Where are the basic templates?

[Jeff Rudd]

As a graphic designer what uses Adobe Photoshop, I find it very useful for quick jobs to do, to use some of their templates supplied. When I first installed their software and opened them up, there they were, no problem, ready - and still ready - to use.

Having decided to check out Affinity software applications to see if they could do a better job, I find that there are no templates, not one, zilch! The adverts I have seen on my PC and even my phone, plugs that they are supposedly there - so why are they not showing up on my windows operating PC? Can someone please explain what is going on? I am NOT taking about templates that I can make myself. I am specific referring to ones that supposed to come with the applications, and they (supposedly) found after installation. 

This situation has already turned me off further progressing with Affinity applications.

1. Where are the templates?
2. Why is this "missing templates" situation being allowed to continue? It appears to be happening to both Windows and Mac users.
    (It's an instant sales marketing disaster. I'm a professional marketer.)

[GarryP]

Welcome to the forums @Jeff Rudd

There aren’t any templates which come ‘pre-loaded’ but there are some which are available via the Account panel of that dialog and in the Serif Store.

Other templates may be available in the Resources section of the forums and others may be found on the web somewhere.

However, just so we are talking about the same thing, are you sure that you want “templates” and not Page Presets which are available in the New panel of that dialog?

[thomaso]

9 minutes ago, Jeff Rudd said:

(It's an instant sales marketing disaster. I'm a professional marketer.)

(I appreciate the lack of auto-/pre-installed "template" documents. I'm a professional communication designer.)

[Jeff Rudd]

REPLY to GarryP,

I've very sure about the difference between presets and templates.
Adobe applications (as do others) come with both, after initial installation. (see attached screenshot of Adobe Photoshop)
From a marketing aspect alone, the lack of even the basic of templates at all in Affinity applications, is an immediate sales turn off.

I'm very disappointed with Affinity in this respect. Someone needs to go back and do their SWOT analysis again, regarding this aspect.
It was the first thing I looked for - and I'm sad to say, this situation exists in Affinity Designer and Photo applications. Very disappointing.
The creators of what looked to be good coded applications, have let themselves badly down in this sales aspect. 
I will be sticking with alternative software. I had hoped for the best - but have been left seriously let down by what should have been a basic installed aspect. 

 

[GarryP]

26 minutes ago, Jeff Rudd said:

I've very sure about the difference between presets and templates.

Thanks for making that clear – we sometimes hear from people who use the terms interchangeably and it can often be difficult to figure out what they want.

27 minutes ago, Jeff Rudd said:

Adobe applications (as do others) come with both, after initial installation.

The Affinity applications have never, that I know of, come ‘pre-loaded’ with templates.

I don’t think the concept of templates has been part of these applications for very long, maybe only a few years or so, something like that.

That may be one of the reasons why templates don’t come with the applications.

I’ve never needed templates because I generally start from scratch but I can certainly understand why people might want to use them.

I have no idea if Serif will start ‘pre-loading’ the applications with templates at some point but it might take a while for them to do that, for various reasons. (I might even start using myself them if they do.)

In the meantime, I’ve heard that some Adobe templates (IDML etc.) work well with the Affinity applications so that could be a starting point to make your own Affinity versions. (Some don’t work because there isn’t a functional parity between the two ‘ecosystems’.)

You’re not the first person to ask for templates, and I don’t think you will be the last, so maybe Serif will do something about that at some point in the future.

[PaulEC]

Serif's old PagePlus software came with, literally, hundreds of templates, personally I never used any of them! This was for two reasons. Firstly, that none of them was ever exactly what I wanted and it seemed easier just to start from scratch. Secondly, I didn't want my work to be  like all the other publications that other people produced, using the same templates.

I have no problem with Serif producing templates if there is enough demand for them, but I do feel that they should be sold separately, not included with the software. Someone has to be paid to design templates (just like anything else) and I don't want either to have to pay for something I never use, nor to have resources diverted from developing the actual software.

[thomaso]

Vor 7 Minuten sagte Jeff Rudd:

Someone needs to go back and do their SWOT analysis again, regarding this aspect.
It was the first thing I looked for -

Wow. 🦄

It was the last thing I was looking for -

Zitat

Business Model, SWOT Analysis, and Competitors 2023 – (…) Finally, there is Serif, which provides a range of creative software solutions, including Affinity Designer, Affinity Photo, and Affinity Publisher. Serif's products are designed to be affordable alternatives to Adobe's offerings, and they have gained a loyal following of users who appreciate their ease of use and affordability. In conclusion, while Adobe is a dominant player in the creative software industry, it does face competition from several other companies, including Corel, Autodesk, Quark, and Serif.

(…) When it comes to analyzing the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT) of Adobe, there are several factors that need to be considered.
One of Adobe's weaknesses is its high pricing. While the company's products are popular, they can be expensive for individual users and small businesses. This has led to some users seeking out alternative software options. Another weakness of Adobe is its dependence on a subscription model. While this has been successful for the company thus far, it leaves Adobe vulnerable to changes in consumer behavior and economic downturns.

https://pitchgrade.com/companies/adobe

... which makes me curious to read a SWOT analysis about a possible or estimated versus the actual dependence of graphic designers on “template” documents.

[joe_l]

2 minutes ago, thomaso said:

... which makes me curious to read a SWOT analysis about a possible or estimated versus the actual dependence of graphic designers on “template” documents.

They did not write More than 3,000,000 happy users worldwide

[thomaso]

8 minutes ago, joe_l said:

happy

… which may need a quite complex 'SWOT analysis' … possibly resulting in users who do not use any design application
… https://happiness-report.s3.amazonaws.com/2022/Appendix_3_SupplementaryMaterials.pdf

[PaulEC]

7 minutes ago, joe_l said:

They did not write More than 3,000,000 happy users worldwide

One does wonder why they would use Affinity if they are not happy with it! – Seems a little perverse to continue to use software that you don't like!

If, like the OP, you feel that the lack of a feature, such as ready made templates, means that Affinity is not suitable for your needs, there are other alternatives. Indeed, if you would rather pay a monthly fee for Adobe, because you get a few free templates, rather than buying Affinity for a, one off, very reasonable price and then purchase templates separately if you want them, that's your choice!

[wonderings]

Like others, it is not something I would even look for, with Adobe or Affinity. I could be wrong, but templates are usually geared toward the simpler programs made for simpler applications. Affinity is a powerful suite of apps on level with the standard pro apps like Adobe. When I think of templates I think of sites like Canva. Easy to select a template and alter with little to no design experience. 

[joe_l]

4 minutes ago, PaulEC said:

One does wonder why they would use Affinity if they are not happy with it! – Seems a little perverse to continue to use software that you don't like!

Company politics for instance. When my boss bought the very first version of Indesign and "forced" me to work with it, I first thought he wanted to get rid of me, by torturing me with this software.

[Twolane]

I find this entire "templates, where are they" discussion rather strange. I have never touched a program that was more "template-ready for my own templates", in my life. In fact, I have fun creating them, especially for Publisher and Photo. Oh well, and ho-hum. Back to work I go.

[Pšenda]

2 minutes ago, joe_l said:

Company politics for instance.

Then you will definitely be using "corporate templates", not some pre-installed demos.

[PaulEC]

2 minutes ago, joe_l said:

Company politics for instance. When my boss bought the very first version of Indesign and "forced" me to work with it, I first thought he wanted to get rid of me, by torturing me with this software. Saving money could be a good motivation for buying software.

I'm not sure how many of the millions of users are forced, unwillingly, to use it by their employers; but at least the employers are (presumably) happy with it! Actually, my last employer gave me the choice of Adobe or Affinity software and I chose to use Affinity! 

[Pšenda]

10 minutes ago, PaulEC said:

One does wonder why they would use Affinity if they are not happy with it! – Seems a little perverse to continue to use software that you don't like!

From the many reactions here on the forum, it is evident that some users love it 🙂
The unavailability of templates can be detected in the trial version within the first minute.

[PaulEC]

There are, of course, plenty of templates available for Affinity, it's just they they are not provided for free with the software. For example:  https://affinityspotlight.com/article/20-top-class-templates-for-affinity-publisher/

[R C-R]

6 hours ago, Jeff Rudd said:

From a marketing aspect alone, the lack of even the basic of templates at all in Affinity applications, is an immediate sales turn off.

Perhaps it is for you but as has been mentioned, it is not a 'turn off' for a great many other users, nor has it seemed to hurt sales.

Besides, I doubt that very many people would agree about which templates are in some way so basic that creating whichever one(s) they consider basic would take more than a few minutes to create them for themselves.

And of course, there is what some have termed a 'killer' feature of the suite of three apps, that being able to use the same presets, templates included, in any of the three, due to the integrated common native file format. 

[PaoloT]

7 hours ago, PaulEC said:

There are, of course, plenty of templates available for Affinity

Yes, but you have to look for them, download them, and open them! Someone couldn't stand all this effort!

 

[R C-R]

10 minutes ago, PaoloT said:

Yes, but you have to look for them, download them, and open them! Someone couldn't stand all this effort!

Kind of the thing I think pros would not find too difficult to do, but what do I know?

[firstdefence]

Never used a template in any software that had them, too generic, I think templates are useful for the Home/DIY person to make a poster, flyer, leaflet and have no design skills and they just want an a,b,c document to put up in the village hall, use at a fete, etc, then templates would be the first place to go. 

[GarryP]

I don’t think there needs to be any distinction drawn between amateur/professional use of, or need for, templates.

A template can be used by anyone no matter their experience, skill level or pay grade.

After all, even the head chef of a 3-star Michelin restaurant can enjoy eating the contents of a bag of tasty shop-bought crisps.

They might not serve those crisps to their customers but templates aren’t only for the presentation of work to paying clients.

They can also be used, for example, for getting an idea of how something might look, or for generating ideas, or for any number of other things.

[thomaso]

11 minutes ago, GarryP said:

I don’t think there needs to be any distinction drawn between amateur/professional use of, or need for, templates.

This may apply to general use of template documents. – Whereas this thread was not created about the possibilities or ways of using templates, but as a thesis about a need for ready-made templates and from marketing aspects, the lack of which supposedly even prevents working with Affinity:

"As a graphic designer" the lack of template documents "has already turned me off further progressing with Affinity applications", added by "Why is this "missing templates" situation being allowed to continue?" (…) "It's an instant sales marketing disaster. I'm a professional marketer."

28 minutes ago, GarryP said:

They can also be used, for example, for getting an idea of how something might look, or for generating ideas, or for any number of other things.

No templates are required at all for the purpose of viewing possible designs; anyone can get an idea of possible looks and designs by an internet search with the corresponding images in the search results.

So these ready-made templates might be helpful for beginners who don't know what various object types and attributes mean, for instance "Text", "Image", Picture Frame", "Pixel", "Stroke", "Fill" etc. … but they are definitely not required to use or learn the app.

[Pšenda]

39 minutes ago, GarryP said:

After all, even the head chef of a 3-star Michelin restaurant can enjoy eating the contents of a bag of tasty shop-bought crisps.

But that is not discussed here at all - here the situation is presented that if a 3-star Michelin restaurant does not sell bagged chips - then it is a liquidation for it.
I don't know about you, but I don't go to a 3-star Michelin restaurant for bagged chips.

[GarryP]

7 minutes ago, thomaso said:

No templates are required at all for the purpose of viewing possible designs; anyone can get an idea of possible looks and designs by an internet search with the corresponding images in the search results.

For “how something might look” I meant, for example, how their picture might look in a frame on a wall, that sort of thing.