10 Reasons You Should Be Using Print Templates in Your Design Business

In recent years print templates have exploded in popularity. They're now so popular that many freelance designers now make templates a cornerstone of their entire business model.

In this post I want to look at the top reasons why BrandPacks' templates are a practical choice for today’s graphic designers, regardless of skill level.

Watch the video:

Now, before I get slewed in the comments: of course I don’t believe our templates are the only way to get design work done.

Creating beautiful, custom artwork for clients is a wonderful process and something we all love doing. After all, many of us become graphic designers through our passion for art and creativity.

However, being a freelance designer means balancing art with business. Pouring hours of time into custom artwork is not always a viable option.

For example:

• Clients with low budgets may not be able to afford paying you to start a design from scratch
• You may already be overwhelmed with client work which you’re struggling to complete
• You may not yet be skilled enough to produce the level of design your client demands

Working as a freelance designer is an idealistic job for those on the outside (and for a lucky few talented individuals).

But for the rest of us, we walk a fine line. Balancing bills and business with clients and their demanding ideas is no easy task.

Luckily, though, readymade templates can be the helping hand we need to get us through.

I'd love to know your thoughts on this in the comments down below. Leave a comment here.

For now, here’s the top ten reasons why I think you should be using print templates in your design business:

1. Templates Help You Save Time

I have been creating print templates for graphic designers for almost ten years now. Over those ten years, the top piece of feedback I hear from customers is “you saved me so much time!”

As a freelancer, regardless of whether you bill your clients per project or by the hour, time is money. There’s no hiding from that fact.

The quicker you complete your client work, the more money you ultimately make.

Not to mention it frees up your time to do more of the things you love; see your kids, spend time with your partner, “Netflix and chill”.

Our readymade templates help save you time by:

• Providing an already-finished design that needs only a little customisation
• Including stock photos so you needn’t waste time cutting out fresh images
• Cutting out the time spent finding inspiration – simply find a template and get to work
• Pleasing your clients and getting the work signed off first time around

Instead of spending hours starting from scratch, start with templates and spend just a few minutes editing.

2. Templates Help You Make More Money

I touched on this above, but the concept is pretty simple.

By using templates in your design business, you open yourself up to the opportunity of making a lot more money.

Typically, Freelance designers have two ways to increase their earnings:

1. by increasing their rates
2. increasing the number of clients they take on.

But you can only raise your rates so far before clients wave goodbye, and there are only so many hours in the day.

With a good supply of templates in your designer’s toolbox, though, taking on more clients is no problem. Why? Well as we said above, you can finish jobs much quicker.

Raising your rates shouldn’t be a problem either. When you have templates by your side, the quality of your work should improve (or at least stay the same) and your turnaround time become much faster.

Clients will be happy to pay more for these benefits.

3. Templates Help You Produce Better Designs

When I first started “working” as a designer I was around 13 years old. I started creating album covers for local artists and selling them for £5 via MSN Messenger (yes, really).

Back then I’d like to think I had an ok grasp of Photoshop for a noob, but by no means was my design work up to scratch.

Looking back, if back then I had access to templates, I would’ve been able to produce professional-quality design work even though I was a total design newbie.

This is a benefit of templates that continues to “wow” me every single day.

By taking advantage of readymade templates, you can produce agency-grade design work on your own, even if you’re not a pro designer yet.

4. Learn From Professionals By Using Templates

Over the years many designers have told me their favourite way to learn Adobe products is through using readymade templates.

It makes sense if you think about it. Being able to see exactly how a certain effect was achieved or a style reproduced is a great way to learn.

Following a tutorial is one way, of course, but being able to dig into the layered files of a professional designer offers a profoundly different (and incredibly effective) learning experience.

If you're new to design and want to see some professional templates for yourself, check out our free templates section.

5. Templates Help You Be Prepared for Rush Jobs

Put your hand up if you hate rush jobs. (I have my hand up in the air right now).

I hate rush jobs. Being caught off-guard by clients wanting design work yesterday is a hellishly stressful experience.

Whether it’s because you live in different timezones or you’re too busy with other work, the stress can be overwhelming. But, if you and I are alike, you hate letting clients down and so you grin and bear it.

Especially when it's a client who sends you a lot of work, it is really hard to say no. But that weight ends up on your shoulders, late into the night.

Templates are an ideal solution for this situation.

Simply find a template that matches what the client needs, spend a few minutes editing and have a finished design sent back within the hour.

6. Templates Are a Magic Cure For Creative Block

If I had to be honest, I think I’d prefer the flu over creative block. Especially when I’ve got a demanding client on my hands.

Maybe even the flu and a hangover at the same time.

Creative block is the ultimate frustration for a graphic designer, more so when you have client work to complete.

Templates provide a convenient solution for creative block, even when there isn’t a template that exactly matches your needs.

You see, what I like about templates and digital design as a whole, is that you’re never wasting paper. You can try different designs, delete and start over without spending a dime.

When I have creative block, I download a couple of templates and start rearranging the layouts and mixing and matching elements.

Before I know it a design will start to come together and my creative block is a thing of the past.

Almost as if by magic 😉

7. Templates Can Help You Keep Your Clients Happy

Happier clients are easier to work with, they spend more money and recommend your services to their friends and family.

Keeping them happy is not just a good idea, it’s absolutely essential.

The benefits offered by templates, such as quicker turnaround times and higher quality designs, help to keep your clients happy too.

But they templates needn't only work in the background. When you’re transparent with clients about using templates, some clients will actually prefer being able to choose a finished design that they like before work starts.

This guarantees they’ll be happy with the final results, so it's a win-win for both parties. Super!

8. Templates Guarantee Quality Prints

The first ever flyer I designed was for a local nightclub event. I remember the design well, it was absolutely terrific (for a young designer anyway) and I was very proud of it.

The nightclub promoter was thrilled too, and quite taken aback at the quality.

But there was a major problem: I designed the flyer at only 72dpi, and so it couldn’t be printed out.

I had to start the design from scratch (after learning how to properly prepare files for commercial printing).

At the time I was very new to design and I’d never heard of templates. But I could have easily avoided the pitfalls of designing for print if I’d have used a template to begin with.

We learn from our mistakes.

Here at BrandPacks, our designers have decades of combined experience designing for print.

When using our templates you can rest assured the final designs will be print-perfect every time.

9. Our Templates Save You Money On Stock Photos

This benefit does not apply to all stock template websites, but it certainly applies to BrandPacks.

All of the templates here on BrandPacks include the stock photos they’re previewed with.

Not only does that save you a heck of a lot of time searching for and cutting out stock photos, but it also saves you a bunch of cash!

With all our templates: what you see is what you get.

10. Templates are More Affordable Than Ever

With all these incredible benefits, you’d think that templates would be an expensive resource only available to high end agencies.

Wrong! The fact is, templates are now more affordable than ever before.

With the growing number of websites offering templates, the space is becoming more competitive every single day. This is driving up the quality of templates, and also driving down the price.

We push ourselves every day to keep the standard of our design work increasing and our templates at the top of their game, whilst keeping competitively priced.

All of our templates are available in discount bundles (aka packs) and with our upcoming membership, agency-grade design work will be more affordable than ever.