Templates and prototypes are two of the most practical investments a business can make in how it communicates and how it builds digital products. They save time, enforce consistency, reduce costly mistakes, and raise the quality of everything the business produces. But like most design investments, they produce their best outcomes when the business is prepared before the work begins — when the goals are clear, the scope is defined, and the information the designer needs is ready to be shared. Understanding what to consider before you commission templates or prototypes is the difference between a project that delivers exactly what the business needed and one that requires expensive revision because the brief was incomplete.
What this article is about: This article walks through what to prepare and decide before approaching a designer or agency for template or prototype work — what information to gather, what decisions to make first, and what questions to ask to ensure the outcome genuinely serves the business.
Why Preparation Matters Before This Type of Work Begins
Template and prototype projects share a quality with most design investments — the quality of the output is directly proportional to the quality of the input. A designer who is given clear, specific, accurate information about what is needed, for whom, and in what context can produce templates or prototypes that are precisely calibrated to the business’s actual requirements. A designer who is given vague, incomplete, or contradictory information produces work that requires multiple rounds of revision — or that misses the mark entirely despite being technically competent.
There is also a sequencing consideration. Templates should be built from a finalised, stable brand identity — not from one that is still in development. Prototypes should be built from a clear understanding of the audience, the goals, and the functional requirements of the digital product. Starting either type of project before the foundational information is in place produces work that may need to be redone when the foundation changes.
What to Clarify About Your Brand Identity Before Template Work Begins
The most important prerequisite for template work is a finalised, documented brand identity. Templates are built from brand guidelines — they translate the specifications in those guidelines into production-ready files. If the brand guidelines do not yet exist, or if they are incomplete, outdated, or in the process of being revised, template work should wait until the guidelines are in their final form.
Before approaching a designer for template work, gather and review your existing brand assets. Do you have a brand guidelines document? Does it specify the exact colour values — in all the formats required for different applications? Does it specify the typefaces, including which weights and styles to use and how? Does it include the logo in all the formats required — various file types, colour and monochrome versions, horizontal and stacked versions?
If any of these elements are missing or unclear, addressing them before template work begins is essential — because templates built from incomplete guidelines will either be built on assumptions that may be wrong, or will require the designer to make decisions about the brand that should have been made before the project started.
Understanding the Scope — What Needs to Be Templated and for Whom
Before approaching a designer for template work, define clearly what you need. Not in general terms — specifically. Which documents need templates? In what software will they be used — Microsoft Word, PowerPoint, Google Slides, Adobe InDesign, Canva, a social media platform? Who will be using them — designers who are comfortable with professional design tools, or non-designers who need something that works in a simple, familiar application?
These questions matter enormously because the answers determine what kind of templates can and should be built. A template for non-designers to use in Microsoft Word is a fundamentally different project from a template for designers to use in Adobe InDesign — different tools, different constraints, different levels of design complexity that are achievable.
The scope also determines the budget and timeline. A comprehensive template system covering proposals, presentations, social media posts, email signatures, and internal documents is a significant project. A single proposal template is a much more focused one. Knowing precisely what is needed before approaching a designer allows for accurate scoping — and prevents the scope creep that tends to emerge when the brief is not specific enough at the outset.
What to Prepare Before Commissioning Prototype Work
Prototype work has different prerequisites from template work — but the principle of preparation is the same. Before approaching a designer or agency for prototype work, be clear about what you are trying to build — what type of digital product, what its primary purpose is, and who its primary users will be. A website prototype, an app prototype, and a product prototype each have different requirements and different approaches.
Be clear also about the goals of the prototype. Are you trying to test whether a particular user journey works? Are you trying to validate a design direction before committing to development? Are you trying to show investors or stakeholders what a product will look and feel like? Different goals require different levels of fidelity — and being clear about the goal allows the designer to propose the right type of prototype for the job.
Gather any existing research or user insight that should inform the prototype. If you have data about how your current website or product is performing, share it. If you have feedback from users about problems they encounter, share it. If you have competitive examples that illustrate what you are trying to achieve or what you are trying to avoid, share those too.
How to Brief a Designer or Agency Effectively for This Type of Work
A good brief for template or prototype work is specific, practical, and honest about what is known and what is not. It describes what is needed, why it is needed, who will use it, and what success looks like. It acknowledges the constraints — budget, timeline, the tools available to the people who will use the templates — and provides all the relevant existing assets that the designer will need to work from.
For template work, the brief should include the brand guidelines, all existing brand assets, a list of the documents that need templates, the software in which those templates need to work, and a description of the people who will use them. For prototype work, the brief should include a description of the product and its purpose, information about the target audience, the specific goals of the prototype, any existing research or user feedback, and the timeline and budget constraints that will shape what is feasible.
A brief that is this specific allows the designer to respond with a proposal that is precisely calibrated to what is needed — rather than a generic approach that will require significant revision once the specifics become clear.
Questions to Ask Before Choosing a Design Partner
For template work: have they built templates for businesses with a similar level of complexity and a similar team structure? Can they show examples of template systems they have built — and explain the thinking behind the structural decisions they made? Do they understand the software environment in which the templates will need to work? And do they offer any support or guidance for the team that will use the templates after they are delivered?
For prototype work: have they built prototypes for similar types of digital products? What is their process for discovery and for translating business requirements into prototype decisions? How do they handle feedback and iteration during the prototyping process? And what is their experience of handing off prototype work to development teams?
A design partner who answers these questions clearly, who asks their own thoughtful questions in return, and who demonstrates genuine understanding of the specific requirements of your project is a partner whose work is more likely to serve the business effectively.
Common Mistakes to Avoid When Commissioning This Type of Work
The most common mistake in commissioning template work is starting before the brand identity is finalised. Templates built on a brand identity that subsequently changes need to be rebuilt — wasting the investment in the original templates. The fix is patience — finalising the brand identity before beginning the template project, even if it means a delay.
The second most common mistake is scoping templates for the tools the designer prefers rather than the tools the users need. A beautifully built InDesign template is useless to a non-designer who works in Word. The fix is defining the tools and the users before defining the scope — and being specific in the brief about what the template needs to work in and who will be using it.
For prototype work, the most common mistake is treating the prototype as the finished product — or allowing others to do so. A prototype that looks highly realistic can create the impression that development is nearly complete, leading to unrealistic expectations about timeline and cost. The fix is clear communication about what the prototype is and what it is not.
Key Takeaways
- Template and prototype projects produce their best outcomes when the business is prepared before the work begins — with clear goals, defined scope, and the information the designer needs ready to share.
- For template work, the essential prerequisite is a finalised, documented brand identity. Templates built on incomplete guidelines require revision when the brand is settled.
- Scope template work specifically — which documents, in which software, for which users. The answers to these questions determine what type of templates can and should be built.
- For prototype work, be clear about what you are trying to build, the goals of the prototype, and any existing research or user insight that should inform the design decisions.
- A good brief for either type of work is specific, practical, and honest about constraints. It gives the designer everything they need to propose an approach precisely calibrated to what is needed.
- The most common mistakes are starting template work before the brand is finalised, scoping templates for the wrong tools, and treating a high-fidelity prototype as nearly a finished product.
Approaching template or prototype work with clear preparation and a specific brief produces outcomes that are more precisely aligned with what the business needs. If you are ready to talk about what your business needs in terms of templates or prototypes, SWL is here for that conversation. We ask the questions that need to be answered before we start designing anything — and that is exactly how good work begins.