Independent design studio & resource desk
Design skills you can use the same afternoon
Hardy Design Co. is a small independent design studio and resource desk that publishes practical graphic and web design tutorials, honest tool reviews, and curated resource roundups for junior designers and small-business owners learning design by doing.
Tutorials
Start with the fundamentals
Core skills that do most of the heavy lifting in any design, from color and logos through to typography and layout. Learn these and the rest gets easier.
How to build a color palette that actually works
A repeatable way to choose colors for a brand or website. Start with one color, borrow structure from the color wheel, split by role, and test everything in gray before you commit.
Read tutorialLogo design basics: how to make a simple, strong mark
What actually makes a logo work, and a practical process for designing one that reads at any size. No mascots, no gradients you will regret, no clip art.
Read tutorialFont pairing fundamentals: how to combine two typefaces
How to choose two fonts that belong together, using contrast and a shared logic instead of luck. Includes named pairings you can copy, real spacing numbers, and the mistakes that make text look amateur.
Read tutorialVisual hierarchy: how to make people read in the right order
Layout is not decoration, it is direction. How to use size, space, and contrast so a viewer's eye lands where you want it, in the order you intend.
Read tutorialChoosing a body text font that holds up
How to pick a font for paragraphs of running text without getting distracted by specimens. The four traits that matter, the families that work, and the ones to avoid for long reading.
Read tutorialSetting type for screen reading: size, leading, measure
The three numbers that decide whether body copy is comfortable or a chore. Real values for body size, line height, and line length on the web, with the responsive details most tutorials skip.
Read tutorialHow we work
A studio that would rather teach than impress
Useful before clever
Every guide has to pass one test: can you use it the same afternoon? If a section is not doing that work, it gets cut. No filler, no throat clearing.
Show the reasoning
We explain why a rule exists, not just what it is, because the why is what lets you break the rule on purpose later. Rules you understand are the ones you keep.
Honest by default
We say when a free tool is enough, when a template will hold you back, and when to spend money. No hype, no invented ratings, no sponsored rankings.
Resources
Tools and assets worth bookmarking
Curated shortlists, with a plain note on what each pick is for and where it stops being free.
The best free fonts for real projects, sorted by job
A short, opinionated list of free and open source fonts that hold up in professional work, grouped by what you actually need them for rather than by what looks nice in a specimen.
Read roundupThe best free design tools, and what each one is really for
A practical guide to the free design software worth your time, from interface design to photo editing to vector work, with an honest note on where each one stops being free.
Read roundupWhere to find free images, icons, and assets you can actually use
The free asset sources worth bookmarking for photos, illustrations, and icons, plus the licensing basics that keep you out of trouble when you use them in client work.
Read roundupReviews
Honest tool reviews, no star ratings
Who each tool is really for, and who should pick something else.
Figma review: who it is actually for
The default choice for designing screens, and the free plan is enough to learn on. Not the tool for print or photo work.
Read reviewCanva review: honest take for non-designers
The fastest way for a non-designer to make decent looking graphics. The templates that make it easy are also what cap how far it takes you.
Read reviewQuestions
The short answers
What is Hardy Design Co.?
Hardy Design Co. is a small independent design studio and resource desk. It publishes practical graphic and web design tutorials, honest tool reviews, and curated resource roundups for people who are learning design by doing, especially junior designers and small-business owners.
Who is the site for?
It is written for beginners and improvers: junior designers finding their feet and small-business owners who have to make their own graphics. The guides assume no formal training and skip the jargon.
Do your reviews use star ratings?
No. A single number hides the only question that matters, which is whether a tool is right for you. Every review says plainly who a tool suits and who should choose something else instead.
Do you take sponsorships or rank tools for payment?
No. Picks are made on merit, and nothing is ranked in exchange for payment. When links that earn a commission are added in future, they will be disclosed and will never change a recommendation.
Are the tutorials free to read?
Yes. Everything published here is free to read, with no login and no paywall.
Where should I start with typography?
Start with choosing a body text font, then read our font pairing fundamentals to add a heading face, and finish with setting type for screen reading for the real numbers on size, line height, and line length. The three together cover most of what working designers do day to day.
Do I need to buy fonts to do good work?
No. The free families we cover, including Inter, Source Serif, Fraunces, IBM Plex, and Work Sans, hold up in professional work. The case for buying type is when you want a voice not every other brand is using, or when you need a language range or weight the free version lacks. Most small projects will not hit that day for years.