Lots of artists are always looking for resources to use in their works, but it's hard to find resources that you can use for commercial purposes as well. So I’ve compiled a list of sites where you can get resources for free. Some are for personal use and some are for commercial use. Now it’s just a matter of properly following the license and rules of the owner who posted these resources. It is really important to follow the rules/license given.
So, without further ado, here’s the first feature:
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Some fonts are for commercial use and some are for personal use. Those fonts for personal use are not allowed, under any circumstance, to be used in any project that you earn money from.
Personal use projects that are acceptable:
- personal scrapbooking;
- recreational websites & blogs for friends and family;
- prints: flyers, posters, t-shirts for churches, charitties, and non-profit organizations.
For the fonts that are allowed for commercial use, you must check the license first. And be sure to click on the free for commercial use button. It will take you to the bottom of the page and give a link to the license the author has put the font under. Be sure to respect the license rules and don’t use the font beyond than what is described as okay for commercial use.
It should be a given that you are not allowed, under any circumstance, to edit/modify any part of the typeface (all files that are in a single .zip download), unless you have permission to do so.
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All the photos posted on this site are allowed for commercial use and personal use.
You don’t have to credit the owner of the photo, but it is greatly appreciated (I recommend that you credit them anyway). If you do decide to credit, make sure you credit the photographer and the site they were found on. (I also recommend having a separate folder for the site and then name the individual images after the photographer. Then there is no excuse to not know where you got the image from.)
No attribution is necessary.
I couldn’t exactly find my own words to summarize this part of the license, so I have provided it here: “More precisely, Unsplash grants you an irrevocable, nonexclusive, worldwide copyright license to download, copy, modify, distribute, perform, and use photos from Unsplash for free, including for commercial purposes, without permission from or attributing the photographer or Unsplash. This license does not include the right to compile photos from Unsplash to replicate a similar or competing service.”
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All photos are allowed for commercial and personal use.
Attribution is not required.
Credit is not required, but appreciated. (I still recommend crediting the photographer anyway. It’s the least we can do for using their resource.)
Their license further goes to show what kinds of projects are okay to use the photos for and what is not okay to use them for:
Allowed:
- website, e-commerce shop, newsletter, e-book, presentation, blog or a template you sell;
- create ads, banners, and marketing campaigns to promote your product;
- flyers, postcards, invitations, magazines, albums, books, CD covers and more;
-and use on social media.
Not Allowed:
-to make anyone appear in a bad light or offensive;
-do not sell unedited photo as a stock photo, poster, print, or on a physical material/product;
-do not imply endorsement of your product by people or brands on the image;
-do not redistribute or sell the photos on other stock photo or wallpaper platforms.
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What to learn from commercial use?
Not every license deems every single use as okay to use for commercial use. Read through the license in its entirety.
Make sure to do your research when checking licenses.
When in doubt, ask the author/owner.
Never, ever, ever, ever, use a personal use resource in a project you earn money from. (I know I’ve said this over and over, but it’s very important to always follow that rule.)
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That's the end of today's feature. I will release one every week until I've run out of resources to mention. Most of I have looked into have been stock sites, but I'll try to fit in other kinds of resources wherever I can. See you next time! 
