Create your own layout from scratch

When you want full control over how your content is styled and reused, you can create your own custom layouts in Descript. Some common use cases include canned intros, outros, sponsored ad segments, or fully custom animations.

Custom layout packs are available on paid Descript plans. If you're on a Free plan, upgrade your subscription to unlock this feature. See pricing and plan details

This article covers:

Prefer to learn by watching? This short video walks through how to build layouts from scratch:

You don't have to start from scratch

Use one of Descript’s ready-to-go gallery layout packs or remix a pack with your fonts and colors—no design skills required.

Save a scene as a layout

This is the easiest way to create reusable layouts while you edit. As you design your scenes, you may put together a layout you want to use again in future compositions.

  1. Right-click the scene in your Script.
  2. Choose Save scene as a new layout.
  3. Name your layout — use something short and descriptive so teammates know when to use it.
  4. Under Add to, pick an existing layout pack (or create a new one). Click Add to save your layout to the pack.

Create a layout pack from scratch

Use this method if you want to build multiple layouts at once or organize them in one place.

  1. From the Drive view, go to Layout packs and click + New layout pack.
  2. Give your pack a name.
  3. Each scene in the project becomes a layout. Use one scene per layout.
  4. When you're done editing, click Publish layout pack in the top-right corner.
  5. Give each scene a name and layout type (optional).
  6. Choose who can access your pack:
    • Private
    • Share with Drive
    • Share publicly
  7. Click Publish changes to save your layouts.
Can I edit a layout pack later?

Yes! You can return to your layout pack project anytime to update layouts or add new ones. Your changes won’t affect scenes where the layout is already applied—only new uses of the layout.

Enable or disable Smart Fill

Smart Fill autofills text layers using transcript and scene context—like speaker names, chapter titles, or summaries.

  1. Open the layout pack project and select the scene.
  2. In the Scene panel on the right, toggle Smart Fill on or off.
  3. You can turn off Smart Fill for specific text layers individually.

Want to learn more? See how Smart Fill works in layouts →

Scene with Smart Fill enabled in the Scene panel
Toggle Smart Fill in the Scene panel to autofill text layers with contextual content.

How layout behavior works

Descript applies layouts differently depending on whether the scene is empty or already contains content. It uses layer names and Smart Fill to match and populate content intelligently. Learn more about how layouts interact with scenes and the script →