Top 10 Free Design Overview Templates

Having a Design Overview is crucial for organizing and streamlining the creative process. It provides a clear roadmap for projects, ensuring that all stakeholders are aligned with the goals, requirements, and progress. A Design Overview template in Notion can simplify this process by offering a structured format that can be easily customized and shared with team members.

Before you start crafting your own Design Overview, take a look at these Notion templates to make the process more efficient and effective.

What Should Design Overview Templates Include?

Choosing the right Design Overview Template in Notion can streamline your project management and enhance your design process. Here are key components to look for in a high-quality template:

  1. Project Goals and Objectives: This section should clearly outline what the project aims to achieve, helping keep the design aligned with the overall business strategy.

  2. Timeline and Milestones: A good template will include a timeline view that helps track project phases and important milestones, ensuring timely progress.

  3. Stakeholder Information: It's important to have a dedicated area for listing all stakeholders involved along with their roles, contact information, and requirements.

  4. Visual Elements: Space for adding visual components such as logos, color palettes, and design mockups that are essential for visualizing the end product.

By focusing on these elements, you can select a Design Overview Template that not only organizes information efficiently but also enhances collaboration and creativity within your team.

What Should Design Overview Templates Avoid?

When selecting a Design Overview template in Notion, it's important to be aware of certain elements that can hinder your project's clarity and progress. Here are three key components to steer clear of:

  1. Overly Complex Structures: Templates with complicated hierarchies or too many nested pages can make navigation difficult and detract from the main design goals.

  2. Generic Content: Avoid templates that are not tailored to design projects. Templates that lack specific sections for design elements, feedback, or revisions can be less effective.

  3. Fixed Layouts: Choose templates that offer flexibility. Rigid layouts that do not allow customization can restrict your ability to modify the template as your project evolves.

Choosing the right template involves avoiding these pitfalls to ensure that it complements and enhances your design process, rather than complicating it.

1Creative Brief

A simple document to help you organize all requirements and information needed to enable smooth collaboration with agencies and freelancers.

A template preview for Creative Brief

2Idea Generator

From brainstorming sessions to mind mapping exercises, this template provides a structured framework to fuel your creativity and take your ideas to the next level.

A template preview for Idea Generator

3Product Design RFC

Introducing the "Product Design RFC" template — a comprehensive and collaborative template designed to streamline your product design process from ideation to execution. This template captures essential information, fosters communication, and provides a structured approach to drive your design project forward.

A template preview for Product Design RFC

4Design Brief

A simple document to help you organize all requirements and information needed for effective execution of design projects.

A template preview for Design Brief

5Design & System Requirements Template

This template document aims to summarise the findings in this current stage of the research and to provide guidelines for the design (designers) and for the system (developers) based on this research.

A template preview for Design & System Requirements Template

6Designers Project Management

A Notion project management template for designers.

This template provides a focused space to manage your daily design projects and tasks.

What's included:

✔ Project management system

✔ Task management system

✔ Project planning

✔ Task tracking

✔ Task prioritization

✔ Task deadline tracking

✔ Project progress tracking

✔ Task progress tracking

✔ Customizable workflows

A template preview for Designers Project Management

7Brand Design Brief

Ugh, tired of design drafts that miss the mark?

You know, the ones that look kinda pretty, but don't really connect with your audience or boost your sales?

Been there, done that. That's why I created this super-simple Brand Design Brief Template.

Think of it as your magic wand for crafting a brand that:
Turns heads with stunning visuals that capture your unique vibe.
Speaks to your ideal customers like they're old friends.
Crushes the competition by standing out from the crowd.
Drives real business results, not just likes and shares.

No more design drama, Just a clear roadmap that helps you and your designer:
Understand your target audience inside-out. Who are they? What makes them tick?
Unleash your creative vision. Playful? Sleek? You name it! ✨
Spot your competitive edge. What are they doing right (and wrong)?
Fuel your designer's imagination. Share visual inspo to spark their creativity.
Align design with your business goals. Let's make it happen!

A template preview for Brand Design Brief

8UX/UI Design Project Brief

Looking for a skilled UX/UI designer? Check out this comprehensive UX/UI Design Project Brief Notion template! The Overview section provides background information about your expertise, while the "Why me" section highlights your unique value proposition. The Services section outlines the design offerings to cater to all client needs. Budget and timeline management are made easy with dedicated tables. Finally, the Terms and Conditions section ensures a productive collaboration. Start your UX/UI design project with confidence using this professional Notion template. Contact the client today to kickstart your project!

A template preview for UX/UI Design Project Brief

9Ideation Board & Library For Graphic Designer

What’s inside this template?

✅ Brainstorms Ideas & Concepts: Crucial for generating ideas & concept. It allows the designers note down their initial thoughts

✅ Sketches: A space for rough sketches and initial design concepts. This helps the designer visualize ideas before refining them.

✅ Mood Board Library: A library of mood boards, you can create and save to establish the visual direction by compiling images, colors, and textures that evoke the desired mood or style.

✅ Color Palettes Library: A library of color, you can create and save color palettes that align with the project's theme or client's preferences.

✅ Typography Library: A library of typography, you can create and save font choices and pairings, ensuring consistency in typography across the project.

✅ Images Library: A library of images, you can create and save graphics, and visual assets for reference and inspiration.

✅ Includes Tutorial Videos!

A template preview for Ideation Board & Library For Graphic Designer

10Design spec

Use this rich design spec to research, plan, and develop new product features or any other type of project.

This template includes sections for research and inspiration links (inserted as web bookmarks), documenting why and how you're building the feature, requirements, and how you'll measure success. It also showcases how you can use embeds from Figma, Framer, Invision, or Github to display mocks and prototypes.

A template preview for Design spec

Closing Thoughts

Utilizing these templates streamlines your design process, saving you time and effort. They provide a structured approach that enhances creativity and efficiency.

By adopting these tools, you ensure consistency in your projects, making your work more professional and coherent. Start implementing them today to see immediate improvements.

What is a Mood Board?

A visual tool consisting of images, text, and samples of objects in a composition, used to convey a general idea or feel about a particular topic.

What is a Wireframe?

A schematic or blueprint that helps to visualize the skeletal structure of a digital interface, commonly used in planning a site's structure and functionality.

What is a Style Guide?

A set of standards for the design of documents, signage, and any other outputs that maintains consistency and brand identity across all uses.

Keep reading