Template Builder

Template Builder is the design tool inside Studio. You build a design template once, mark the parts that change as variables, and every image you need afterwards comes from that one template.

A product banner is the classic case. The layout, the brand colors and the typography stay fixed; the product photo, the headline and the price change per product, per campaign or per market. Instead of producing a hundred files, you produce one template and let the values vary.

What you can do with a template

• Publish one design at several sizes, without rebuilding it for each one.

• Drive the text and imagery from a product's metadata, so the design follows the asset rather than being retyped.

• Produce localized versions of the same design when your project uses regional settings.

• Save a filled-in version as a variation and reuse its link wherever you need the image.

• Control your brand identity: only the parts you turn into variables can be filled in later, so logos, brand colors and fixed copy stay exactly as you designed them.

Key concepts

Concept	What it means
template	The design itself, stored as a file in your DAM library.
layout	One output size of the template, with its own canvas dimensions and its own position and size for every layer. A template has at least one.
layer	Text, an image or a shape placed on the canvas. Layers stack, and the top of the Layers panel is the front-most layer.
variable	A named value the template leaves open, filled when the image is rendered. Each one has a slug, which is the key used to fill it.
variation	A saved set of choices for a template: one layout, one set of variable values, one regional selection.
regional settings	The language, currency or other variant used to resolve metadata-driven values, if your project defines them.

Layers belong to the template, geometry belongs to the layout. Add a text layer once and it exists in every layout; move it, and only the layout you are working in changes.

Where templates live

A template is a file in your DAM library. It shows up in search, sits in a folder, obeys the same permissions, and carries versions and approvals like any other asset. Saving a template creates a new version of that file.

That is also why a template can be opened from two places: the templates list in Template Builder, and the asset itself in the DAM.

How you get there

• From Template Builder, open the templates list and choose Create template, or open an existing one.

• From the DAM, open a template asset and choose Edit template, either in the asset details header or from the context menu in the library.

Full steps are in Creating a template.

What is next

1. Creating a template - your first canvas.

2. Layouts - one template, several sizes.

3. Layers - adding and arranging content.

4. Variables - the parts that change.

5. Variations - saving finished versions.