From Draft to Done: Refine your ideas with draw.io

Breaking the mold

Sometimes, the challenge when it comes to executing projects isn’t the scope or the deadlines, it’s getting started. However, once you’ve got the ball rolling, great things can be accomplished. After all, if you think about it, the Walt Disney Concert Hall originally began as a sketch on a piece of paper!

In this blogpost, we’ll look at ways draw.io helps you break down creative barriers, enabling you to put mouse to canvas and get started with your next dream project, or brilliant new idea.

For this one, we were inspired by the Canadian-American architect and designer, Frank Gehry and his drawings. These sketches capture the evolution of Frank Gehry’s work throughout his career, and show his ideas coming to life from page to finalized building. His revolutionary approach to design and prolific output have resulted in unconventional, limit-defying, and truly spectacular buildings.

We hope they also inspire you to get started with your next project, to transform something raw into a polished gem.

Walt Disney Concert Hall, Los Angeles, California. Credit: jjron (John O’Neill) / Wikimedia Commons / GNU Free Documentation License 1.2. [Link to original file]

(You can view the original sketch for the Walt Disney Concert Hall in this LACMA newsletter edition).

The draw.io Board editor

If you’re looking to brainstorm ideas and are unsure what “shape” your ideas will take, draw.io’s Board editor is a helpful tool for your rough draft. The simplified editor offers a minimalist interface, providing a blank canvas and allowing you to add your ideas in any style that comes to mind.

Some features that are particularly helpful include:

Freehand tool: Allows you to draw freehand across the canvas, for example shapes and images, or to write and annotate.

To access this:

1. Click on the pen icon in the left side menu.
2. Check the Brush option to change the width of the pen you are drawing with.

The freehand tool allows you to draw shapes and images, or write text

There’s no limit to what you can create in draw.io with the freehand tool!

Sketch mode: Is a style you can apply to colors, shapes, and connectors, giving your visualizations a more creative and unconventional look. It can be used if you want to draw attention to the fact your ideas are still in a rough draft format, for example.

Use sketch mode to give your ideas a creative look

Use templates to guide your initial idea

If you’re on the hunt for inspiration and know what type of diagram you want to work with, templates are a great starting point. They can save you time by allowing you to customize a diagram to fit your needs, rather than starting from scratch each time.

Template manager: This is the first thing you’ll see when you load a new draw.io diagram in Confluence. If you’re using the Board editor, simply click on the plus (+) icon and select Template to bring up the Template manager.

Click on the plus (+) icon in the Board editor to locate the template manager

The template manager

Smart Templates: Our Smart Templates feature generates diagrams using AI, allowing you to shape your visualizations around your specific requirements.

Use Smart Templates to generate your diagram using AI

Real-time collaboration

What better way to refine an idea than to gather your team and brainstorm together?

With real-time collaboration in Confluence Cloud, you and your teammates can work on draw.io diagrams synchronously. This is a great way to enable everyone to contribute, ensuring all ideas are captured and heard.

With autosave, you don’t need to worry about data going missing. Also, if someone adds something to the diagram that isn’t quite right, you can revert to a previous version with draw.io’s Revision History.

In the example below, we see a team collaborating on ideas for a RACI Chart together, in order to define responsibilities on the team.

Teammates collaborating in real time on a RACI Chart

The finalized RACI Chart

Visualize the way you want

Just as Frank Gehry’s original sketches were turned into convention-defying architectural masterpieces, draw.io allows you to sketch out ideas in their infancy, refine these over time, and produce something truly unique.

With draw.io’s Board editor, standard templates and Smart Templates, and real-time collaboration in Confluence Cloud, you and your team have everything you need to spark each other’s imagination, get the creative juices flowing, and work together on ideas.

Whether you want a blank canvas to sketch out your initial ideas freehand, or if you prefer to start with a template for inspiration and take advantage of the multitude of customization options, draw.io is the one tool for every team that allows everyone to visualize the way they want.

Want to dive deeper into the world of draw.io? Access our linktr.ee page to follow us on social media and learn how others use draw.io, as well as pick up some helpful tips and tricks.