How to Use Templates in Affinity Designer

It’s great knowing how to use templates in Affinity Designer if you’re stuck on coming up with your own design and because it can help you save some time. Whether you’re looking for a template to create a brochure for an event, a card for a special occasion, a social media post, or a planner page, there are many templates available.

The template we used in this tutorial is for a double-sided business card. You can take a look at all the other awesome business card templates available on Design Bundles to find one that fits your style.

Before we start, you want to download and unzip the file onto your computer. Templates in Affinity Designer can be opened like any other file using the Open command by going to File > Open (Ctrl+O). Along with Affinity Designer templates, you can open Illustrator (.ai) and Photoshop files (.psd) that have been saved with “Create PDF Compatible File” enabled.

Unfortunately, you cannot open actual Illustrator template files (.ait) and Photoshop template files (.psdt). In order to open those template files, you would have to resave them in the applicable file format with “Create PDF Compatible File” enabled.

If the Illustrator or Photoshop file you’re opening has not been properly saved for use in Affinity Designer, you will see the following warning instead of the template.

Step 1 - Mark Options in PDF Options Dialog Box

After selecting the template file and clicking Open in the Open dialog, the PDF Options dialog will appear. The options pertain to what you would like to do with the file.

Select Load all pages, Favor editable text over fidelity and click OK.

Step 2 - Select Design Elements to Edit

With the template open, you can select a design element by clicking on it on the artboard or by clicking it in the Layers panel. The selection will have a bounding box around it.

Step 3 - Edit Text Size, Font, and Color

You can change the size of the text, the font, and the color. We have a guide available on text basics in Affinity Designer if needed.

Step 4 - Edit Color of Individual Letter(s)

Select the Artistic Text Tool (T) or Frame Text Tool (T). Hover over the text you want to change the color of, make sure the cursor is an “I”, and click the text.

Now, highlight the letter(s) by clicking and dragging, and choose a new color in the Color panel.

Step 5 - Change Color of Background and Other Design Elements

Select the background on the artboard or in the Layers panel. Then pick a new color in the Color panel.

You can change the color of other design elements on the template in the same way. Select the design element and choose a color in the Color panel.

We hope you found this tutorial helpful for when you use a template in Affinity Designer. If you would like to create your own design elements to add to the template, we have many more Affinity Designer tutorials you can check out.