Skip to main content

Creating and editing a template

Customer Champion
Updated

This tutorial walks you through building a template from scratch: creating it, setting the canvas size, adding layers, and deciding which parts are fixed and which get filled in per design.

Create the template

  1. Open the Templates tab and click New Template.
  2. Give it a Name. Pick something you'll recognize in a list — "5x7 Baseball Trader" beats "Template 12".
  3. Choose a Canvas Size preset, or pick Custom and enter the width and height in inches. For standard presets you can also flip the Orientation between Vertical and Horizontal.
  4. Choose a DPI. Use a print-appropriate DPI if this template will be printed.
  5. Pick the Folder it should live in, then click Create Template.

The template opens in the editor with a blank canvas at your chosen size.

The New Template dialog with name, canvas size, orientation, DPI, and folder fields

Add layers

The toolbar above the canvas adds each layer type:

  • Shape — rectangles, circles, ellipses, triangles, and lines for color blocks and dividers.
  • Graphic — upload an image that's part of the layout itself: backgrounds, frames, league logos.
  • Text — headlines, labels, and fields like player names.
  • Dynamic Image — a photo placeholder that gets a different photo in each design.
  • QR Code — a scannable code layer.

Drag, resize, and stack layers on the canvas; the layer panel on the left controls ordering and grouping. Give layers clear names — a layer's name doubles as its field name when photos and text are supplied through integrations.

Mark what's dynamic vs static

Every layer is either static (identical in every render) or dynamic (filled in per design):

  • Graphics are static. The image you upload is the image everyone gets — perfect for backgrounds and logos.
  • Dynamic Image layers are dynamic. They hold a placeholder in the template; each design (or automated render) supplies the actual photo.
  • Text layers can be either. Check Dynamic value in the text layer's properties to make the content fillable per design — the text you type in the template becomes placeholder text. Leave it unchecked for fixed text like a tagline.

A good test while designing: "Does this change for every customer?" If yes, it should be a Dynamic Image or a dynamic text layer.

Template Settings at a glance

Click the gear icon next to the template name in the editor header to open the Template settings popover:

  • Canvas size — resize the canvas later from a preset or exact inch values, with a swap button to flip orientation. Layers keep their positions; the canvas grows or crops around them.
  • Quick Design template — flag this template as a contact-sheet target so finished Studio designs can be dropped into its photo slots in one step.
  • Linked Templates — connect this template to a sibling (for example, a print version) under a label you choose.
The Template settings popover showing canvas size controls, the Quick Design toggle, and Linked Templates

Save and start designing

The editor autosaves as you work. When the layout is ready, head to Studio, click New Design, and pick your template — that's where photos and customer details come in.

One heads-up for later: once a template has been used for real renders it becomes publish-protected, and further template edits stay private until you click Publish.

Related articles

Comments

0 comments

Article is closed for comments.