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Template or visual — what is the difference?
Short answer: The template is the layout, reusable as many times as you like. The visual is the file produced from that template, which you download and post. One template is there to make many visuals.
The two objects
| What it is | Where it lives | |
|---|---|---|
| A template | A layout: where the text, the images, the logo and the product grid sit. Nothing downloadable. | The “Choose a template” window, which gathers the templates supplied by DAGOBA and your own |
| A visual | The file you get by clicking “Generate”: an image for a post or a story, a PDF for an A4 flyer | The “Studio” tab, section “Generated visuals” |
The template is the mold; the visual is what comes out of it.
One template, many visuals
That is the whole point of the mechanism: you set the layout once, then generate one visual per occasion — the new season, a tournament, a new collection — changing only the products and the text each time.
The format belongs to the template: it is fixed when the template is created, and every visual that comes out of it has that format.
Filling is not editing the template
In the composer, the two modes do not touch the same thing:
- “Fill” prepares the visual you are building. The products, text and logo you adjust do not go back into the template.
- “Layout” changes the template itself, and therefore every visual you generate afterwards.
That is why generating a visual needs no particular permission on the template, whereas changing its layout goes through “Save as my template” first. See How do I change the layout of a Studio template.
A visual keeps the composition it had
A generated visual is fixed: it holds the products, the text and the layout of the day you generated it. Editing the template later does not touch the visuals already produced.
Two buttons tell the two intentions apart, on a visual's card:
- “Regenerate” rebuilds the file with the same composition.
- “Update from the current template” takes the template's layout as it stands today.
A visual points at its products and its logo by reference, not by copy. If one of them disappears from the shop in the meantime, its slot stays empty and the visual shows “Some referenced elements no longer exist”. Fix the composition, then regenerate.
Going further
- How do I create a visual with the Studio — the steps, from template to file.
- How do I change the products and text in a visual — “Fill” mode in detail.
- How do I change the layout of a Studio template — “Layout” mode, and the copy it requires.