Changed my mind about template libraries after a trip to Ikea last weekend

I always thought using design templates was lazy, like cheating on your own creativity. But then I walked through Ikea's room setups and noticed how every shelf and lamp followed a system. They reuse the same 3 shelf styles in 20 different rooms, but each feels unique because of the accessories. It hit me that templates are just the shelf, and my job is to pick the accessories. So now I use a base template for my UI projects and spend the saved 2 hours on details like micro-interactions. Has anyone else had that moment where a store layout changed how you work?

2 comments

2 Comments

veraramirez5d ago

Ha, that's such a good point! I actually had the opposite epiphany there once - I realized I was spending too much time picking templates instead of just working. Like I'd cycle through 50 Notion layouts and never actually write anything. But your Ikea thing made me think about something else - templates can actually be a crutch for bad habits too. Some people just swap out the colors and call it done without ever asking if the template even makes sense for what they're building. The real trick is knowing when the template is helping you focus and when it's just hiding the fact that you skipped the hard thinking.

perez.cole5d ago

My buddy Mark had this exact thing happen but with a Crate & Barrel of all places. He was trying to design a new website for his band and kept staring at a blank screen for hours. Then he saw how they arranged the same 3 couch models with different throw pillows and rugs to make each room look totally new. He started using a basic template for the band's homepage and just swapped out the album art and fonts, and his bandmates finally stopped complaining about it looking "too plain.