Simple Mode and Expert Mode: Two Ways to Use the Workbench

The customization workbench serves two very different people: someone placing a logo on a hoodie during a coffee break, and someone art-directing a five-surface product with generated previews for every angle. Rather than one interface compromising for both, Labelix ships two modes of the same workbench — Simple and Expert — and lets you switch between them at any time.

Understanding what each mode decides for you makes the workbench faster in both directions.

Simple mode: a guided path

Simple mode is the default. It turns the workbench into a step-by-step wizard — for Free Customization the steps run Images → Details → Design → Try-on & video → Submit, and on a catalog product's custom print flow, where the garment is already fixed, it shortens to Design → Try-on & video → Quote.

The wizard keeps you oriented rather than restricted:

• Two product images, front and back. Simple mode works with a front and back slot instead of the full surface list.
• One decision per screen. Each step shows only its own choices, and the Next button tells you exactly what is unfinished — a badge like "2 things to finish" opens a checklist, and each item jumps to where it is fixed.
• Previews with one click. Craft-effect prompts are prepared from the craft's own description, and the showcase video is generated in one click from your front and back placement previews.

Simple mode is genuinely sufficient for the most common job: a garment, one or two placements, a craft, and a quote request.

Expert mode: every control exposed

Flip the Expert mode switch in the workbench header and the same draft opens with all controls visible. Expert mode adds what the wizard deliberately tucks away:

• up to five product images, each carrying several print designs;
• your own AI prompts for craft-effect generation, instead of the prepared description;
• model try-on with your choice of model context;
• video modes and reference frames — first frame, first and last, or multiple references, depending on the configured provider.

Your choice of mode is remembered, so returning users land where they left off.

Switching is safe in both directions

The two modes edit the same draft — there is no export, import, or migration. Moving from Simple to Expert simply reveals more of what already exists.

Moving from Expert back to Simple is protected: if your draft holds work outside Simple's scope (a third surface, custom prompts), the workbench asks before switching and explains that nothing is deleted — out-of-scope work is hidden while you stay in Simple and comes back when you return to Expert.

One more guardrail worth knowing: in Simple mode's Design step, the Skip button is not a shortcut past your work. If designs exist on the step, skipping asks for confirmation and then clears them — you continue with a plain garment. Use Next to keep your work; use Skip only when you have decided the garment should carry no artwork.

Which mode should you use?

Start in Simple — it is the fastest route to a submitted Custom Request, and nothing about it limits the quality of the final quote. Switch to Expert when your product genuinely needs what it adds: more surfaces, controlled prompts, or specific video references. Since the draft travels with you, the honest answer for many projects is both: rough out the design in Simple, refine the details in Expert.