Excalidraw for Designers: Hand-Drawn Virtual Whiteboard

Excalidraw is a free, open-source virtual whiteboard that makes everything look hand-drawn. It’s fast, runs entirely in your browser, and exports to SVG or PNG. The hand-drawn aesthetic keeps diagrams informal and approachable, making it popular for architecture sketches, brainstorming, and quick visual explanations. Unlike heavy collaboration platforms, Excalidraw feels lightweight and gets out of your way.

Key Specs

How Designers Use Excalidraw

Excalidraw fits into different stages of design work where speed and clarity matter more than polish.

For System Architecture and Flow Diagrams

Designers and developers use Excalidraw to sketch system architecture, user flows, and information architecture. The hand-drawn style signals “this is a working document” rather than final deliverable. Draw boxes, arrows, and text labels without worrying about alignment or perfection. Export to SVG when you’re done, or drop the .excalidraw file into docs for later editing.

For Async Team Communication

Product teams use Excalidraw for async visual explanations. Sketch a UI flow, architecture decision, or problem breakdown, then share the link in Slack or Notion. Team members can view, add comments, or fork the diagram to propose alternatives. The low-friction entry (no login, no install) makes it easy for anyone to contribute.

For Quick Wireframes and UI Sketching

UX designers use Excalidraw for rough UI sketches before moving to Figma or Balsamiq. The hand-drawn aesthetic keeps early ideas informal, preventing premature polish. Sketch layouts, navigation structures, and component relationships quickly, then screenshot or export as reference when building higher-fidelity mockups.

For Workshop Facilitation and Brainstorming

Facilitators use Excalidraw for lightweight workshops and brainstorming sessions. Create canvases for activities like empathy mapping, journey mapping, or dot voting. The simple toolset keeps participants focused on ideas rather than fighting with software. Share the link for remote participants to contribute in real-time or async.

Excalidraw vs. Alternatives

How does Excalidraw compare to other whiteboard and diagramming tools?

Choose Excalidraw if: You want fast, no-login diagramming with a hand-drawn aesthetic. Perfect for solo work, async collaboration, and technical sketches.

Choose Miro if: You need structured workshops, video calls, templates, and enterprise features. Best for facilitators and teams that live in virtual whiteboards.

Choose FigJam if: You’re already using Figma and want your whiteboarding and design work in one ecosystem.

Choose tldraw if: You like Excalidraw’s simplicity but want an even more minimal interface with better drawing tools.

Getting Started with Excalidraw

Excalidraw has no learning curve. Here’s how to start:

Step 1: Open and start drawing

Go to excalidraw.com. No signup needed. Press R for rectangle, O for ellipse, D for diamond, A for arrow, or T for text. Click and drag to create shapes. That’s it. Hold Shift while drawing to constrain proportions.

Step 2: Style your elements

Select any shape to change stroke color, background, stroke width, and roughness (how hand-drawn it looks). Use the toolbar or right-click for quick access. Press Ctrl/Cmd + D to duplicate. Press Ctrl/Cmd + G to group elements together.

Step 3: Share or export

Click the export icon to download as PNG, SVG, or .excalidraw (editable file). For collaboration, click the people icon and start a session to get a shareable link. Anyone with the link can edit in real-time. Sessions expire after inactivity, so download your work when done.

Excalidraw in Your Design Workflow

Excalidraw slots into workflows where you need quick visual thinking before committing to more formal tools.

• Before Excalidraw: Rough ideas on paper, whiteboard photos, or verbal discussions
• During design: Excalidraw for diagrams and sketches, export as reference
• After Excalidraw: Move to Figma for UI design, Miro for facilitated workshops, or docs for architecture documentation

Common tool pairings:

• Excalidraw + Figma for rough sketches in Excalidraw, then polished UI in Figma
• Excalidraw + Notion for embedding diagrams directly in product docs
• Excalidraw + Slack for quick visual explanations in team channels
• Excalidraw + GitHub for architecture diagrams checked into repos as .excalidraw files

Common Problems (and How to Fix Them)

These issues come up with Excalidraw and how to solve them.

“My diagrams look messy”

That’s the point. Excalidraw’s hand-drawn aesthetic is intentional to signal informality. If you need clean, polished diagrams, export to SVG and clean up in Figma, or use a different tool like Lucidchart or Figma itself. Excalidraw is for thinking, not final presentation.

“I lost my work when the collaboration session expired”

Collaboration sessions are temporary and expire after inactivity. Always export your work as .excalidraw files or images before closing. For persistent sessions, upgrade to Excalidraw Plus ($5/month) or save files locally and share via Google Drive or Dropbox.

“I can’t find the tool I need”

Excalidraw is intentionally minimal. You get rectangles, ellipses, diamonds, arrows, text, and freehand drawing. That’s it. If you need more shapes, use basic shapes to build what you need, or import images for icons and logos. For complex diagramming, consider Figma or specialized tools.

“Collaboration is laggy with large diagrams”

Excalidraw runs in your browser and syncs changes in real-time. Large diagrams with hundreds of elements can slow down, especially on slower connections. Break large diagrams into multiple files, or switch to async collaboration by sharing exported files instead of live sessions.

“How do I embed Excalidraw in my docs?”

Export as SVG or PNG and embed the image. For editable diagrams, save the .excalidraw file and link to it. Some tools like Notion and Obsidian have Excalidraw plugins that embed live diagrams. For GitHub repos, commit .excalidraw files and open them at excalidraw.com by dragging the file onto the canvas.