Social media templates a client can actually keep using

Most template packs die three weeks after the invoice is paid. The team gets a longer headline, no photo and a deadline, the grid breaks, and someone rebuilds the post from scratch. Templates have to be designed for that day, not for the presentation.

Design the worst case first

Before the pretty version, I build the post with the longest headline the client will realistically write and no image at all. If that version still looks right, everything easier than it will look right too.

Lock the grid, free the content

Margins, safe areas and the logo position never move. Colour, photo and text do. When the fixed parts stay fixed, ten different posts still read as one brand while someone scrolls a feed.

Three layouts are usually enough

One for a statement, one for a photo with a short caption, one for a list or a carousel slide. More options mean more chances to pick the wrong one, and the team ends up using the first template anyway.

Name the files like instructions

Quote light, Photo dark, Carousel step. Someone who was not in the kickoff meeting should be able to choose the right file from the name alone.

Hand over one page, not a manual

Maximum characters for a headline, which colours pair, what never to do to the logo. One page gets read and pinned near the desk. A forty page brand book gets saved and forgotten.

Good templates are not the ones that look best on a slide. They are the ones still in use six months later, filled in by someone who has never opened a design tool.