Best practices for public templates

Alexis

I've got a template that I want to share publicly. Are there best practices for creating a public template i.e. sizing, font, instructions, etc. Does anyone in the community have experience with this and/or tips? This would be posted by my company, so looking to put my best foot forward. Thanks in advance for your input!!

Meghan

@Emilia shares some great tips here, and I've found a few existing posts/tips that may also help!

1. Keep your template at scaled to the same size that supports stickies at 100% zoom, their default size. The canvas, icons, shapes and titles are all scaled to the sticky notes.
2. Outlines can be a helpful way to give larger boards flow and give meaning to what can become messier boards over time!

You didn't ask, but here are some shortcuts as well for ease when creating and facilitating.

[Deleted User]

Hi Alexis,

Thank you for sharing your template looks great!

The main things to look for:

• Keep it simple, try to avoid adding too many elements. When people start adding sticky notes it will be busy on it's own.
• Make sure H1 titles are readable when zoomed out.
• Keep sticky notes to their default size. Estimate how many sticky notes people will create for each activity and adjust the space for that.
• Keep the color palette simple, stick to 2-3 colors.
• Make sure there is enough contrast between text, shapes, lines and background.
• Use icons and shapes as visual metaphors to improve readability.
• Give the template a clear title and description that make it easy to understand the purpose and expected outcome of using the template.
• Write the instructions and prompts as questions to inspire problem solving.

Here are some more tips to start with:

• How to make your templates more accessible
• How to make any mural or template look great!
• When you share in community, publish murals as templates

What other questions do you have about creating templates? Happy to help!

Alexis

@Emilia and @MeghanatMURAL thank you both for the tips, these are helpful! I'll let you know if I have any more questions as I go.