giving in to templates

[shikatoi]

My boss interviewed some designers while i was away from the office. then sent me sample html templates that took them an hour to make.. I could've made it in 5 minutes, and there was no design whatsoever, simply a white page with a table and black text.

a) as a designer it always hurts when someone turns to another designer.. its a jealousy issue?

b) im giving in and purchasing a package of 3000 html templates for $40, much better an investment than hiring some freelancers to take over my job. i was hired to be a designer, don't take that away from me!

anyone recommend template sites? i think that i just found the best option, also good for my freelance clients that always want new sites.

[SurfPark]

Pre-packaged templates? WHY? Doesn't your client have more specific needs than what can be delivered in templates? I suppose your wholesale purchase of the templates is cheaper than hiring the freelancers, but why are they in need of such bulk? Do you churn out sites all the time?

[cojemeachin]

I hate tamplates! There is no soul in that!

[zubaier]

I confess, I sold out last year and bought a template from templatetuning.com.

It was a flash one, and given that my actionscript is virtually non-existent, I couldnt have achieved anything like I did without the template, it looked wicked, and took about a day to taylor, as opposed to weeks creating from scratch.

Still felt guilty though.

[erichmond]

Avoid templates argh! :eek:

[zubaier]

It was really purely for the scripting that I bought it. I changed it beyond recognition graphically....

I don't think you should categorically rule it out, especially if time is an issue...

[erichmond]

Sorry I was just trying to be humorous, obviously it did come across.

I would be interested in the scripts what is the site you got them from?

[erichmond]

just spotted the link forget that last request

[zubaier]

templatetuning.com

I'm a print designer u see (yes more excuses), and I spose if I heard of a designer buying a template for a print project I'd probably condemn them too ;)

It's not often I get asked to do web stuff, but I learnt a lot just from deconstructing the template when I bought it.

[Silence04]

my boss was trying to get us to use templates for our sites... i finally convinced him that we should pay someone to design the site for us, so they did... But it turns out that scummy designer we payed used a template!!!! Grrrr!!

[zubaier]

Did he admit to you that he was using a template?

I was upfront with my boss about it, she agreed that in our case a template was the better option than sending me out on an actionscript course.

I was tempted not to even tell her and claim all the credit myself though, I must admit ;)

[erichmond]

honesty is the best policy

[lkw]

i don't use or buy templates but designers do it because it saves them money and time especially if is not a tough or saavy client.

[shikatoi]

Well 5GB of templates including flash, html, pshop, and some stock photos, all for $40, it was worth just looking into..

but now as I sit here watching on my my PC's download the files all day, since they are only .exe files, bastards.. I wait in anticipation to see what that 40 bucks really got me.

[chris_bcn]

a virus?

[colonel5]

people who create templates and sell them are making a great business for themselves

using templates as a company or as a designer really bugs me though

[erichmond]

I'll say! It's a bloody good business:
A, They sell a template for $50 that are not very flexible to use
B, Then the unique price is $1000 that is adapted for your own use

Talk about dangling a carrot and then home in for the kill! Wish I had thought of it first, actually I might start selling my own templates for half the price, thats competion for ya