Design for Ease of Use
The best templates pull together a variety of individual tools and technologies to create a coherent production experience. They are well thought out, organized, and highly intuitive. Any designer should be able to start a new document based on your template and begin working without having to first overcome a steep learning curve.
Always look for ways to make your template easier to use. For example, use clear, concise, and consistent naming conventions. And don’t create too many style sheets, color swatches, layers, or master pages. Otherwise, the template can become unwieldy and make designers work harder to find what they need. It also helps to create a high-quality style guide that specifies exactly how to use your template.
These are just a few examples of how you can create efficient templates. Throughout this book, you’ll be given countless tips on optimizing your templates for ease of use.