Template library in Mural

Problem

Mural had a large library of templates for activities like brainstorming, research, planning, and retrospectives, but the templates had evolved inconsistently over time.

Some were too complicated. Others did not provide enough guidance. Similar activities often had different layouts, instructions, and levels of detail. For someone unfamiliar with a particular method, opening a template did not always make it obvious what to do next.

We wanted the templates themselves to be easier to understand and use, while creating a system that could scale across the growing library.

Approach

I worked with designers, content specialists, and subject-matter experts to redesign the core templates and establish a shared structure for how they should work.

We started with all 36 LUMA method templates. We simplified the activities, made the starting point clearer, reduced unnecessary information, and created more consistent patterns for instructions and examples.

Rather than making every template look identical, we created a flexible system that could adapt to different activities while maintaining a consistent experience. A good template needed a clean editable layout, a clear explanation of the activity, enough guidance to get started, and an example that showed what a completed result could look like.

We then extended that system with lightweight instructional content, including short videos and expert advice in the template preview experience. The goal was to give people just enough help to get started without making the templates feel overwhelming.

Outcome

The redesigned system gave Mural a more consistent foundation for creating and maintaining templates across the library.

We redesigned all 36 LUMA method templates, then extended the guidance system to 130 templates with instructional videos. In the first reporting period, those videos generated 1,223 views from 764 people, with 22.5 hours of total watch time and a 73.3% average completion rate.

More importantly, the project established a repeatable way to design templates that was easier for the team to scale and easier for users to understand, even when they were unfamiliar with the activity.

I will present a case study of Mural’s template library.