Top Free Resources to Create a Stunning Flat Design

It seems that flat designs are trumping everything else lately. It is one of the biggest trends in web, on mobile devices and even print. Flat designs for those that don’t know what they mean, are those designs that lack 3D effects such as drop shadows or bevels.

As with most design styles, the stylistic details of a flat design can be known to vary a bit. Normally a flat design is rather minimalistic, with lots of white space and the use of mainly primary colours. Fonts are without flair and are usually thin, and buttons and boxes are without 3D effects or strokes. While some flat designs have been known to contain shadows, they are flat as well.

Here are some amazing flat design resources to check out.

UI Kits

A UI kit is a flat design resource that comes with the components you will need to design your website. They usually come PSD, but have been known to come with other components as well. You can use the colour scheme in the file or create your own. There are brushes, patterns and more. These save web designers lots of time and increase workflow.

DesignModo Flat UI - This free personal and commercial flat UI kit comes with everything you will need to create a flat user interface –menu, buttons, input, switches, tags, icons, glyphs, color swatches, and more.

Modern Touch UI Kit - PixelKit comes with a slick, unique look and feel. The free version is for both commercial and personal use.

Icons

Icons are a great flat design resource that saves time on both print and web design. Flat icons are those that do not have a 3D pop but are simply flat. You may find a couple that are line style or uniquely coloured.

Metro UI Icon Set – There are 725 flat icons packed into this amazing set as well as a reflective quality if you want to go less flat in style. If you credit the designer in your project, you can use these icons for free.

180 FREE Flat Icons – WordPress Design Awards created this icon set for anyone to use in personal or commercial in an effort to provide open source resources for the WordPress world.

Templates

Templates are super if you’re pushed for time and want to throw up a website in the blink of an eye. A template already comes with elements pre-fed into it, unlike a UI kit where you have to arrange every element onto a page. You just need to add content here.

Free Flat HTML5 Website Template - This free template comes with a header and footer, call-to-action section, menu and portfolio area. You can edit it for your own use as it is located in a single HTML5 file.

Free Flat Design PSD Template - A flat, minimal design, this template is called Illustrate and also comes in a WordPress theme.

WordPress Themes

There are new themes to explore if you are creating a flat design website using WordPress. Most of the themes here are Open Source themes just like WordPress. This means no more having to worry about commercial use or hidden prices.

Photo Free Responsive Gallery WordPress Theme - This free theme is flat and completely minimal in its design. If someone needs a basic portfolio website, this is the best bet.

Surfarama – Surframa is an Open Source them that has content boxes which can include images to enhance the home page. You can even upload your logo, color code the categories, etc without coding.