Arek Dvornechuck
Branding Expert
100+ Best Christmas Gift Ideas for Designers
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With their eyes for detail, designers are a difficult crowd to buy Christmas gifts for, but it’s not entirely impossible.
Creatives have their own preferences for aesthetics and gadgets, but the best ones to give a designer are the simple gifts that add value to their daily tasks.
If you’re eyeing practical gifts, you can’t go wrong with hardware and creative software for designers.
Other gifts such as toys, clothes, decorations, and other things that can make a designer’s work more engaging are also included in the list to expand the catalog of cool gifts from Amazon to present to your designer friends.
This coming festive season, let this listicle help you out with some of the best and designer-approved gift ideas to satisfy not only the designers in your life, but also your budgets.
What do you give a designer for Christmas?
Though I’m sure any designer would appreciate a whole MacBook or standing desk, there are other, smaller gifts you can give them this coming holiday season.
Aside from hardware, there are books to help them improve their crafts, funny apparel to put a smile on their faces, and so much more you can offer to the creatives in your life.
To help you in deciding and singling out, I’ve put together an enormous list of 100+ best Christmas gift ideas for designers.
With 10 specific categories, you can deem which ones are worthy of buying for a designer.
If you feel like they were on the nice list this year, then you can even go as far as gifting them one from each category.
As has been said, designers are a difficult bunch to buy gifts for, but not impossible.
Just like with everyone else, buying gifts needs thorough research and familiarity with your designer friend.
That being said, here are a couple of ways to help you in choosing a unique gift for a designer this Christmas.
One of the best ways to pick the perfect gift is to look at what happened this past year.
If they started their own designing business this year and said that they needed this piece of tech to up their game, then that serves as your cue to help their business get to the top.
If they’re just starting out with their creative career, the Adobe catalog is a great shout for a gift.
A handful of people constantly update their Amazon wishlists and share posts on Facebook and other social media.
Maybe there were product listings that they were interested in or commented on that you know would help make a designer’s life easier.
Additionally, researching about the product and how it functions is a great plus on your side, too!
If they say they don’t need a gift for Christmas or you don’t know what to give them, this is the best time to expand your horizons and possibly consult this list or other designer friends.
Thoroughly thinking about what to give a designer as a gift can guide you to even more options.
Hardware can range from laptops and keyboards to even power banks and notepads.
For Christmas, hardware are the best gifts for designers.
Normally, these hardware are the tools that designers productively use everyday.
Buying Christmas gifts for designers are pretty straightforward in a sense that it needs to be useful.
Hardware is an umbrella term for many products—more specifically the gadgets and equipment designers use on a daily basis.
Here’s a quick list of the best hardware for designers.
Though these are top-of-the-line and expensive gifts for designers, it is common for them to work on products from Apple, Logitech, and other aforementioned brands.
These hardware tools must be durable and withstand a designer’s passion to fulfill their work.
Creative software are the applications used by designers to create and edit their projects.
When it comes to creative software, Adobe is the best of the best.
Adobe is the number one choice of video editors, photographers, graphic designers, and more creative disciplines.
Adobe is responsible for the applications used not only by designers, but also by many creative professionals out there.
If anything, these are the handiest Christmas gifts you can give to your designer friends—whether professionals or beginners.
The list below includes Adobe products with discounts suited for individuals, students and teachers, schools and universities, and professionals alike.
It isn’t at all surprising that this list is dominated by Adobe, being the industry leader of creative applications.
Whether it’s a professional you’re giving it to or someone who uses it during their pastime, this is a holiday deal and Christmas gift you wouldn’t want to miss out on.
The world wide web isn’t the only source designers should refer to.
Books are great gifts for professionals and beginners who want to expand their crafts.
Books contain tons of knowledge about a certain topic.
Designing has many different disciplines, therefore many different books to read and consult with.
Books aren’t the fanciest gifts for designers unlike laptops and the whole Adobe catalog, but they are the wisest of the bunch.
As you can expect, books for designers are filled with professional advice, knowledge, and tips and tricks to make life easier for your designer friends.
Whether they’re professionals, students, or beginners of the creative process, it doesn’t hurt to learn a thing or two from these literary pieces.
Some books target logo designers while some explain the basics for video editors and graphic designers.
Nevertheless, there’s always a book for every need—and a designing book for every designer.
Toys are used by a handful of designers to keep their minds in the creative realm and to help them come up with new ideas and designs.
Toys aren’t just for playing around, they’re also used for inspiration and calming the mind.
Toys for designers aren’t your normal aim-and-shoot toy guns or long-haired dolls, but more so ones that are either created by designers themselves or inspire creativity.
Some toys on the list are copies of their classic counterparts—just with a creative twist.
Some toys, however, are what might have first inspired, or will inspire, the creativity inside designers and aspiring ones.
Either way, you really can’t go wrong with this Christmas gift idea as it is both fun and practical at the same time.
Being a designer is a grueling task, and you need these toys to maintain and continuously exercise your creativity.
As kids, toys were what saved us from boredom—and as adults, especially for designers, they are what will save us from burnouts.
Decorations are ornaments, posters, and other items that make spaces more colorful and attractive.
Decorations are perfect gifts for designers who appreciate and value their personal spaces.
In essence, decorations make up the environments we work in—making it an extremely influential factor when we operate.
No other profession is heavily influenced by their environments and decorations as much as designers.
In relation to that, no other profession will be happy to receive these Christmas gifts as much as interior designers!
In general, this gift idea keeps a designer’s internal thoughts running because of an external space that inspires creativity.
Of course, it all depends on the designer and their preference of design—so this list tackles everything any designer could want as a decorative gift this coming holiday season.
These decorations are perfect Christmas gifts for any designer’s home.
From lamps and pencil dispensers to a whole clock and desk, this list covers all the spots and spaces of the room.
Though designers may look as if they live in a cave, at least let their clothing make a statement.
These shirts for designers are clothes that never go out of style.
Besides the under-eye bags, the only way to tell if someone’s a designer is when you ask them.
As a gift, however, you can give your designer friends statement apparel they’ll either thank you for or throw away.
Nevertheless, these apparel are funny and full of banter to give your friends a good laugh.
If you have friends in fashion designing, I couldn’t think of a better gift idea than these shirts and hoodies.
Take note, though, that there’s a massive difference between designer clothes and clothes for designers—just in case the one you’re giving it to makes the wrong assumption.
If you want a light and comedic Christmas gift for the designers in your life, these apparels are where it’s at.
They’re comfortable, stylish, and answers the “what’s your job” question in an instant.
Accessories are what compliments a person’s clothes and little statements to their personalities.
Useful and eye-catching, that’s what a designer’s accessory should be.
Though not entirely essential, accessories are added to give certain styles more pop—not to mention the added efficiency from bags and pouches.
Accessories aren’t necessarily jewelry or watches; they could be bags, pouches, and pins.
The accessories of a designer, however, are more useful than aesthetic.
Since their professions require them to be in their most comfortable state and setting, they would sometimes carry their equipment in their bags—a great example of their useful accessories.
If you want to help out your friend in their everyday lives, this is the perfect Christmas gift for on-the-go designers.
This list combines small compliments to your personality and small, yet massively game-changing, accessories.
It could be as small as a pin on your shirt or as compact as a keydial, but they compliment designers just the same.
Kitchenware are equipments and utensils used inside the kitchen or on the dining table.
Kitchenware are fantastic gifts for designers who are powered by food and coffee.
Much like decorations, kitchenware gifts compliment the designer’s household.
For designers, designing has become almost a way of life.
Either they’re too engrossed in Photoshop or are editing videos every day.
Their lifestyles revolve around their everyday duties as designers, and these kitchenware tools and utensils are the nails on the coffin.
They're fun gifts for culinary designers or designers who just want to upgrade their kitchens.
These are the most creative, designer-worthy gifts you can give as Christmas gifts to the designers in your life.
They’re funnily convenient and are true testaments to a designer’s life.
Traditionally, postcards are thick piece of papers used to transmit a message without the need for an envelope.
The most old-fashioned, yet charming, gifts you can give to a designer.
With the advancements of technology, the chance of using a postcard is little to none.
However, postcards have been used by designers as a canvas for their art.
If you want to send the designers of your life a straight-up inspiration, a postcard isn’t too bad of a choice.
From traditional, city-scape designs to beautiful photos and patterns, postcards have really stepped up their games.
Here’s a quick list of all the creative postcards you can send to your designer family and friends!
Such a simple concept, these postcards are.
What makes them so special is the sentiment given by its sender to the receiver, the message, and the beautiful design.
There are plenty of things you can give to the designers in your life.
These other Christmas gift ideas are the needles in a haystack you’re looking for.
Finding the perfect one isn’t an easy task, especially if you’re working on a budget.
There are gifts out there that are completely independent from one another.
Some items listed below just didn’t make the cut for their respective categories, but are still worth mentioning.
Some, on the other hand, just don't have any categories to fall on.
Either way, here’s a shortlist of possible items you can consider as designer gifts this Christmas!
It’s a mishmash of notebooks, hardware, and even markers and pencils.
One thing’s for sure, though: they’re last on the list, but they are most certainly not the least.
It’s a difficult task to pick gifts for anyone and not just designers, but it’s a worthy commitment.
Having a variety of categories and products you can choose from lessens the burden of singling out gifts from the start.
Designers are well-engaged in their crafts that, in some cases, they leave no time for themselves.
This holiday season, let the designers in your life know that they’re appreciated through these unique gifts.
I’ve arranged big-budget categories like hardware and low-budget categories such as postcards and toys.
You’re spoiled with decorative and kitchenware choices, too, just to expand and give you a little more options this coming Christmas.
If you want your designer friend to stand out, help them out with a little bit of clothing options.
With so much products in the market today, I hope this list helped you in identifying what truly is the best Christmas gift you can give a designer this holiday season.
Did I miss any Christmas gift ideas for designers?—Leave a comment below.
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I'm a branding expert and graphic designer based in NY. I specialize in the development of brands: brand strategy, identity & web design. Need help with your project?—Get in touch
