Prepare Digital Brand Template Files

The dimensions of your template in Bynder are fixed and are based on the initial Photoshop file that you upload. You cannot change the dimensions in Bynder. If you need the same document in two different dimensions (e.g. 800x800 banner, and 600x600 banner), you can create two separate source files and upload them as two separate templates.

Make use of the RGB color profile for your Digital Brand Template files.

Artboards do not have to be used in Photoshop, since the uploader supports files with artboards as well as without.

Give a unique name to your elements or layers in Photoshop, so that you can easily recognize them in Bynder. In Digital Brand Templates we make use of the same names.

There are three different kinds of dynamic elements you can have in a template:

Text frames

Make sure you keep the following requirements in mind when using text:

• Place all text in text frames.

• Elements placed inside text and image frames can only be dynamic as long as no other element is placed on top. If there are overlapping elements, end users will only be able to click and modify the element that is placed on top.

  Note

  The dimensions of the text frame are set in Photoshop and these cannot be changed in Bynder.

• For text we support all horizontal alignments. We do not support skewed text or text that is vertically positioned.

• Optical kerning is not supported. All text needs to be in metrics.

  

  Click for example

You can only use one font/style per text frame. If you want to use two different text styles, make sure to create two separate text frames. For example one for the header text and one for the body text.

Bynder supports the following font formats:

• .OTF

• .TTF

The font files used in the Photoshop file need to be uploaded to Bynder separately. Check this article for instructions.

All text needs to be converted to paragraph text in Photoshop. To do this, right click on the text frame and choose Convert to Paragraph Text.

The size and dimensions of the image frame in your Brand Template are determined by the Photoshop file that you upload.

Effects are not supported in Digital Brand Templates. Make sure that there are no effects applied to your images. Images should not be flipped or rotated. Some effects may be replicated in the output file, but not template editor. Other effects will not work at all.

If you add an image with transparency to a template the transparent areas of the image can be used as a mask. When users replace the default image, the new image will respect the transparency of the original image and only the non-transparent areas of the original image will be filed with the new image. You can configure the mask settings in the template editor.

You can apply one of the supported blend modes to an image layer in Photoshop. When uploading your template to Bynder the supported blend modes are automatically imported and applied to the appropriate image layer. The following blend modes are supported in Digital Brand Templates:

You can assign a background color to the template. If a background color is not set, the background in the generated output files will be white. When you upload a file with multiple artboards to Brand Templates, the system will automatically link the artboards with a matching background color.

Gradient colors are not supported. The opacity of the background color should always be set to 100%.

In Photoshop files, shapes are supported and do not need to be flattened.

Bynder automatically categorizes a template under the right channel by analyzing the filename. Include the name of the channel in your filename to automatically categorize it under the right channel, for example 'Instagram Story' or 'Adwords banner'.

The maximum file size of a template file you can upload is 500MB.

The dimensions of your template in Bynder are fixed and are based on the initial Sketch file that you upload. You cannot change the dimensions in Bynder. If you need the same document in two different dimensions (e.g. 800x800 banner, and 600x600 banner), you can create two separate source files and upload them as two separate templates.

Give a unique name to your elements or layers in Sketch, so that you can easily recognize them in Bynder. In Digital Brand Templates we make use of the same names.

There are three different kinds of dynamic elements you can have in a template:

Text frames

Make sure to place all text in text frames.

Elements placed inside text and image frames can only be dynamic as long as no other element is placed on top. If there are overlapping elements, end users will only be able to click and modify the element that is placed on top.

For text we support all horizontal and vertical alignments. We do not support skewed text or text that is vertically positioned.

Note

The dimensions of the text frame are set in Sketch or Photoshop and these cannot be changed in Bynder.

You can only use one font/style per text frame. If you want to use two different text styles, make sure to create two separate text frames. For example one for the header text and one for the body text.

Bynder supports the following font formats:

.OTF

.TTF

The font files used in the Sketch file need to be uploaded to Bynder separately. Check this section for instructions.

The format of the text frame should be Fixed. This allows you to specify the dimensions of the text frame instead of them being set automatically based on the placeholder text.

Flattening objects to bitmap

Grouping a shape and an image (creating a mask) is not supported. Flatten the grouped object into a bitmap, if you have applied a mask to an image in Sketch.

In Sketch, select the object you wish to flatten and go to Layer > Flatten selection to bitmap.

Color fills

You can apply color fills to the image. Color fills will work even if the image is changed in the template, though you will not be able to adjust the color fills themselves from how they were set up in the original file.

Select the image you want to add the effect to. In the style section, go to Fills and click + to add a color fill.

In the example below, a transparent black overlay is added to the image layer.

Artboard backgrounds

You can assign a background color to the template. If a background color is not set, the background in the generated output files will be white. When you upload a file with multiple artboards to Brand Templates, the system will automatically link the artboards with a matching background color.

Gradient colors are not supported. The opacity of the background color should always be set to 100%.

Note

The background color is not turned on automatically. Tick the checkbox background color in the right panel and set your background color.

We only support flat images (bitmaps) and text layers in Sketch files. All other element types will be ignored by the system. Make sure to flatten any other type of element into bitmaps instead.

Bynder automatically categorizes a template under the right channel by analyzing the filename. Include the name of the channel in your filename to automatically categorize it under the right channel, for example 'Instagram Story' or 'Adwords banner'.

Make sure the filenames do not contain periods other than the one between the filename and the extension.

The maximum file size of a template file you can upload is 500MB.