Luckily there are plenty of free, easy to use tools available to simplify the design process for you. Here’s a look at 13 of the best design websites, tools and apps out there so you can create professional visuals that make your marketing stand out from the crowd. 

Colour Tools

The colour you use in your marketing materials can say a lot about your resort’s brand, so it’s worth spending some time getting to know how to use them. Take some time to refresh your basic HTML skills so you’re comfortable using a HEX code (a six character code that represents a colour). 

1. Design-Seeds

Designer and colour specialist Jessica Colaluca, the brains behind Design-Seeds, groups bold photographs alongside matching colour palettes. If you see a colour palette you like, simply hover over the colour chips on the right to access the HEX codes.  

2. COLOUR PICKER

Want to match your new call to action design to a pre-existing design? Upload a picture of the existing design to ImageColorPicker.com. Just select any point in the picture to discover its HEX code and create matching colour schemes.

3. Colour Scheme Designer

Just like the name suggests, Colour Scheme Designer allows you to create custom colour schemes to bring your marketing material to life. Simply select a colour and try out different schemes of your choosing. It’s even possible to see a sample website with your colour scheme in a light and dark version.  

4. COLOURLovers

You’ll find plenty of pre-made colour palettes and corresponding HEX codes at COLOURLovers, or you can opt to make your own if you can’t find exactly what you’re looking for. Some of the most handy tools available include PHOTOCOPA, which uses your photo uploads to come up with a set of matching colours, and THEMELEON, which allows you to design and implement a Twitter theme. 

5. Oto255

One of the best free resources for choosing border or gradient colours, 0to255 offers many subtle variations of the same colour – much like the paint samples you can see at DIY stores.  

Font and Icon Tools

Although simpler is often better when it comes to fonts, sometimes something a little different can serve as the perfect finishing touch.   

6. Google Web Fonts

Google Web Fonts is a directory of just under 600 fonts that you can use on your website or download to your desktop within a few clicks of your mouse.  

7. WhatTheFont

Seen a font you’d like to use in your marketing material? Snap a screenshot and WhatTheFont will tell you both the name of the font, and where you can download it. 

8. 1001 Fonts, Font Space, Font Squirrel

1001 Fonts, Font Space, and Font Squirrel are three of the best sites to find 100s of attractive fonts, all of which have clear licensing terms, and many of which are free to use commercially.  

9. IcoMoon

IcoMoon is the place to head for free, re-sizeable vector icons that are ideal for navigation buttons. You can select the icons you like to use on your resort’s website and export them as a font.

10. Iconfinder

When vector icons just aren’t enough, you’ll find heaps of livelier designs in the huge library at IconFinder .

11. Vecteezy

Vecteezy offers a wealth of free, high quality design resources, including wallpapers, vector graphics and icons, all ready to make your marketing material shine.  

Image Editing Tools

All these great tools are pretty useless without a professional looking image to work with. Below are some of the best image editing tools you’ll find out there … completely free, of course!

12. Skitch

Skitch is a screenshot tool which allows you to quickly grab sections of your screen to edit. You can annotate images with text and objects, and even blur out any confidential information your screenshots contain.  

13. Sumopaint

Featuring all the basic features of Photoshop, Sumopaint is a free and easy to use web-based photo editing app. Take advantage of it to create an eye catching new photo for your resort’s Facebook page, or to give your logo a stylish makeover using effects like Bevel, Drop Shadow and Inner Glow.  

Are you ready to revamp your resort’s marketing campaign using these free online tools?

The futuristic eyewear design utilises voice controlled technology and is the latest creation of the secretive Google X ideas lab. Modeled on an ordinary pair of eyeglasses, the current prototype features a horizontal frame that lies across the user’s nose and a heads up display in place of lenses. A video released by Google demonstrated how wearers will be able to use the glasses to snap photos, check emails, access GPS directions and even start video chats with friends. 

A spokesperson said: "We think technology should work for you – to be there when you need it and get out of your way when you don’t.” 

Travel alerts will reach you in the blink of an eye. Picture: Google

Your friends don’t need to be in front of you for you to see and talk to them. Picture: Google

Don’t get lost just check the map on your glasses. Picture: Google

In a Google Plus post, engineers invited consumers to share their thoughts and ideas on the new enterprise and opinion appears to be divided.  

What are your thoughts on Project Glass: the future of mobile computing or one surreal step too far towards science fiction?

Maybe your resort could hire out the glasses for your guests to use whilst on holiday?

 All 285 rooms at the hotel will be equipped with iPad2 devices that allows guests to customise their stay at the hotel, including ordering in-room dining, making restaurant reservations, calling valet parking for your car, arranging airport transportation, setting up spa treatments, making housekeeping requests and researching local attractions. So what’s this mean for face-to-face customer service? According to the hotel, it only makes things better. Visit 4Hoteliers to continue reading. 

A set top box enables regular TV sets to access digital content from Google.  It’s like having a box to access cable TV channels, only now it’s Internet content.  You can watch streaming movies, live webcasts, or just about any online content on your very own TV screen.  Most new TV sets have a set top box built in that can access the Internet.  Google is launching a line of new Android-powered television sets that can search the Internet, programme guides and find all video connected to a request that is entered into a search bar at the top of the screen.

Furthermore, consumers will be able to search for their favourite television programs and Websites on the same screen, at the same time. This means that Google TV will make it possible for consumers to search the Web, access Facebook and watch films on YouTube in the comfort of their lounge rooms. Twitter and a number of music sites such as Napster, Pandora and Vevo, have also designed features for the system.

There are three products that make use of the Google TV software: the Logitech Revue, a set-top box; the Sony Internet TV, an HDTV with the  a built-in Operating System; and the Sony Internet TV Blu-ray Disc Player, a Blu-ray player with full Google TV support.

In a nutshell, Google TV is based on an open approach to online content and has the philosophical view that a person should be able to view anything from the Internet on a TV. Google TV does offer user interface shortcuts to movie services, music, pictures etc.

More than simply a video and TV manager, Google TV adds in the ability to search for videos and integrate the Internet and television into one hub for just about anything you can think of doing on the Internet.

Will you be the first to offer Google TV for in-room use? Not convinced yet if your resort should start offering Google TV to your guests?  Then learn more about Google TV by watching this video: