Miro for Designers: Visual Collaboration and Design Workshops

Miro is an online whiteboard platform built for visual collaboration. It’s where design teams run workshops, map user journeys, synthesize research, and brainstorm ideas before moving into detailed design tools. Think of it as a digital wall where sticky notes, diagrams, images, and sketches come together in a shared space. The power is in real-time collaboration: your entire team (and stakeholders) can work on the same board simultaneously, whether you’re in the same room or across time zones.

Key Specs

How Designers Use Miro

Miro adapts to different stages of design work. Here’s how designers apply it to common workflows.

For Design Workshops and Sprints

Run design sprints, brainstorming sessions, and collaborative workshops using Miro’s templates. Set up a board with timed activities (How Might We, Crazy 8s, voting dots), share your screen, and watch as team members add sticky notes in parallel. Use frames to organize sections and timers to keep activities on track. Miro works best when you’re facilitating a group through a structured process.

For User Journey Mapping

Build customer journey maps that visualize the user experience from start to finish. Use swimlanes for different touchpoints, add sticky notes for pain points and opportunities, and include screenshots or sketches to show context. Miro’s infinite canvas lets you map complex journeys without running out of space. Share the board with product managers and developers so everyone references the same source of truth.

For Brainstorming and Ideation

Use Miro’s sticky notes, drawing tools, and freeform canvas for early-stage ideation. Drop in inspiration images, sketch rough concepts, and cluster ideas by theme. The lack of constraints (compared to UI design tools) keeps you from getting too detailed too soon. Export promising ideas as images and refine them in Figma or Sketch later.

For Research Synthesis

Organize user research findings by creating affinity diagrams with interview quotes, photos, and observations. Tag sticky notes by theme, draw connections between insights, and identify patterns across participants. Miro’s clustering and grouping tools make it easy to move from raw data to actionable insights. This beats spreadsheets for visual thinkers.

Miro vs. Alternatives

How does Miro compare to other whiteboard and collaboration tools? Here’s a quick breakdown.

Choose Miro if: You run regular workshops, need a mature template library, or want the most flexible whiteboard for research and strategy work.

Choose FigJam if: You already use Figma and need basic brainstorming that integrates with your design files.

Choose Mural if: You’re deciding between Miro and Mural (they’re very similar; Miro has slightly better integrations and a larger community).

Choose Lucidchart if: You need technical diagramming (flowcharts, ERDs, network diagrams) more than freeform whiteboarding.

Choose Whimsical if: You want a simpler, faster tool for wireframes, flowcharts, and basic diagrams without workshop features.

Getting Started with Miro

A 20-minute quick start to running your first workshop:

Step 1: Start with a template

Click “Create new board” and browse templates. Pick one that matches your goal (User Journey Map, Brainstorming, Retrospective). Templates give you structure and save time. You can always delete sections you don’t need or add your own.

Step 2: Add content and organize

Use N for sticky notes, T for text, L for lines, and Shift + F for frames. Drag images from your desktop onto the board. Use frames to organize sections (like “Phase 1: Research” or “Painpoints”). Group related items with Cmd/Ctrl + G to move them together.

Step 3: Invite collaborators and facilitate

Click “Share” and invite team members. Set permissions (can edit, can comment, can view). Turn on presentation mode to hide distractions. Use the timer widget for timed activities, voting dots for prioritization, and cursor chat to point things out. Export the board as a PDF or image when you’re done.

Miro in Your Design Workflow

Miro rarely works in isolation. Here’s how it connects to the tools designers use before, during, and after whiteboarding.

• Before Miro: Stakeholder interviews in Zoom or Dovetail, initial research in Notion or Google Docs
• During whiteboarding: Miro for facilitation and synthesis, screenshots into Figma for documentation
• After Miro: Export findings to Notion, move design concepts into Figma or Sketch, track follow-ups in Linear or Jira

Common tool pairings:

• Miro + Figma for early-stage brainstorming before jumping into detailed UI design
• Miro + Notion for documenting workshop outcomes and research findings in a more permanent location
• Miro + Dovetail for combining qualitative research analysis (Dovetail) with visual synthesis (Miro)
• Miro + Zoom for running remote workshops with screen sharing and breakout rooms

Common Problems (and How to Fix Them)

These issues come up regularly in design communities. Here’s how to solve them.

“Miro boards get messy and hard to navigate”

Without structure, Miro boards turn into chaos. Use frames to create sections (think of them as pages within the board). Name your frames clearly (“Research Findings”, “Journey Map”, “Next Steps”). Lock background elements so they don’t move accidentally (right-click > Lock). Hide elements you’re not actively using (right-click > Hide on canvas).

“Performance slows down with large boards”

Miro boards with thousands of objects can lag. Break large projects into multiple boards and link between them. Use images instead of dozens of small objects when possible. Delete hidden or off-canvas junk you don’t need. Limit video embeds and animated GIFs. Close other browser tabs if Miro is still slow.

“Participants don’t know what to do”

Miro’s flexibility can confuse first-time users. When facilitating workshops, set clear instructions on the board itself (e.g., “Add your ideas here using sticky notes”). Give a 5-minute tutorial at the start: how to add sticky notes, move objects, and use basic tools. Share a pre-populated example so people can see what success looks like.

“I can’t export high-resolution images”

Miro’s default export resolution is low for large boards. Select the specific area you want to export (use frames for this), then export as PNG or PDF. For higher resolution, export smaller sections instead of the entire board. Use Miro’s presentation mode to walk stakeholders through the board live instead of sending static exports.

“Too many features I don’t need”

Miro tries to be everything: whiteboard, diagram tool, presentation software, project tracker. Ignore most of it. Stick to the core tools: sticky notes, shapes, lines, frames, and images. Avoid widgets and integrations until you have a specific need. Treat Miro like a digital whiteboard, not a Swiss Army knife.