Hey everyone, Jasper here! I’m excited to share some big updates with you - our completely revamped Overlays feature and improvements to mockups. This update has been a long time coming, and I’m excited to finally share it with you. Best of all, it’s another free update for all our founding members - just like every update we release.

What Are Overlays?

When I first introduced overlays to Plasfy a few years ago, it came from a personal need. As a graphic designer myself, I’ve always looked for ways to add that extra creative flair to my designs. Whether it’s a badge to highlight a sale, a button to guide attention, or a mockup to bring a concept to life, overlays are essential tools in a designer’s toolkit. I wanted Plasfy to offer the same flexibility and creativity I was looking for in my own work.

Overlays are one of Plasfy’s most exclusive features—ready-made design elements like badges, buttons, testimonial tags, and mockups that you can add to any project. Because they’re 100% vector-based, you can edit everything - colors, gradients, fonts, text, and even the structure - without losing quality. They’re designed to help you create stunning designs faster, without compromising on creativity or polish.

The Overlays Revamp

When overlays were first introduced, they didn’t quite work the way I intended. While they were powerful, they came with limitations that made them harder to use. Many of the more complex overlays, which sometimes included hundreds of layers, required a tedious workaround. If you wanted to edit and overlay it onto an existing design, you had to create a new page, make your edits there, and then copy and paste it back into your project. This wasn’t seamless - and it certainly wasn’t the effortless experience I had envisioned.

With this revamp, overlays now work exactly as I always wanted them to:

Here’s what’s new:

  • Effortless Editing: Overlays are now groups by default, so you can click on any layer within the overlay and customize it directly
  • Significant Speed Boost: Editing overlays is now four times faster, making it easier to create professional designs in less time. (this is just the editor speed not including the faster editing through not needing to ungroup or jump through hoops.)
  • Enhanced Group Logic: This isn’t just for overlays. The new grouping system applies to all grouped objects in Plasfy. Now, you can single-click a group and directly edit any specific layer - whether it’s changing a color, updating text, or tweaking a gradient - without ungrouping.

With this update, overlays are no longer just a tool, they’re a seamless way to add depth and creativity to your designs. Whether you’re layering them onto an existing project or enhancing a template for that extra pop, they now integrate effortlessly into your designs.

Unlimited Customization

One of the most exciting things about overlays is their unmatched flexibility. With over 1,500 overlays in our library, you’ve got a wealth of options to work with, but their true power lies in how customizable they are.

Because they’re vector-based, there are virtually no limitations. For example, you can take a Black Friday badge, change its color to red, adjust the text to white, and transform it into a Christmas badge in seconds. Want to go further? You can ungroup the overlay, add your own shapes or icons, and create something completely unique. The possibilities are endless, and they’re as versatile as your imagination allows.

This update also works beautifully with the Arts 2.0 update we released last month. Together, these features make it easy to layer enhancements onto your existing designs or add that extra flair to templates. Whether it’s a badge, button, or mockup, overlays help you create designs that truly stand out.

Mockups: Improved but Still Evolving

Mockups have also been revamped, making them easier to use and more powerful. While we’ve made progress, there’s still work to do. Some bugs are being ironed out, and we’re actively refining the mockup experience. We’re also adding new mockup scenes soon, so keep an eye out for updates!

Why I’m Prioritizing the Basics

As much as I want to introduce more big features, like 10,000+ new templates in the upcoming Templates 2.0 update - it’s crucial to get the basics right first. Features like overlays may seem simple on the surface, but from a technical perspective, they’re incredibly complex.

This update required reworking the grouping logic in a platform with millions of lines of code, where even one small mistake can cause issues. Huge thanks to the development team for their patience and hard work as we ironed out the bugs together. Your patience means a lot too - it’s all about making Plasfy seamless and reliable before we build on it further.

Watch the Update in Action

To help you get started, Michael has created a video walking through the new overlays update. While it doesn’t showcase the new overlays just yet (those are coming soon!), it does show how seamless and intuitive overlays have become. Scroll to the the top to check it out!

Let Me Know What You Think

This update is another free enhancement for all founding members, and I’m so excited for you to try it out. If you run into any unexpected issues or have suggestions for further improvements, please don’t hesitate to reach out - I’m always here to help.

Next, we’re adding more overlays, rolling out new mockups, enhancing the dashboard, and preparing for the launch of Templates 2.0. Thanks again - I can’t wait to see what you create!

Take care,
Jasper Cyan
Founder of Plasfy