Creating Designs and Using Templates

Overview

Every project in StretchDesign begins as a design — a named canvas at a chosen size. You can build one from a blank canvas or start from a template and customize it. This guide covers both paths, choosing a canvas size, working with multiple pages, and the full range of elements you can add.

Create a design from scratch

1. From the dashboard, choose Create a design.
2. Enter a name (required) — for example, Q3 Webinar — LinkedIn Banner.
3. Set the canvas size in pixels. The default is 1080 × 1080. Common choices:
- Instagram / square post — 1080 × 1080
- Instagram story / vertical — 1080 × 1920
- LinkedIn / Twitter landscape — 1200 × 675
- Presentation slide — 1920 × 1080
- Flyer (print, approx.) — 2480 × 3508
4. Click create. The editor opens with an empty canvas at your chosen size.
5. Add elements from the left-hand panels and arrange them. Work autosaves as you go.

Create a design from a template

Templates are pre-built starter designs grouped by category. Starting from one is the fastest route to a finished piece.

1. Open the Templates gallery (from the dashboard or the editor's Templates panel).
2. Filter by category to narrow the options.
3. Click a template to preview it, then choose Use this template.
4. A new design opens pre-filled with the template's layout, at the template's canvas size.
5. Replace placeholder text and images with your own content, recolor to your brand, and adjust the layout as needed.

The template stays untouched — you're editing a copy that's now your own design.

Working with multiple pages

A single design can hold several pages (artboards). Use this for multi-slide decks, carousels, or a set of related formats kept together.

1. Use the page controls near the canvas to add a page.
2. Switch between pages by selecting them.
3. Reorder pages to control their sequence (this is also the order they appear in Present mode and in an exported PDF).

Elements you can add

From the Text and Elements panels you can place:

• Text — headings, subheadings, and body copy, each fully styleable (font, size, weight, color, alignment, spacing).
• Images — from your Uploads library or dragged onto the canvas.
• Shapes — rectangles, ellipses, and lines for banners, dividers, and accents.
• Frames — placeholders you can drop an image into for clean, cropped picture areas.
• Tables — structured rows and columns for schedules, price lists, and comparisons.
• QR codes — scannable codes that point to a URL, great for linking print to online.
• Charts — simple data visualizations for reports and social stats.

Realistic example

You're launching a product and need a three-slide carousel. Create a design named Launch Carousel — IG at 1080 × 1080, then add three pages. On page one, use a template-style hero layout with the product name and a frame holding the hero photo. On page two, add a table of three key features. On page three, add a QR code to the pre-order page and a call-to-action headline in your brand font. Reorder the pages so the hook comes first, then export all three as a single PDF or as separate PNGs.

Tips

• Pick your canvas size to match the destination up front; resizing later is possible with Magic Resize, but starting at the right size avoids rework.
• Keep one campaign's formats together as pages in a single design so nothing gets lost.
• Use frames instead of raw images when you want consistent, cropped image areas.
• Save your best finished layouts as templates (where your admin has enabled it) to reuse them across the team.

Troubleshooting

"Design name is required." Every design needs a name before it can be created — enter one and try again.

My canvas is the wrong size. If you haven't started designing, delete it and recreate at the right dimensions; if you're mid-way, use Magic Resize to rescale the existing layout.

A template didn't come in with my changes. Templates open as a fresh copy. Confirm you selected Use this template rather than just previewing it, then look for the new design at the top of your Designs list.