.

YayImages has also teamed up with AppSumo on the Software Fund, which offers over $1M in free software to brick-and-mortar companies affected by the crisis. Learn more here.

2. Dreamstime

Dreamstime knows that great ideas shouldn’t be limited to the office – they can come right from your home. That’s why they’re offering 40% off until May 31st. Access the discount here.

Maintaining your visual identity and communicating effectively during the pandemic is definitely not easy — that’s why Dreamstime has also put together resources for creatives to ensure that visual messages are sensitive and accurate. They’ve also created a best practice guide for creating COVID-19 visuals.

To help support NGOs, Dreamstime is also offering a free membership for qualifying NGO companies. You can apply here.

Plus, Dreamstime is donating 5% of its sales to the Solidarity Response Fund initiated by the WHO on a weekly basis – this percentage will be applied to all eligible purchases.

3. Depositphotos

Depositphotos is an international content marketplace with a library of over 150 million stock photos, videos, and vectors. Their community of 90,000 creatives submits their work to help clients around the world visualize their ideas — be it through images, vectors, graphics, or video.

In light of the coronavirus, Depositphotos has switched to a remote mode of operation to protect its employees. For mobile users, Depositphotos is offering 10 image downloads for free within the first 7 days of signup. These images are perfect for your social media, blog content, and ads.

4. Shutterstock

Whether you’re a major news organization or a small business, communicating with your audience is more important than ever before. To help navigate this challenge, Shutterstock has put together a resource hub. These resources include:

Free curated image, video and music collections to support those who might be expanding their businesses online in this new landscape
Carefully curated commercial and editorial collections with high-quality images for those who are telling the story of the outbreak as it unfolds
Helpful info and insights to adapt to these changing times – plus, tips on how to best represent this unprecedented situation for anyone who is creating or licensing content from Shutterstock
Additional discounts and offers are also available:
- 25% off Footage Clips and Packs from 4/1 – 4/15, with code FOOTAGE25
- 25% off Image Packs thru 4/3, with code PACKS25OFF
- Select the 10 images/month annual plan and get 10 free images, with code PICK10FREE

5. Getty / iStock

iStock has done their part by curating a selection of free images for your COVID-19 communications — because when it comes to communicating in times like these, the last thing you need to worry about is your budget for imagery.

6. Alamy

Alamy is a leading brand in the creative and editorial stock imagery market. It provides close to 200 million stock photographs, vectors and 360-degree panoramic images to picture buyers in the design, publication and broadcast industries.

Right now, the team is taking sensible measures to stay healthy and work from home. They’re also offering 25% off on their images with promo code “stayhomestaysafe” at checkout. Offer expires May 31, 2020.

7. Pond5

Pond5 is the world’s largest stock video marketplace, providing the footage, inspiration, and resources today’s content creators need to tell their stories in film, TV, advertising, social media, online video, and beyond. With more than 17 million video clips, award-winning tools, and integrations for all major video-editing software, Pond5 is the go-to video marketplace for filmmakers, media organizations, and marketers worldwide.

As coronavirus affects our communities and our work, Pond5 is ready and committed to helping your team during this time of uncertainty.

Now through June 30th, take advantage of the all these incredible tools and services Pond5 has to offer:

8. AGEfotostock

AGEfotostock has a library of over 110 million stock images with hundreds of curated categories. As a way to support the creative community, AGEofstock is offering a 20% discount off all online purchases of Rights Managed and Royalty Free images, vectors, and videos.

You can access the discount with code “agefotostock20” at checkout from now until the end of April.

9. imago images

With a library of 80 million photos and a vast international network of more than 1,500 photographers, imago images is Germany‘s largest owner-managed photo agency.

To support the creative community, imago images is offering a limited time discount of 30% off on picture packages and single picture licenses, valid until June 30th. Use the promo code “APPSUMO30” at checkout.

10. Gaopin Images

Gaopin Images is a premium licensing platform of images, video footage, and music in China, serving thousands of commercial clients, including advertising agencies, design institutes, corporates, magazine and book publishers, governments, and organizations.

Right now, they’re offering a discount of 50% off with coupon code 997GT5. Pro tip: toggle to translate to your preferred language in your browser!

11. Purestock

With a library of more than 14 million images, Purestock offers super high-resolution images, a professional royalty-free license, and unlimited possibilities.

To inspire creative output during this pandemic, Purestock is offering an extra month subscription free when you buy your first month. Just use the promo code “MONTHFREE” at checkout.

12. 123RF

123RF is one of the top stock content marketplaces with over 150 million stock photos, videos, and vectors. To help out during the COVID-19 pandemic, 123RF is now giving the first 10 images for free to AppSumo blog readers. Get started here.

SaaS Graphic Design Tools

Once you have quality stock imagery, you need a way to edit those graphics to create valuable marketing materials. The companies below are here to help you do just that.

1. VectorGrove

Featuring over 1.2M beautiful vectors and graphics with an unlimited download model, VectorGrove has become a go-to resource for affordable membership plans with unlimited downloads for both standard and extended RF licenses.

The team at VectorGrove is embracing the work-from-home movement and going fully remote during these uncertain times. Right now, they’re giving back by offering the first two months free to new members on ANY monthly plan, valid until May 31st. Just enter the promo code “VGSUPPORT” at checkout.

2. Canva

Since 2012, Canva has become an industry leader for graphic designers and agencies, now with millions of users across 179 countries. During these uncertain times, Canva has launched a few initiatives, which you can read about here.

Canva uses a freemium model, so you can get started for free with its online graphic design tool and access millions of high-quality graphics elements right away.

3. Freepik

Freepik, the graphic resource company, has just launched an initiative called Freepik Company: Here to Help Against Covid-19. It’s geared toward teachers, health professionals, public service members, and journalists “to help them continue with their mission of educating and informing during these exceptional circumstances.”

Right now, Freepik is activating a 3-month Premium account for individuals in the industries above for free. Learn more about the initiative here.

The company has also boosted the production of graphic resources on coronavirus. These resources are free of charge for users all around the world, and can be found on the three platforms of the company:

Freepik: illustrations, photos, and infographics
Flaticon: editable icons
Slidesgo: customizable Google Slides and PowerPoint templates

4. Stencil

Stencil is an easy-to-use graphic design tool for small business owners, bloggers, social media marketers, and more. It’s the fastest and easiest way to create engaging visuals without paying for expensive designers or having to learn complicated software. You can source beautiful stock photos, fonts, and icons to create amazing images at lightning-fast speeds.

Currently, Stencil is offering 2 months free on any paid plan. Just use the promo code “STENCIL2FREE” before April 30th, 2020.

5. Fotor

Powerful, user-friendly and globally accessible, Fotor is an online photo editing suite and graphic designer. With Fotor, the only limit to creating beautiful pictures and great graphics is your imagination.

Right now, Fotor has shifted to working remotely and is pleased to offer a free one-month trial with promo code: “FOTORHELP” valid until April 30th.

6. Crello

Online design tool Crello (by Depositphotos) allows anyone to create animated videos, web banners, social media posts, email headers, and other popular formats in minutes. With over 2.5 million users from more than 60 countries, the online web editor helps you easily make assets for websites and print to suit your marketing needs.

Right now, Crello is offering the Pro version of its product for free for 90 days. To activate the subscription, use promo code “crelloforappsumo” valid until April 30th. You’ll get access to:

Over 25,000 templates for all major social media, blogging, and marketing formats
4,000+ animated templates and 2,000+ animated objects
500,000+ premium photos in your designs
150 million image-strong photos and video library of the stock giant Depositphotos

7. Pickit

Pickit is a 2-in-1 image service that provides easy access to your company’s assets, plus handpicked photos, icons, and clipart from Pickit’s public image library, right within Microsoft Office and on your web browser. As we all navigate these unprecedented times, Pickit wants to help make the transition to a digital workspace as smooth as possible with a unique offer for new users.

Those working from home can now access Pickit Pro free of charge through the end of April, simply by installing the add-in and registering an account.

On top of a free trial, Pickit is offering the first month free on their monthly subscription (or the first two months free for annual subscriptions) with the promo code “STAYATHOME” valid until April 30th.

They’re also participating in a Microsoft EDU initiative to offer Pickit free to all students until the end of their school year. All new emails ending in “.edu” will receive the service for free until June 30 (upon email verification). Students without .edu emails can contact Pickit to provide proof of academic enrollment.

8. RelayThat

RelayThat is here to help by cutting design time and budgets by 90%. It’s the only application that automatically creates and resizes eye-catching, consistent designs for every channel in just a few clicks. In response to the recent pandemic, the team is also adding new presets and visuals for emergency response and health-focused content.

9. Snappa

Snappa is a design tool made for individuals to create professional-looking online graphics in just minutes. The team provides pre-made templates that are easy to repurpose and customize for any business, along with a large library of fonts, free stock photos, and icons to choose from.

With COVID-19 taking place, Snappa is currently running fully remotely to ensure the stability of its product. The customer success team is here to help current users along with those looking to get started.

To help employees take graphic design initiatives into their own hands, Snappa has a free plan which allows for 3 downloads a month. If you want to try the full plan, Snappa has a 30 day money back guarantee. If you’re dissatisfied with Snappa within the first 30 days, they’ll happily refund you – no questions asked.

10. Designs.ai

Designs.ai is an integrated artificial intelligence-powered creative platform built for all business needs. Its powerful tools, Logomaker and Videomaker, help entrepreneurs, freelancers, SMEs, agencies and enterprises create compelling branding and marketing materials in only 2 minutes.

To support businesses during these challenging times, Designs.ai is offering special deals on its basic and premium logo packages. Users can snag their basic logo package (a $19 value) for FREE with the promo code STAYSAFE19, valid until December 31, 2020. Users can also get the premium logo package (a $49 value) at 50% off with the promo code STAYSAFE50. This package comes with an entire brand identity kit which includes logo variations, mockup samples, and a comprehensive logo narration. Read more about the packages here.

On top of this, the platform also boasts a selection of FREE assistive tools to guide users through the design process:

Graphicmaker – A database of thousands of stunning graphics with built-in editor
Color Matcher– A color palette generator, contrast checker, and image color extractor
Font Pairer– A font palette generator with over 960+ professional fonts
Calendar – A collection of all major social media holidays around the world

11. Visme

Visme is an online design tool that lets you create professional-looking infographics, presentations, social media images and more right in your browser. It’s packed with tons of features, like hundreds of premade templates, free graphic assets, and animation and interactivity tools. It comes with a drag-and-drop editor that lets anyone, even non-designers, create beautiful visuals in minutes.

While Visme is free to use, they’re offering a 25% discount on all Visme premium plans (excluding education plans) to allow businesses to tap into the full power of the platform. Just use the discount code “REMOTE20” (valid until 05/31/2020).

12. Pixlr Premium

Pixlr is an online photo editor that allows you to create fantastic works of art easily from your browser. Remove backgrounds like a Pro with just a single click. Plus, you can spruce up your photos with more than 15,000 stickers, texts & overlays.

Right now, they’re offering a 20% discount on Pixlr Premium, with the annual plan for just $38 here.

A Message from Grant Baker, the Director of Business Development at Yay Images

This has been quite a journey, and I’ve been overwhelmed by the support and generosity of other members in our community.

I can think of no better way to give back during this time than by bringing together the leaders of the design and stock media industry to provide great deals to those who need them. It’s truly been inspiring to see how all of our peers have taken action to handle the COVID-19 crisis.

We at Yay Images hope this post can make things easier for your business, and that you take advantage of as many of these exceptional limited time offers as you can.

Please feel free to share this post with friends, family, and colleagues, so we can help as many businesses as possible during these unprecedented times.

Stay tuned for more great posts from the AppSumo Blog as they continue to give back in so many ways to fellow entrepreneurs and businesses.

That’s all for now!

– Grant Baker