Introduction
The Lofty Design Center is a tool that can be used to create images with designs, logos, text, etc. to include in emails, flyers, social media posts, or even your IDX website. This article will outline how to use the Lofty Design Center which is found in the CRM > Marketing > Design Center:
Summary
Organization
When you first access the Design Center, you will be able to see a folder hierarchy available to access and organize your designs.
Lofty Designs
The first tab you will see is Lofty Designs. On this tab, you will have access to designs that have been provided by us for your use. They are separated into "All," "Postcards," "Flyers," and "Social Media" categories.
If you would like to build on top of one of these designs (using it as a starting point) then you can simply hover over the one you like and then click on the large "+" button and you will be able to edit the design.
My Designs
The second tab is the My Designs tab. Here you can access the content that you have put together or that is made available on your team.
Click on the blue button to Create New Folder, decide on a folder name, and then choose permissions for the folder.
- Private folders can only be viewed by yourself.
-
Shared folders
- can be viewed by all other users on your team
- only those with the "Team Template" permission (see Permissions) can edit the files in this type of folder
When Enterprise account users create a new folder, they can choose which groups to share the folder with.
- Users with the "Manage Template —— Entire Company" permission can share folders with all groups built out in the account.
- Users with the "Manage Template —— User's Group" permission can only share folders with their group and any subgroups.
- Please see Enterprise Permissions for more information on these permissions.
If you want to edit (rename, change permissions) or delete your folders you can always do so with the icons on the right side in the Actions column:
Inside a folder, you can perform the following actions:
- Edit. Change the name of the file or the folder that it is saved in.
- Copy. Give it a new name and choose the folder where you would like to copy it.
- Download. You can download it in the following formats: PDF, PNG, and JPG.
- Delete. Remove the file from the design center. Note that there is no "recycle bin" or backup copy of your design unless you made a copy with the copy action.
Starting a Design
To create a design you can do so in four (4) different ways:
- Modifying a Lofty design
- Building on an existing design
- Starting with a blank canvas
- Utilizing Lofty's Design Service
*IMPORTANT: Your designs do not auto-save. Be sure to save any design that you built as often as necessary in case you have internet connection issues.
Modifying a Lofty Design
Lofty provides a library of designs. Hover over a design and click Edit to get started.
Here, you can edit that design and all of its elements, including photos, text, etc.
Building on an existing design
If your team has already created designs, you can access them via the My Designs tab at the top of the Design Center:
Once you have entered a folder, you can then click the name of the design to edit (if you have permission to edit) or you can click the copy icon to make your copy and then adjust it on your own:
Starting with a blank canvas
To start your design from scratch, click on the blue "Create New Design" button in the top-right:
A new tab of your browser will then open with the editor:
Utilizing Lofty's Design Service
Click Need a Better Design? to get started. Lofty offers a design service, where you select your format: Post Card, Letter, or Flyer, provide our design team with your needs, and checkout. Two (2) rounds of revisions are included and the design is delivered in two (2) business days.
Design Editor
Once you are in the design editor, there are some important tools that you will want to know how to use.
Adding Content
To add content, click on the type of content that you would like on the left side. You can choose from text, photos, elements, icons, and logos.
Once you have found content that you would like to add to your design, you can either click what you want to add and it will appear on the design or you can drag and drop it on your design:
You can upload additional images/photos or icons by selecting that content type and then clicking to browse:
You can access your listings to pull their images into your designs within the Design Center. You can access the following:
- My Listings
- Team Listings
- Manual Listings (formerly known as pocket listings)
You will not be able to access all the listings on the MLS.
Editing Content
To edit content, simply click on the content that you would like to edit within your design and then adjust accordingly. For example, selecting this text content allows me to edit the font, size, color, etc. If you double-click the text content box, you will be able to type in what you would like to replace the filler text:
Editing an element or an icon will allow you to change opacity and fill color:
Adding Pages
To add additional pages to your design, click on the two arrows in the top left:
And then click on the large + icon:
Alternatively, you can also right-click on an existing page to copy that page or delete it:
General Controls
Keyboard Shortcuts
The following keyboard shortcuts are now supported when interacting with elements in the Design Center:
(a) CTRL/CMD+C (Copy)
(b) CTRL/CMD+V (Paste)
(c) CTRL/CMD+Z (Undo)
UI Buttons
Use this icon in the top-right to do the following:
- Adjust canvas size
- Add canvas image
- Review content layers
Use this toolbar to do the following when selecting a specific object in your design:
- Bring forward
- Send backward
- Bring to front
- Send to back
- Align left
- Align center
- Align right
- Group
- Ungroup
- Crop image, save, cancel
- Clone
- Delete
With an object selected, you can also open up the side menu to adjust hyperlinked images, shadows, styles, and many more items. The menu will change slightly depending on the content of the object that you have selected:
Image Replacement
You can select an image and replace it with another one with the click of a button:
Agent Profile Photo
When designs are added to the Design Center, images can be tagged as an agent's profile photo. This means that when the design is used, the system will automatically check the CRM first and then the CMS (Site) for a headshot profile photo and automatically use that one in the design. These images can only be tagged on upload by Lofty. If there is no profile photo available in the CRM or CMS then it will not replace it at all.
Previewing, Saving, and Exporting a Design
*IMPORTANT: Your designs do not auto-save. Be sure to save any design that you built as often as necessary in case you have internet connection issues.
Previewing a Design
To preview a design, simply click on the blue "Preview" button at the top-right:
If you have multiple pages to your design, the pages will be clickable at the bottom:
Saving a Design
To save a design, click the blue "Save" button in the top-right:
Give the design a name and choose the folder where you want it to live:
Exporting a Design
First of all, you must note that currently, to use your design anywhere else in the Lofty platform, you must first export your design. There is no existing feature that can pull the designs in automatically.
There are two ways to export a design: (1) via the editor or (2) via a folder action:
Export via Editor
To export a design via the editor, simply click on the blue "Download" button in the top-right:
You can export in the following formats:
- PNG
- JPG
Export via folder action
When browsing your folders in the Design Center, you will find the "Download" icon in the Actions column. When clicked, you will be able to export in PDF, PNG, or JPG format:
Embedding Designs
Users can create a design in the Lofty Design Center and generate an HTML embed code that they can place on their website(s).
Click the three dots in the top-right corner and then choose Embed:
An embed code will be produced for you automatically. Click the Copy button to get the code and use it elsewhere.
This can, of course, be used to embed the design in a Lofty-built website using the Code block:
Additional information:
- Multiple pages are supported when generating the HTML code
- If the design HTML is already added to a webpage but is later updated, a new embed code will need to be generated and used to replace the original design for the update to be visible.
- URLs added to elements within the design are not clickable
FAQs
- Is there a limit to the number of files that I can create?
- Is there a limit to the size of the files that I create?
- Can I print postcards from the Design Center?
- Can I upload my designs to the Design Center?
Is there a limit to the number of files that I can create?
No. There is no current limit to the number of files you can create.
Is there a limit to the size of the files that I create?
No, not at present.
Can I print postcards from the Design Center?
Yes, see Self-Service Postcards.
Can I upload my designs to the Design Center?
Yes, to some extent. An Upload Design button is available on the template screen:
This adds the uploaded image directly to the design for your use. When uploading an image, the canvas will remain the default size and the image will be added to that canvas size.
Please note the following:
- Only JPG and PNG file types are currently supported. PSD is not supported in this version.
- The file size must be ≤ 10 MB
Questions?
If you have any questions regarding this topic or any others, please reach out to our Support Team via email at <support@lofty.com>, by phone at 1 (855) 981-7557, or by chat with us through your Lofty CRM.
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