Tips for visual design

On this page

• Store your work in an online portfolio
• Create a powerful pitch deck
• Get feedback on new design concepts
• Collaborate on design tasks
• Prepare team members for meetings
• Keep your design files organized
• Keep shared files secure
• Share and discuss ideas in a video meeting
• Share large files
• Use generative AI at work

               

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Store your work in an online portfolio

If you want to showcase your work for potential clients or have one place to store design files, create a Google Sites website. Share brand guidelines, photos, design patterns and templates. Any changes you make to your files will automatically update on your website.

Learn how

Create a site

1. On a computer, open Google Sites.
2. At the top, under Start a new site, select a template.
3. At the top left, enter the name of your site and press Enter.
4. Add content to your site.
5. At the top right, click Publish.

Learn more at the Google Sites Help Center

 

 

Create a powerful pitch deck

Want to present an idea to your team? Need to get buy-in from external clients? Create a powerful presentation to get your message across using Google Slides. Add graphs, images, videos, and other creative assets to make an impactful presentation. Share ideas and get constructive feedback instantly. Leverage the power of Gemini in Slides to generate initial slides and images, providing a helpful starting point. 

Learn how

Add an image to your presentation

1. On your computer, open a document or presentation in Google Docs or Slides.
2. Click Insert  Image.
3. Choose where to get your image from.
   • Upload from computer: Insert an image saved on your device.
   • Search the web: Search the web for an image.
   • GIFs and stickers: Insert a GIF or a sticker to your slide.
   • Drive: Use an image saved to your Google Drive.
   • Photos: Use an image from your Google Photos library.
   • By URL: Insert a link to your image or insert a .gif.
4. Click Insert or Open.

Learn how to add images in Sheets.

Learn more at the Google Docs Editors Help Center

Add an image with Gemini

1. In Google Slides, use Create image  to generate new artwork.
2. In the panel on the right, enter a prompt. For better results, consider including the subject, setting, distance to subject, materials, or background. For example:
   
   You are a visual designer. Create an image of paints and an easel at middle distance in an art studio for a flashy presentation to the art team. 
    
3. (Optional) You can click Add a style to customize the image you create.
4. Click Create to see several suggested images.
5. (Optional)
   • Edit your prompt: At the top of the panel on the right, click the prompt. Edit your prompt and click Create.
   • See more suggested images: Click View more.
6. When you’re done, click Insert.

Learn more at the Google Docs Editors Help Center

 

 

Get feedback on new design concepts

Have a new idea and want to know what your co-workers think? Get feedback on brand campaigns, design briefs, and more with Google Forms. Share a quick poll using Forms to get input on a proposal. You’ll know right away if your ideas are on the right track.

Learn how

Create a form

1. Go to forms.google.com.
2. Click Blank form .
3. Name your untitled form.

Learn more at the Google Docs Editors Help Center

 

 

Collaborate on design tasks

If you’re working on a large design project, create a project plan using Google Sheets to quickly assign tasks. Co-workers can update their progress directly in the spreadsheet. During the review process, easily keep track of changes to files, even if there are a lot of collaborators. With Google Drive and shared drives, the activity stream shows things such as who commented, edited, moved, or shared a file. In Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides, check out the version history to see who made changes and when. You can edit files together in real time, chat within files, and get targeted feedback using comments and suggestions.

Learn how

Create a project plan

1. In Google Drive, click NewGoogle SheetsBlank spreadsheet.
2. Click Untitled spreadsheet and enter a title for your project plan.
3. Add columns. For example, you might add columns for tasks, task owners, due dates, status, and comments.
4. Add content to track the tasks in your project.

Check activity in Drive

1. On your computer, go to drive.google.com.
2. On the left click My Drive.
3. In the upper right, click Info .
4. Select an option. To access:
   • Recent changes, select an option:
     1. Click Activity.
     2. Scroll down the right side.
   • The activity of a specific file or folder, click the file or folder.

View or revert to earlier versions of Docs, Sheets, and Slides files

Note: You need Owner or Editor access to see the version history.

1. In Drive, open your file.
2. Click FileVersion historySee version history.
3. Click a timestamp to see a previous version of the file. Below the timestamp, you’ll see:
   • Names of people who edited the document.
   • A color next to each person’s name. The edits they made appear in that color.
4. (Optional) To revert to this version, click Restore this version.

Learn more at the Google Docs Editors Help Center

 

 

Prepare team members for meetings

Give team members a head start and let them preview files before a meeting or brainstorming session. Send your meeting invitation in Google Calendar and attach documents, presentations, agendas, and other creative assets—so everyone on the team is ready to contribute ideas.

Learn how

Attach files in Calendar

1. On your computer, open Google Calendar.
2. Create an event, or open an existing event.
3. If you create a new event, click More options.
4. At the bottom, in the description box, click Add attachment .
5. Choose a file that's already in your Google Drive. To add a file from your computer, click Upload.
6. When you finish, click Select or Upload.

Learn more at the Google Calendar Help Center

 

 

Keep your design files organized

If you need to keep your creative assets together in one place, save work files and folders in Drive or a shared drive. Then, share them instantly with co-workers or external clients. And, when someone incorporates feedback and approvals, Drive shows you what files changed.

Learn how

Add files to Drive

If you're using the latest Chrome Browser or Firefox, you can drag files or folders from your computer into a Drive folder. Or, you can click New File upload or Folder upload and choose the file or folder you want to upload.

Add files to a shared drive

Requires at least Contributor access

1. On your computer, go to drive.google.com.
2. At the left, click Shared drives and double-click one of your shared drives.
3. At the top left, click New.
4. Click the type of file or folder you want to create or upload from your computer. 

Any files you add are owned by the team. If you leave the shared drive, your files remain.

 

 

Keep shared files secure

If you need to share sensitive files with external clients, you can prevent people from downloading, printing, or copying them. You can also set an expiration date so external clients or agencies can no longer access files when a project ends. If you’re downloading an external file, Drive scans most files for viruses. If a virus is detected, the file won’t be downloaded.

Learn how

Prevent people from downloading, printing, or copying your file

People with edit access to your files can:

• Share the file with others.
• Add or remove people from the file.
• Change access permissions to the file.
• Copy, print, or download the file.

Important: You can't apply this setting to a folder, but you can apply it to individual files in the folder.

To prevent viewers and commenters from printing, copying, or downloading your file:

1. Find the file or folder in Google Drive, Google Docs, Google Sheets, or Google Slides.
2. Select one or more files you want to limit.
3. Click Share or Share .
4. At the top, click Settings .
5. Uncheck Viewers and commenters can see the option to download, print, and copy.

Important: You can limit how people share, print, download, and copy within Google Drive, Docs, Sheets, and Slides, but you can't stop how others share the file content in other ways.

Learn more at the Google Drive Help Center

 

 

Keep everyone in the loop

If you want to share design mocks and status updates with your team, use Google Groups to set up an email list. Then, reach everyone with a single email address. Share calendars, sites, and creative assets as well using Groups. Everyone in the group gets access to files shared with the group. You can easily add and remove people inside and outside of your organization.

Learn how

Create a group

1. Sign in to Google Groups.
2. At the top, click Create group.
3. Enter information and choose settings for the group.
   Settings reference.
4. Click Create group.
5. Wait a few minutes for your new group to become active before sending a message to it. Otherwise, you might get a notification that your message couldn't be delivered.
6. (Optional) Next steps: Choose advanced settings for your group.

Learn more at the Google Groups Help Center

 

 

Share and discuss ideas in a video meeting

Want to brainstorm and get immediate feedback on ideas with remote team members? Start a Google Meet video meeting. Firstly, share a design brief with agenda items. Then, during the meeting, showcase an idea by sharing your screen. With Google Chat, you can send files and other online resources to everyone in the meeting.

Learn how

Start a video meeting

1. ​Go to Google Meet.
2. Click New Meeting.
3. Select an option:
   • Create a meeting for later:
     • To share the meeting details for a future meeting, copy the meeting link and share with participants.
     • To directly start the meeting with this link, paste the link into a browser; or enter the link into the “Enter a code or link” field click Join.
   • Start an instant meeting: Create a new meeting and join the meeting directly. 
   • Schedule in Google Calendar: To schedule a meeting, you’re directed to Google Calendar.

Tip: Google Workspace Essentials users can't schedule a meeting in Google Calendar.

Send files in a chat message

1. On your computer, open Google Chat or Gmail.
   • In Gmail: On the left, click Chat.
2. Open a conversation.
3. Enter your message and choose an option:

Add an emoji	Click Emoji .
Send a GIF	Click GIF . If you use Google Chat on a work or school account, you may not have the option to send a GIF.
Attach files from your computer	Click Upload file or drag and drop files into the compose bar. Tip: You can attach up to 20 images or videos at a time or 1 attachment of other file types.
Add a link to a video meeting	Click Add video meeting .
Attach a Drive file	Click Integration menu Drive. When you send the file, you’re notified if someone needs access. With edit access, you have an option to grant access. If you grant access to a conversation or space, people who join the space later also have access. If people leave the space, they lose access to the file unless they’re given access individually or through a group.
Create a Google Calendar invite	Click Integration menu Calendar invite .

4.Click Send.

Learn more at the Google Meet Help Center

 

 

Share large files

If you’re working on a design project, emailing large files isn’t always possible. Instead, share the file using Drive. When the person clicks the link in the email, it opens on the web, even if they don’t use Google Workspace or have a Google Account.

Learn how

Insert Drive files in your Gmail messages

Send a Google Drive attachment

1. On your computer, open Gmail.
2. At the top left, click Compose.
3. At the bottom of the message, click Insert files using Drive .
4. Select the files you want to attach.
5. At the bottom of the page, decide how you want to send the file:
   • Drive link: This works for any files stored in Drive, including files created using Google Docs, Sheets, Slides, or Forms.
   • Attachment: This only works for files that weren't created using Google Docs, Sheets, Slides, or Forms.
6. Click Insert.

Learn more at the Gmail Help Center

Use generative AI at work

If your organization supports it, you can use the artificial intelligence add-on, Gemini for Google Workspace. Use Gemini directly in Google Workspace apps like Docs, Sheets, Slides, Meet, Vids, and Gmail, to help you write, visualize, organize, and connect. You can also use Gemini as a standalone experience at gemini.google.com. 

Learn how

• Get started with Gemini
• Get tips for writing prompts

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