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949 Word length |
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Adam & Jasper.ai wrote this |
Good design is a valuable asset, but what do we do when we’re not all Designers?
If you’re a creator or designer, you’ve probably used design templates at some point in your career. If you’re working solo or wearing the designer-hat (amongst many other hats in your role) then you’ve probably come across design templates. But what are they exactly? In our ‘short article series’, we’ll take a look at what design templates are, how to use them effectively, and where to find the best ones. By the end of this post, you’ll have a lot more knowledge around design templates! So let’s get started…
Design Templates Value
Design templates can be a valuable asset for anyone who wants to create something professional-looking fast, but doesn’t have the resources to hire a professional designer. With templates, anyone at any level can jump from not knowing where to start to creating polished results that could save hours sifting through online courses to fill the design knowledge gap. For businesses, templates take up far less cost than hiring full-time designers, and provide better output faster. Design templates are one of the best ways to gain access to design assets without needing to put in any extra effort or money.
Design Template Pros are:
- Pre-made documents that can be customised
- Usually cheaper to buy and therefore convenient and fast
- If designed well, already created with specifications and design rules for their intended purpose – ie. business cards, posters, restaurant menu
- Like above, already setup for print and/or digital useage
- Inexpensive compared to hiring people
Design Template Cons are:
- they might not fit your specific design need
- they might not be a complete pack that solves your needs
- they might lack the originality & creativity you’re after leading to others using the same template
- they can be confusing to use as some templates are not setup well for the end user
- you can’t be too picky and might have to settle for less which might mean you spend a little more effort getting it to where you want
People Gap
With a huge people-gap in almost every sector, we all need help now more than ever to get the job done. So start thinking; Templates. For those who are constantly creating content and designs, templates can be a lifesaver! With templates, marketers, business owners or even creative designers can quickly fill out the important details without having to start from scratch. Instead of reinventing the wheel every time you’re tasked with an assignment or project, you can rely on a template as your shortcut. This helps you maintain tight deadlines and use your resources more efficiently. Though some might think templates take away the creativity of design, they do have their place in keeping projects organised and allowing creatives to stay motivated with quick feedback loops along the way.
Saving time & Money
Design templates are an incredibly useful resource to have on hand – and if used correctly, you can create a number of results from just a few design. Templates can save you loads of time and money by providing you with a starting point for your project. Rather than starting from scratch and having to think about every single element, design templates offer up the basics for you – meaning layouts, fonts, and colour schemes are often already laid down for you. You can then easily customise these elements or add additional features like elements & various components to get your project looking exactly how you want it. Design templates provide an ideal foundation for many creative projects.
Idea Generation
We need clever ideas, and pre-made design templates offer something special. Templates can be used as a form of idea generation, regardless of whether it’s in the workplace or when tackling a personal project. We ourselves use templates as a spring-board into concept design, they provide easy-to-use formats that allow us to rapidly express our ideas over the top of pre-made template ideas. Choosing the right template helps with outlining and brainstorming ideas more visually instead of trying to create every element from scratch and see what the finished product will look like. Every idea needs to be nurtured with some guidance to truly come alive and templates are just the initial step needed to set your ideas into motion.
Right Software for the Right Template
Ensuring that the template you pick is compatible with your software of choice will only make things easier. If you’re using Adobe Creative Cloud, there are many templates that are made specially for it, which helps guarantee compatibilty and remove most of the guesswork. Do your research and check beforehand to ensure that the template you choose will work with the software you have. Avoid any potential headaches by watching out for compatibility adjustments that may need to be made. These might include versions of the software, missing linked files or missing fonts.
Where to get Templates
Our top favorite picks of where to get templates:
Right here at Adgenix – while we don’t have thousands of templates yet, nor do we cover all categories, the Templates we do have are known for the clever ideas already instilled into them. They’re easy to use made up of only 3 layers.
- Background
- Typography
- Components
They can be changed to any language you need. They have loads of components and you can mix & match with design components from many other places to make your own design.
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Here is a quick-list of other sites we think are pretty good to find design templates:
Winding Up
Design templates create professional looking documents and websites without having to start from scratch and ara valuable asset for all your projects. There are many different types of design templates available, for everything from business cards to resumes, posters to booklets or menus. Templates can save you time and money by giving you a head start on your project. You can find thousands of design templates online which gives you a worldwide library of designs to choose from. Just be sure to choose a template that is compatible with the software you are using.
Thanks for reading and I hope this short article was helpful.
