# Miro

> An infinite digital whiteboard for collaborative design, diagramming, and team alignment—essential for distributed teams.

*Tags: ux, tools, junior*

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> [!info] Quick Definition
> An infinite digital whiteboard for collaborative design, diagramming, and team alignment—essential for distributed teams.


## What is Miro?

Miro is a collaborative whiteboarding platform that works like a physical whiteboard but digital and synchronous. Multiple people can draw, write, sticky-note, and diagram simultaneously. Real-time collaboration means everyone sees updates instantly.

Miro works for user journeys, empathy mapping, site maps, brainstorming, personas, workflows, and any diagram that requires group thinking. It's not a design tool like Figma; it's a thinking tool for teams.

**One sentence punch:** Miro replaces physical whiteboards with a digital space where distributed teams can think together synchronously.**

## Why Designers Use Miro

- **Collaborative by Default** — Every designer and PM on your team can work on the same canvas. No emails with attachments. No version conflicts.
- **Infinite Canvas** — Physical whiteboards have edges. Miro doesn't. You can zoom out infinitely. Your diagram grows without constraint.
- **Template Library** — Miro provides templates for empathy maps, journey maps, wireframes, and more. Start with a template; customize it.
- **Integrations** — Miro integrates with Slack, Teams, Figma, and Jira. Links from Slack let teams open boards without leaving their chat.
- **Async Friendly** — Not everyone joins the real-time session? They see the board later and add their notes asynchronously.

## Common Uses for Designers

1. **Journey Mapping** — Plot user paths on a Miro board. Sticky notes for emotions. Color coding for different phases.
2. **Empathy Mapping** — Create a quadrant. Fill it collaboratively. Sync with team.
3. **Brainstorming Sessions** — Generate ideas. Vote on ideas. Dot voting reveals team favorites.
4. **Site Maps** — Draw organizational structure. Link pages. Visualize relationships.
5. **Wireframes** — Sketch wireframes on Miro. Lower fidelity than Figma but faster for collaborative thinking.
6. **Affinity Diagramming** — Upload research notes. Organize into themes. Identify patterns.
7. **Swimlane Diagrams** — Map processes. Different lanes for different actors.

## Miro Basics

- **Frames** — Create a frame to isolate areas. Zooming into a frame focuses your view.
- **Sticky Notes** — Use colored stickies for ideas. Easy to move and reorganize.
- **Connectors** — Draw lines between elements. Relationships become visible.
- **Images** — Upload images or screenshots. Reference your research directly on the board.
- **Comments** — Click an object to add comments. Async feedback without meetings.
- **Voting** — Use dot voting or simple voting to gauge team preference.

## Mentor Tips

- **First tip: Miro is for thinking, not for final deliverables.** High-fidelity mockups belong in Figma. Quick sketches and collaborative thinking belong in Miro.
- **Establish naming conventions.** If everyone names frames differently, navigation becomes hard. "Research Synthesis," "Journey Mapping," "Brainstorm Round 1"—consistency helps.
- **Use frames to organize.** Don't dump everything on one infinite canvas. Create frames for different topics. Frames act like slides.
- **Timeboxing sessions works.** "We'll brainstorm for 30 minutes on this board." Time limits force focus and prevent endless diagramming.

## Resources and Tools

- **Books:** "Facilitation at a Glance" for facilitating collaborative sessions, distributed team resources
- **Tools:** Miro itself, integrations with Slack/Teams for sharing
- **Articles:** Miro usage guides, whiteboarding best practices on [[UX Collective]]

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Source: https://www.fernandoux.com/en/wiki/tools/miro/