JULY 30, 2026
Oh, Miro. The digital workspace with lots of colorful sticky notes.
Healthy Teen Network started using Miro about 10 years ago, and we’ve been learning and evolving with it ever since.
What’s Miro?
Think of Miro as a virtual whiteboard: Anyone can pick up a marker (or, in this case, a digital sticky note) and instantly contribute their thoughts to the board. It’s collaborative and versatile that way. People use Miro to take meeting notes, lead workshops, plan projects, or prototype or design something, among many other things.
Perhaps it’s the infinite canvas, or the fact that you can add ideas in all directions, that I think helps with my expansive and explorative thinking in a way that other “linear” platforms can’t quite achieve.
What I like about Miro is that it’s a great “brain dump” space. I can externalize the jumbled, messy thoughts in my head onto a blank space and slowly make sense of them later. Perhaps it’s the infinite canvas, or the fact that you can add ideas in all directions, that I think helps with my expansive and explorative thinking in a way that other “linear” platforms can’t quite achieve.
How In/Tend Uses Miro for Innovation
Inspired by IDEO’s human-centered design approach, the In/Tend incubator hub moves through five phases of human-centered design: Empathize, Define, Ideate, Prototype, and Test & Iterate (with Critical Reflection woven throughout).
One of my roles in the In/Tend project is to develop workspaces and tools in Miro to support the Innovation Development Teams as they navigate these five phases. Each phase has its own distinct needs, so we built custom workspaces for each:
- Empathize: We developed guidance for the teams to plan and conduct research with end users (through interviews, surveys, or focus groups), along with a dedicated space to capture notes from these activities.
- Define: We created space for them to organize research observations, identify patterns and themes, and generate insights.
- Ideate: We made (lots of) space to brainstorm ideas and shared some tips to get the ideas flowing.
- Prototype: We put together frameworks for teams to map out, develop, and experiment with their prototypes.
- Test & Iterate: We developed step-by-step tools to plan and conduct testing sessions, along with space to document user feedback and iterations.
Here is an example of a Miro board set up for the Empathize and Define phases:
We remind the teams that these tools are just a starting point! We encourage them to use the tools, adapt them, or try something else entirely. Because every Miro board is technically a huge canvas, they can have all the space they need to explore. With features like live voting, emojis and stickers, mind mapping and diagramming, and many others, the platform can really help get the creative juices flowing.
And, as with all things innovation and human-centered design, we try to remain flexible and adaptable, so we update these tools year after year based on what the teams need.
And, as with all things innovation and human-centered design, we try to remain flexible and adaptable, so we update these tools year after year based on what the teams need.
When designing these tools, I often find inspiration in the Miroverse, a gallery of templates made by the Miro community. It’s a great place to go, especially if you don’t know where to start or are looking for new ideas.
And, while we love using Miro, it certainly isn’t the only option out there! Platforms like Mural, FigJam, and Lucidspark work similarly, too. Tools like this take some getting used to, but once you find your rhythm, they can become an incredible space for collaboration and innovation.
Photo By: Appshunter.io
