Why do we need templates? For all the creativity and ingenuity that goes into creating a piece of design, an icon or an interface, there is a lot of formalia. Specific pixel dimension to know, grids to understand and conventions to take into account. Between those sheer moments of inspiration and creative output is a lot of tinkering and menial work. Understanding all of the underlying things is an important part of being a good designer but for many, it’s a roadblock that means their creativity will never take form. By supplying people with resources like the PSD files on this site, you’re essentially giving people the ability to, at least partially, jump over that required knowledge thats keeping them from getting started. It’s not only rookies that benefit from this though, even talented designers are more quickly able to see if a concept renders well when they’re not bogged down by having to do everything themselves. Templates and automation can’t solve everything and there are pros and cons to using them, but for the vast majority, building off a well thought out template is a timesaver, and in some cases a creativity-saver.
How do I use it?
Most of the templates on this site features a component of automation, often through the use of smartobjects. The idea is to create the largest size (icon or screenshot) and have the template scale and render everything else needed. Each template differs slightly, but the general idea is the same; Edit a smartobject stacked with as many useful components as possible. Save and export multiple sizes for delivery. It’s advised that you have some basic knowledge of how to use Photoshop but most people should be able to follow. It’s probably best understood by viewing some of my walkthroughs.
Or how to use the screenshot template, which is noticeably different from the icon templates here:
Or how to use the iOS Wireframe template, which is again, quite different in nature.
You can download all the templates from the templates section. Hopefully you can see the value in incorporating a resource like this into your workflow. Essentially it is about getting results faster. For some it’ll be the access ticket that actually enables them to produce their own design assets. The developer able to make his own icon for his first app or the new designer able to get an easy footing in the world of icon or ui design. For others, more experienced designers, it’ll be a tool that will enable them to dispense with the grind of specifications and more freely and efficiently be able to explore their own creativity. Whichever category you fall into I hope you’ll find something here that’ll make you better at what you want to achieve.
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