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MIRO / PRODUCT DESIGN
Enhancing Miro's File Management
Bringing order to chaos by adding a nested folder structure
MIRO / PRODUCT DESIGN
Project Overview
MY ROLE
End-to-end product designer
TIMELINE
6 weeks: Mid 2023
OUTCOME
Created x3 layers of folder hierarchy
for use within Miro projects.
for use within Miro projects.
PROJECT TYPE
Self-initiated
TOOLS
Figma
Otter.AI
Adobe Suite
Google Workspace
Otter.AI
Adobe Suite
Google Workspace
CONTRIBUTORS
x2 Mentors (Smartsheet)
SPECIAL CONSTRAINTS
No insider access to Miro’s roadmap or analytics; had to rely on public forums, user interviews, and a prototype to surface pain points and validate solutions — much like my freelance work, where speed and resourcefulness are key.
I was also working with a short timeline.
I was also working with a short timeline.
OVERALL CHALLENGE
Miro’s sprawl of boards makes content hard to find, slowing teams and breaking flow.
THE GOAL: give users tools to locate and organize without changing how they are already collaborating within their orgs.
THE GOAL: give users tools to locate and organize without changing how they are already collaborating within their orgs.
KEY RESULTS
• 100% (5/5) test users completed core folder and board tasks in under 2 minutes
• 80% (4/5) said it would make finding boards easier in daily workflows
• Miro has added a similar nested folder feature to its roadmap (not yet delivered)
THE OUTCOME
The End of Chaotic Workspaces for Growing Teams
Empowers growing teams by transforming flat, messy projects into a clear, fast, scalable x3 folder structure that mirrors how they actually work
THE PROBLEM
The Chaos of a Flat Miro Hierarchy
A growing mess of boards, files and projects turns "team brainstorms" into an endless chore of searching and manual organization for growing orgs
“We just purchased Miro for our entire organization (150 seats)... and it's going to get messy without this feature. I'm worried that it might discourage uptake within the company.”
- Anton T. / Miro Forum Comment
Miro Forum: #3 Most Requested Feature
On Miro's community forum the feature received over 1,400 upvotes and was the third highest requested feature. This pain point remained unaddressed for more than 3 years, causing continued user frustration.
Competitors Have Already Solved This
Direct competitors like Mural, Whimsical and FigJam already provide nested folder structures. This gives them a clear advantage as the lack of this basic feature blocks adoption especially for scaling teams.
User's POV: Buried in Boards
• Valuable time is wasted searching for existing work.
• Digital workspaces feel chaotic and unprofessional.
• It's impossible to create a scalable system.
Business POV: The Cost of Disorganization
• It creates a major barrier to adoption at larger companies.
• It breaks the core promise of an intuitive, efficient workspace.
• It gives competitors with better organization a clear advantage.
THE SOLUTION: FINAL FEATURE WALKTHROUGH
Meet Taylor, a Project Manager Drowning in Boards
Her team's projects have become an overwhelming collection of files that are hurting their overall productivity, so she's eager to try out nested folders
FINAL UI
STEP 1: She Needs to Find a Specific Board
FINAL UI
STEP 2: She Starts by Looking in One of Our Newly Added Project Folders
FINAL UI
STEP 3: She Can’t Find It, So It’s On to Search
FINAL UI
STEP 4: She Scopes Her Search to a Folder Within a Project
FINAL UI
STEP 5: Success! She Finds the Board She Needs
FINAL UI
STEP 6: Oops! Looks Like She Needs to Move Some Boards
FINAL UI
STEP 7: So She Drag & Drops Them Into the Correct Folder
DISCOVERY & RESEARCH
Fast-Tracking Discovery:
Mining Miro's Forums for User Insights
With a compressed timeline of just 6 weeks, I bypassed traditional interviews and mined Miro's own feature request forums, saving over a week of time and gathering direct user feedback.
Key Discoveries from Research
Unmanageable & Declining Usability
The point of friction for users is low; when projects contain more than 5-7 boards, it becomes a chaotic and unusable experience. This issue is exacerbated in larger organizations that can easily have 60+ boards in a single project.
Hindrance to Companies as They Scale
The lack of a proper organizational system is a key blocker for scaling and enterprise-level adoption. Users expressed concern that it might discourage uptake within their company after purchasing multiple licenses.
Users Resorting to Clunky Workarounds
Without a native folder feature, users are forced to create inefficient, high-maintenance workarounds to stay organized. One user described creating a navigational directory with linked stickies on a board, calling it "not really scalable" and a system that "requires maintenance".
Folders Vs. Tags
While tagging is flexible, user feedback revealed a major drawback: poor discoverability. A rigid folder hierarchy proved more reliable for building a coherent mental model for a company's knowledge base, and it simplifies managing user permissions for large organizations.
“With just tags, I wouldn't be able to help my employees understand the structure I use to think about our daily operations.”
- Adam K. / Miro Forum Comment
Deep Cuts: Unfiltered Insights from Research
COMPETITOR ANALYSIS
HEURISTIC EVALUATION
AFFINITY MAP: EXAMPLE 1
AFFINITY MAP: EXAMPLE 2
Adaptive Problem-Solving in Ambiguous Environments
Making Trade-offs Under Pressure
My experience as a freelancer has taught me to be pragmatic and make strategic trade-offs when faced with tight deadlines.
With a traditional interview process being a luxury I couldn’t afford, I instead used Miro’s public forums as a faster, more direct source for a wealth of user feedback.
This approach allowed me to save a significant amount of time while ensuring the solution was validated by a broad user base.
My Methods & Key Questions
FORUM ANALYSIS:
• How are users describing their pain points and what do they use as workarounds?
• How many layers of hierarchy is appropriate?
• How do I need to approach folders vs. tags and do I need to investigate further regarding permissions?
SECONDARY RESEARCH
Competitor Analysis - Heuristic Evaluation
• What are the industry standards and how do competitors approach this problem?
From Insights to Strategy: Preparing for Ideation
My goals here were threefold:
• 1. To translate research insights into tangible feature sets using a story map, creating a framework for the next design phase.
• 2. To ground the project in established best practices, I mapped user flows and design patterns from platforms like Whimsical and Google Drive as well as competitor solutions.
• 3. To synthesize user insights into a concise set of key user needs, which served as a north star to guide every decision as I moved into the ideation phase, sketching and wireframing.
STORY MAPPING
COMPETITOR SOLUTIONS: GOOGLE DRIVE
COMPETITOR SOLUTIONS: WHIMSICAL
RESEARCH SUMMARIZED: KEY USER NEEDS
Activities & outputs
SWOT Analysis
Industry Trends
Competitive Analysis
Heuristic Evaluation
x5 Interviews
Affinity Maps
EXPLORATION: IA, SKETCHING & WIREFRAMES
Integrating File Management Design Patterns from competitors, Google Drive & Dropbox
Next step was to start sketching and getting ideas down for how to work some of these tried-and-true design patterns I’d uncovered into Miro’s existing layouts
Sketching: x6 key areas to focus on
SKETCHING: SIDEBAR NAV + BREADCRUMB NAV
SKETCHING: SEARCH BAR
SKETCHING: MULTI-SELECT TOOLBAR
SKETCHING: STARRED SECTION
SKETCHING: RECENT SECTION
SKETCHING: BOARD & LIST VIEWS
Activities & outputs
Flow Maps
Sketches
Wireframes
PROTOTYPING & USABILITY TESTING
Honing the interface for maximum usability & digging deeper into search
Moving into testing, the biggest goals were to look for any mismatched user expectations and to get a better understanding for how search vs. browse was playing out
Testing Remotely with x5 Users
I built a mid-fi prototype and was looking to answer:
• Does this folder architecture match the way users expect it to work?
• What happens when users interact with search? Are there any friction points here?
• Have I implemented the folder hierarchy tools in all the right places where users actually need them most?
Impactful Change 1: Multi-select Interaction Bar
BEFORE: In the prototype the multi-select bar was up along the top edge of the window.
AFTER: I moved it down now directly sitting on top of folders and boards.
WHY THE CHANGE? It took one user over 25 seconds to make the connection between the two screen areas. Also, one of our core user needs identified in research was the need for “more efficient retrieval.” This change directly supports that.
BEFORE: MULTI-SELECT TOOLBAR - TOO FAR AWAY FROM THE ACTION
AFTER: MULTI-SELECT TOOLBAR - MOVED CLOSER TO BOARD SELECTION
Impactful Change 2: Project & Folder Breadcrumb Nav Headings
BEFORE: 40% of test users were getting confused as to where they currently were in the hierarchy due to a breadcrumb nav trail AND a project or folder title.
AFTER: I used a simpler and more familiar design pattern used by enterprise tools like Google Drive to make this area clearer.
WHY THE CHANGE? This change directly supported a key user need for clear / hierarchical organization.
BEFORE: 40% OF USERS CONFUSED BY HEADING + BREADCRUMB NAV
AFTER: USED SIMPLER HEADING NAV BORROWED FROM GOOGLE DRIVE
Other Key Updates: Drag & Drop / Search
Addition of Drag & Drop (80%)
What: 4/5 users tried to drag and drop files during tests unprompted. There was a clear expectation that multi-selecting would be accompanied by drag and drop.
Change: Drag and drop functionality was added.
Board Finding Started in Search (60%)
What: 3/5 users started out looking for boards via search (vs. browsing).
Change: Previously searching could be scoped to projects only. Now users can scope search to any of the x4 hierarchy layers (project or x3 folders).
Activities & outputs
Figma Prototype
Remote User Tests (x5 Users)
A QUICK GUIDE TO WHAT I CHANGED
Before & After: Comparing Old with the New
A truly successful design had to serve two goals: creating an interface that felt intuitive for one person, while building a structural foundation robust enough to support a growing, collaborative organization.
x3 Layers of Nested Folders
BEFORE: Projects Only
AFTER: Projects + x3 Folder Layers
Integration of In-Folder Search
BEFORE: Search Within Projects Only
AFTER: Search at Per Folder Level
Multi-Select + Drag & Drop
BEFORE: Only Select Single Boards
AFTER: Multi-Select + Drag & Drop Boards
Updated Starred Section
BEFORE: Only Contains Boards
AFTER: Projects + Folders + Boards
IMPACT
Taming Chaos: The End of Miro's File Organization Woes
I built a solution for Miro's third-highest requested feature, (with over 1,400 upvotes) and enabled 100% of test users (5/5) to complete core file management tasks in under two minutes.
Key Results: An Overview
100% File Management Task Completion:
Under 2 minutes
Under 2 minutes
Every tester (5/5) successfully completed core file management tasks with no errors. The feature was highly intuitive, demonstrating a low learning curve.
This represents a significant time savings compared to endlessly searching and navigating a flat file structure.
Market Validation:
Miro Adds This Issue
to it's Roadmap
Miro Adds This Issue
to it's Roadmap
Months after this project was completed, the Miro community forum thread on this topic was moved into the "In development" section of Miro's product roadmap.
This provided powerful confirmation that the problem I identified was a strategic priority for Miro.
80% (4/5) Users Say This Makes Finding Boards A Lot Easier
A majority of participants (80%) stated that the new organizational tools would make finding boards significantly easier in their daily workflows.
This feedback strongly suggests that users now are much less likely to jump ship for another solution.
After I Wrapped: Miro Added This Feature Request to Their Roadmap
A few months after wrapping this project I saw that this feature request was moved to Miro’s in development section. This was direct validation that I had identified a core need for both users and the business.
"Being able to pull your team's action items, share them, you're just eliminating such like a communication backlog..."
"It just saves you so much time from having to find all of those action items, write the email, send it out, etc."
- Erin T. - Startup COO
“I think it's easier if companies keep it more organized like this.
Our current Miro setup is quite the mess… it's now like 80 or something boards under one project.””
- Phillip R. / Software Engineer
REFLECTION
An Exercise in Adaptability: Delivering a Scalable Solution Under Pressure
And That's a Wrap: An Exercise in Resourcefulness
This project was a masterclass in pragmatic problem-solving. Working under a tight deadline, it sharpened my ability to be resourceful, validate early, and scope intelligently. I proved that a powerful solution can be designed for a live product, even without insider access, by keeping users at the center of every decision. In my next role, I’ll bring this same adaptive approach to deliver meaningful, measurable value by turning problems into actionable solutions for both the business and its users.
Learning Valuable Lessons
Aligning Research with Project Constraints Intelligently
With a strict six-week timeline, I pivoted my research from user interviews to deeply analyzing Miro's feature request forums.
This strategic trade-off accelerated my discovery phase and provided a wealth of direct user feedback that a typical research plan might have missed.
User Tests: Trusting Actions Over Words via Careful Observation
Observing behavior is key to unlocking hidden needs. In testing, 80% of participants instinctively tried to drag-and-drop boards, even though this feature didn't exist.
This critical insight informed a key design decision to add a more intuitive and efficient interaction model.
Strategic Outlook: Performance Metrics & Feature Exploration
Business Impact: Reducing Churn
I would monitor the average time users spend searching for boards to validate the design's impact on productivity.
The ultimate measure of success would be a correlation between faster board location and a reduction in customer churn, proving the value of a scalable organizational system for large teams.
Complementing Hierarchy with Tags
A next step for this feature would be to test the possibility of a tagging system that works in concert with the folder hierarchy.
This would give users a more flexible way to organize and filter content in more personally meaningful ways, addressing a popular request in the community forum for a more robust system.
I'd love to chat about how I might align with your team's goals!
Feel free to email blutjens@gmail.com or connect on Linkedin.
ContactFeel free to email blutjens@gmail.com or connect on Linkedin.
Check out my other work!
