Four free design tools for art directors, designers and anyone who has ever been asked to make it POP. No login. No credit card. No crying to your boss.
A designer's wet dream✱Your client will lick your ass✱Become a superhuman✱Free as fuck✱A designer's wet dream✱Your client will lick your ass✱Become a superhuman✱Free as fuck✱
There are approximately 4,817 design tools on Planet Earth that want your credit card.
I made that number up. It felt low.
Upgrade to unlock export€29a month•••• •••• •••• ••••Start free trial**Then €29 a month until the heat death of the universe.
Nope.
So why Useful As Fuck? Because Useful As Fuck is free, fast and built by someone who designs every single day. Under deadline. Crying a little.
Four labs. Zero invoices.
Everything an art director reaches for between the briefing and the deadline. No trial, no account, no "talk to sales".
By day I'm Art Director at Vestjysk Marketing, the least prestigious marketing agency you've never heard of. It's in Ringkøbing. There's wind. There's a fjord. There are no awards on the wall, mostly because nobody budgeted for a wall.
For years my workflow looked like this: one tab for palettes. One for contrast. One for Pantone. One for the font I couldn't afford. One to check whether Instagram was about to crop the CEO's head off. Eleven tabs, three paywalls, one very tired woman.
So one evening, somewhere between the third Faxe Kondi Booster and the fourth "tiny change" from a client, I built the tool I actually needed. Then another one. Then four. They're free because I remember being broke. Honestly, I still am.
Fuck capitalism. We are artists. ¡Viva la revolución!
NikolineFounder, Art Director and Chief Swearing Officer
Legal stuff is boring as fuck, so I made it short and human. Here is what happens to your data when you use usefulasfuck.com, which cookies I use, and what you can do about all of it. Spoiler: I am not interested in your data. I am interested in your palettes.
Last updated: 9 October 2026
1. Who is in charge here?
Me. The data controller is Nikoline, Ringkøbing, Denmark. I run Useful As Fuck as a private person, because I was tired of paywalls. Questions, worries or love letters: nn@vestjyskmarketing.dk
2. What data, exactly?
The boring technical bits: when you visit, your browser sends things like IP address, browser, device, operating system and time of visit to the web host. Without that, no website. It is how the internet works.
Your work: palettes, fonts, brand settings, logos, photos and uploaded fonts are saved in your own browser. Not on my server. I never see them. Your genius stays yours.
Usage statistics, only if you say yes: Google Analytics tells me which labs get used, roughly where visitors are (country or city), which devices and browsers they use, and how long they stay. I use it to make the labs better, not to stalk you.
Ads, only with your consent: the labs show ads, because somebody has to pay for the coffee. Google AdSense can use cookies to show and measure them, if you allow it in Google's consent message.
I never ask for your name, email or anything like that, and there are no user accounts. No newsletter ambush either.
3. Why, and what gives me the right?
What I do
Legal basis (GDPR)
Deliver the website and keep it safe
Legitimate interest, Art. 6(1)(f)
Save your work in your own browser
Needed to give you the service you asked for, Art. 6(1)(b), and the cookie rules on strictly necessary storage
Usage statistics (Google Analytics)
Your consent, Art. 6(1)(a)
Load external fonts
Your consent, Art. 6(1)(a)
Ads (Google AdSense)
Your consent, Art. 6(1)(a)
4. Cookies, but not the tasty kind
Cookies are tiny text files on your device. Local storage and IndexedDB do roughly the same job. The necessary stuff is always on, because otherwise your work disappears. Everything else only runs if you say "Yaaas Queeen" in the cookie banner, or pick it yourself.
Necessary, the site breaks without these
Name
What it does
Type
Expires
ufa:consent
Remembers your cookie choice, so I stop asking
Local storage
12 months
farvelab:cur, farvelab:lib
Your palettes in ColorLab
Local storage
Until you clear your browser data
ufa:fonts
Your font choices in FontLab
Local storage
Until you clear your browser data
ufa:brand4
Your BrandLab settings, logos, photos, edits and moodboard
Local storage
Until you clear your browser data
ufa-fonts
Fonts you upload in FontLab
IndexedDB
Until you delete them
Want your work in another browser? Use Save and Open in the labs. The file goes to your computer, not to me.
Statistics, only with your yes
Name
Provider
What it does
Expires
_ga
Google Analytics
Tells visitors apart
2 years
_ga_M1ZJPZ83V1
Google Analytics
Keeps track of the visit
2 years
External fonts, only with your yes
Fonts come from Google Fonts (Google Ireland Ltd.), Adobe Fonts (Adobe Systems Software Ireland Ltd.) and Fontshare (Indian Type Foundry). They do not set cookies here, but they do see your IP address. Say no, and the site uses fonts hosted on my own server instead. Still pretty.
Ads, only with your yes
Google AdSense may set cookies like __gads, __gpi and IDE to show and measure ads in the labs. Google asks for your permission with its own message. The front page has no ads. More from Google at policies.google.com/technologies/partner-sites.
Changed your mind?
Totally fine. Withdrawing consent is as easy as giving it. One click:
5. Who else gets to see something?
Simply.com, my web host (Denmark, EU)
Google Ireland Ltd., for Google Analytics, Google Fonts and Google AdSense
Adobe Systems Software Ireland Ltd., for Adobe Fonts
Indian Type Foundry, for Fontshare fonts
The export tools that build your PDF, SVG, PowerPoint and PNG files live on my own server, so exporting sends nothing to anyone.
6. Does anything leave the EU?
Google and Adobe may send data to the United States. Both are certified under the EU-US Data Privacy Framework, which the European Commission says gives an adequate level of protection. If another provider sends data outside the EU, it is covered by the European Commission's standard contractual clauses.
7. How long is it kept?
Whatever is in your browser stays until you delete it. Google Analytics data is kept for 14 months. The web host keeps server logs for a short while for security.
8. Your rights, and they are real
Under the GDPR you can ask to see your data, correct it, delete it, limit how it is used, take it with you, and object to how it is processed. Where I rely on your consent, you can withdraw it any time. That does not undo what happened before, but it stops it from now on. Just email me. Ad settings with Google live at myadcenter.google.com.
9. Want to complain?
Talk to me first, I am nice. If you are still not happy, you can complain to the Danish Data Protection Agency (Datatilsynet), Carl Jacobsens Vej 35, 2500 Valby, Denmark, www.datatilsynet.dk.
10. Changes
When the site changes, this page might too. The date at the top tells you which version you are reading.
Cookies? Yes please!
I use cookies and similar technologies to make the site work, to understand how it is used, and to load fonts from external services. Necessary storage is always on. Analytics and external fonts only run if you say yes. You can change your mind at any time under Cookie settings.
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