# Design templates in Gradiently: start from a layout, keep your look [Canonical HTML page](https://gradiently.design/guide/templates-guide) A template should save you the layout, not decide your look. Here is how Gradiently's templates work, from the first search in Explore to publishing one of your own. ## The short version - Gradiently's design templates are finished layouts for posts, stories, posters, menus, slides, cards and wallpapers, each shown on a Mark. - You find templates in Explore, where you can search by words and filter by who made them, what they are for, size, colour and light or dark. - Using a template opens it as a new design in the Studio, and you can swap in a Mark you own so the layout wears your look instead of its own. - Inside the Studio, a template picked from the Templates panel lands as a new page after the one you are on, and your uploaded images stay. - Any member can publish one of their designs as a template; uploaded photos stay private and are left out of the published copy. **Design templates** in Gradiently are finished layouts you start from: a launch post, a café menu, a podcast cover, a wedding invitation, a phone wallpaper. What makes them different from a typical template library is that every one is drawn on a **Mark**, a living gradient and material background, and you can swap in your own Mark so the layout arrives wearing your look. You keep the structure someone else worked out and lose the part that would make you look like everyone else using it. This guide covers where templates live, what happens when you use one, how to add them to a design you already have, and how to publish your own. If you are new to the product, [getting started in the Studio](https://gradiently.design/guide/studio-guide) and [what a Mark is](https://gradiently.design/guide/what-is-a-mark) are good first reads. ## Where to find templates in Gradiently Templates live in [Explore](/explore). You can search with plain words such as *menu*, *launch*, *wedding* or *pink*, then narrow the results with filters. **Made by** separates templates crafted by Gradiently from ones members have shared. **For** groups them by purpose, **Size** by format, and **Colour** and **Look** (light or dark) by how they feel. | Category (For) | What you find in it | | --- | --- | | Launches and product | Releases, funding news, changelogs, hiring | | Events and culture | Gigs, openings, talks, festivals | | Shops and offers | Drops, offers, new arrivals, prices | | Food and drink | Menus, cafés, bars, specials | | Quotes and creators | Quotes, podcasts, newsletters, covers | | Business and brand | Cards, slides, numbers, reviews | | Wellness and places | Studios, travel, homes, classes | | Occasions and wallpapers | Invites, greetings, wallpapers, art | The eight categories in Explore's **For** filter. Combine one with a size and a colour to get to a short list quickly. Each template has its own page showing the design large, its format and size, the Mark it wears and who crafted it. From there you can use it, share it, open its Mark, or look through **More like this** for layouts in the same spirit. ## What happens when you use a template Choose **Use this template** and Gradiently makes a new design from it and opens it in the Studio, where you change the words, add photos and adjust anything you like. The template itself is untouched; you are working on your own copy. The more important button is **Swap in my Mark**. It redraws the same layout on a Mark you hold, so the colours, material and light become yours while the composition stays. **Back to its own Mark** undoes the swap if you want to compare. If you don't hold a Mark yet, Gradiently points you to the [Market](/market) first; our guide to [finding and claiming a Mark](https://gradiently.design/guide/how-to-claim-a-mark) walks through it. A portrait event announcement reading Doors open at seven on one gradient background A template as you find it, on its own Mark… The same event announcement layout redrawn on a different gradient background …and the same layout after Swap in my Mark. Same structure, your look. A template page also tells you who owns the Mark it wears. You can always use the template, whoever holds that Mark. If the Mark is still held by Gradiently, you can claim it from the same page, or choose **Make your own version** to open the Forge and craft a new Mark in its spirit. ## Adding a template to a design you already have You don't need to leave the Studio to use a template. Open the **Templates** panel from the left rail and pick one. The layouts there are made again for your Mark at your page's size, so what you see is what lands. 1. **Open Templates in the Studio** Use the **Templates** item on the Studio's left rail. Search, or browse by category. 2. **Pick a layout** It lands as a **new page after the one you're on**. If your design is still a single empty page, the template fills that page instead. 3. **Keep your pictures** Photos you uploaded stay. The template brings its words and shapes, laid out for your page. 4. **Undo in one step** Adding a template is a single change, so one undo takes it away again. The toast that confirms it has an Undo button too. 5. **Look sideways with Similar** The **Similar** panel shows templates, Marks and styles like the page you're on. A template picked there also lands as a new page. ## Templates in every format Explore's **Size** filter covers posts, stories, squares, posters, pins, phone and desktop wallpapers, slides, thumbnails, business cards, banners, X headers and link previews. Because a Mark renders live for each shape rather than being cropped from one image, the same look holds from a tall story to a wide header. - Post 4:5: 1080 × 1350 - Story 9:16: 1080 × 1920 - Square 1:1: 1080 × 1080 - A4 poster: 2480 × 3508 - Slide 16:9: 1920 × 1080 - X header 3:1: 1500 × 500 - Link preview: 1200 × 630 - Business card: 1050 × 600 Some of the formats templates come in, drawn to scale. Pin down the format first, then pick the layout. Once one version is finished, you rarely need a separate template for every platform. **Copy to sizes** lays the finished design out again for each format you choose; [one look, every size](https://gradiently.design/guide/one-look-every-size) explains how it decides what goes where. For the numbers behind each format, see the [social media image sizes](https://gradiently.design/guide/social-media-image-sizes) cheat sheet. ## How to make a template look like yours The reason templated work is easy to spot is that thousands of people change the words and nothing else. A few deliberate changes go a long way; [using templates without looking templated](https://gradiently.design/guide/social-media-templates) goes deeper. ### Looks templated - Keeping the template's own background - Leaving the sample fonts in place - Filling every text slot because it's there - A different template for every post ### Looks like you - Swapping in your own Mark so the ground is yours - Applying your brand kit's heading and body faces - Cutting words until the one idea is clear - Two or three layouts you reuse, so people learn them Your brand kit does much of this for you. With your logos, colours and fonts set once, **Apply brand kit** in the Studio brings them into the page; [setting up your brand kit](https://gradiently.design/guide/brand-kit-setup) covers what to add. ## How to publish your own template Any signed-in member can share a design as a template, and published templates show in Explore and on your profile. 1. **Choose Publish a template in Explore** Pick one of your designs. Anyone will be able to start from it, while the design itself stays yours and private. 2. **Name it the way people search** "Autumn menu for a small café" is found; "Design 14" is not. Then choose what it's for, which files it under a category. 3. **Check what gets left out** Photos you uploaded stay private and are left out of the template, so people starting from it add their own. 4. **Update or unpublish any time** Publishing takes a copy of the design at that moment. Later changes stay private until you choose **Update template**, and **Unpublish** takes it down. > **Templates build your profile** Everything you publish appears under the Templates tab on your public page. See [your profile](https://gradiently.design/guide/profiles-and-showcase) for how that page is put together. ## FAQ ### Are Gradiently templates free to use? Yes. Any template can be used to start a design, whoever holds the Mark it wears. Exporting a design needs a claim on the Mark it wears, and claiming is free while Gradiently launches. ### Can I use a template with my own Mark? Yes. On a template's page, **Swap in my Mark** redraws the same layout on a Mark you hold. In the Studio, templates in the Templates panel are already made for your Mark and page size. ### Does adding a template replace my page? No. A template picked in the Studio lands as a new page after the one you're on. Only a design that is still a single empty page takes it in place, and one undo removes it. ### What happens to my photos when I publish a template? Photos you uploaded stay private and are left out of the published template. People who start from it add their own. ### Can I change a template after publishing it? Yes. Publishing takes a copy, so edits to your design stay private until you choose **Update template**. You can also unpublish it at any time.