Boards: Organize your content on visual canvases

Boards (canvases) in Polimake Studio are a powerful way to organize your content visually. Think of them as boards or canvases where you can group related content, create hierarchies, and keep everything organized intuitively.

What boards are

A board is essentially a visual canvas that can contain:

• Shapes and graphic elements: Rectangles, circles, text, images, and more
• Associated content: You can link Polimake Studio content to a board
• Other boards: Boards can contain child boards (nested boards)
• Visual organization: Everything laid out in a 2D space that you can view and edit

Main use cases

Boards are useful for:

• Organizing campaigns: Group all of a campaign's content on a single board
• Visual planning: Visualize how different pieces of content relate to each other
• Moodboards: Create inspiration boards with images and references
• Content structure: Organize content by series, topics, or categories
• Visual collaboration: Share ideas and concepts visually with your team

Practical example: A marketing team creates a board called "Summer Campaign 2024" where they visually group all related posts, reels, and stories. Each element on the board is linked to the actual content in Polimake Studio, creating a visual view of the entire campaign.

Creating and organizing boards

Creating boards is simple, and you can organize them in different ways depending on your needs.

Creating a new board

1. Go to "Boards" in the side menu
2. Click "New board" or the "+" button
3. Fill in the information:
   • Name: Choose a descriptive name (e.g., "Q1 Campaign," "Tutorial Series")
   • Project: Select the project it belongs to
   • Parent board (optional): If you want it to be a child of another board
   • Background: Choose the background type (white, color, image, etc.)
4. Click "Create"

Organizing boards

Once created, you can organize boards in several ways:

By project

• Group boards by project: Each project can have its own boards
• Filter by project: View only the boards in a specific project
• Keep them separate: Boards from different projects don't mix

By hierarchy

• Root boards: Main boards that have no parent
• Child boards: Boards that belong to another board
• Hierarchical navigation: Easily move between levels

By name

• Alphabetical order: Organize boards by name
• Search: Search for boards by name when you have many

Editing a board

To edit an existing board:

1. Click the board you want to edit
2. The board editor opens, where you can:
   • Change the name: Edit the board's name
   • Modify the background: Change the background type or color
   • Add shapes: Draw rectangles, circles, and more
   • Add content: Link Polimake Studio content
   • Organize elements: Move and rearrange elements on the canvas

Deleting a board

1. Open the board you want to delete
2. Find the "Delete" option in the board menu
3. Confirm the deletion
4. Note: If the board has associated content or child boards, you'll be warned

Important: Deleting a board does not delete the associated content, only the visual organization. The content still exists in Polimake Studio.

Nested boards

Nested boards (or child boards) let you create hierarchies and organize content across multiple levels.

What nested boards are

A nested board is a board that belongs to another board (its "parent"). This creates a hierarchical structure:

Main Board: "Summer Campaign 2024"
  ├── Child Board: "Phase 1: Launch"
  │   ├── Grandchild Board: "Instagram Content"
  │   └── Grandchild Board: "TikTok Content"
  └── Child Board: "Phase 2: Maintenance"
      └── Grandchild Board: "Educational Content"

Creating a nested board

1. Open the parent board where you want to create the child board
2. Click "Create child board" or similar
3. Fill in the information for the new board
4. The child board is created inside the parent board

Alternatively:

1. Create a board as usual
2. When creating it, select a "Parent board" in the form
3. The board is created as a child of the selected board

Navigating between nested boards

• Tree view: Some interfaces display the hierarchy as a tree
• Breadcrumbs: Navigate up the hierarchy using breadcrumbs
• Board list: See all boards and their relationships in a list

When to use nested boards

Nested boards are useful when:

• You have large campaigns: Break a campaign into phases or stages
• You organize by platform: One main board per campaign, child boards per platform
• Complex structure: You need multiple levels of organization
• Team collaboration: Different teams work on different child boards

Practical example: An agency manages a large campaign for a client. They create a main board, "Client XYZ Campaign," and inside it create child boards: "Organic Content," "Paid Content," "Influencers." Each child board can have its own grandchild boards for more detail.

Linking content to boards

One of the most powerful features of boards is the ability to link actual Polimake Studio content to visual elements on the board.

Linking existing content

1. Open the board where you want to add content
2. Click "Add content" or similar
3. Search for the content you want to link
4. Select the content from the list
5. The content is added to the board as a visual element

Creating content from the board

1. Open the board
2. Click "Create content" from the board
3. Fill in the content creation form
4. The content is created and automatically linked to the board

Viewing content on the board

When content is linked to the board:

• It appears as a visual element: You can see a representation of the content
• It shows key information: Type, status, date, and more
• It's clickable: Click to go to the full content
• It updates automatically: If you change the content, the board updates

Unlinking content

If you need to remove content from a board:

1. Open the board
2. Click the content you want to unlink
3. Select "Remove from board" or "Unlink"
4. Confirm the action

Note: Unlinking content from the board does NOT delete the content from Polimake Studio; it only removes it from the board view.

Canvas and shapes

The board canvas is the space where you can draw, add shapes, and create visual elements.

Available shape types

Boards support different types of shapes:

Rectangles

• Use: Frames, containers, content areas
• Customizable: Fill color, border, rounded corners
• Example: A rectangle that represents a "Feed Posts" area

Circles

• Use: Points of interest, decorative elements, icons
• Customizable: Color, size, border
• Example: Colored circles that represent different content statuses

Text

• Use: Titles, labels, descriptions
• Customizable: Font, size, color, alignment
• Example: Section titles on the board

Images

• Use: Thumbnails, references, moodboards
• Customizable: Size, position, opacity
• Example: Reference images for a campaign

Paths

• Use: Lines, custom shapes, diagrams
• Customizable: Color, thickness, line style
• Example: Lines that connect different elements on the board

SVG

• Use: Icons, vector graphics, logos
• Customizable: Color, size, transformations
• Example: Brand logos on the board

Groups

• Use: Group multiple elements to move them together
• Customizable: Elements within the group keep their own properties
• Example: Group all the elements of a board section

Adding shapes to the canvas

1. Open the board in edit mode
2. Select the shape tool you want to use (rectangle, circle, etc.)
3. Click and drag on the canvas to create the shape
4. Adjust properties using the properties panel
5. Repeat to add more shapes

Editing shapes

To edit an existing shape:

1. Click the shape to select it
2. Use the properties panel to change:
   • Fill color
   • Border color and thickness
   • Size and position
   • Opacity
   • Other properties depending on the shape type
3. Drag to move the shape
4. Use the controls to resize it

Organizing elements on the canvas

• Multiple selection: Select several elements to move them together
• Alignment: Align elements horizontally or vertically
• Distribution: Distribute elements evenly
• Layers: Bring elements to the front or send them to the back
• Groups: Group elements to manage them as one

Practical use cases

Case 1: Product launch campaign

Situation: You're launching a new product and need to organize all the related content.

Solution with boards:

1. Create a main board, "Product X Launch"
2. Inside it, create child boards: "Pre-launch Phase," "Launch Phase," "Post-launch Phase"
3. In each phase, link the corresponding content (posts, reels, stories)
4. Use shapes and colors to visualize the campaign flow
5. Share the board with the team so everyone can see the full strategy

Case 2: Educational content series

Situation: You're creating a series of 10 educational posts on a topic.

Solution with boards:

1. Create a board, "Series: Digital Marketing 101"
2. Add 10 rectangles, one for each post in the series
3. Link each actual post to its corresponding rectangle
4. Use text to number and title each post
5. Visually organize the learning flow

Case 3: Moodboard for a new campaign

Situation: You're planning a new campaign and need to gather inspiration.

Solution with boards:

1. Create a board, "Summer Campaign Moodboard"
2. Add reference images directly to the canvas
3. Use shapes and colors to create visual palettes
4. Add text with notes about the desired style
5. Share with designers so they understand the visual direction

Case 4: Organizing by platform

Situation: You manage content for multiple platforms and need to keep them organized.

Solution with boards:

1. Create a main board per client or campaign
2. Create child boards: "Instagram," "TikTok," "YouTube"
3. Link the corresponding content to each child board
4. Use the main board to see the full strategy
5. Use the child boards to manage platform-specific content

Best practices

Naming

• Descriptive names: "Summer Campaign 2024" is better than "Board 1"
• Consistency: Use the same naming format for similar boards
• Clear hierarchy: Child board names should indicate their relationship to the parent

Organization

• Don't overload: Don't put too many elements on a single board
• Use hierarchy: Break large boards into smaller child boards
• Keep it updated: Update boards when you change content

Collaboration

• Share relevant boards: Not everyone needs to see every board
• Use comments: Leave notes on boards to communicate changes
• Respect the structure: Don't reorganize boards without letting the team know

Troubleshooting common issues

I can't create a child board

• Verify that the parent board exists and that you have write permissions
• Make sure you're not creating cycles (a board can't be the parent of its own ancestor)

Content doesn't appear on the board

• Verify that the content is linked correctly
• Make sure you're viewing the correct board
• Refresh the page if you just linked content

Shapes aren't saving

• Make sure you're in edit mode
• Verify that you have write permissions on the board
• Save explicitly if there's a save button

I can't see nested boards

• Verify that hierarchy view is enabled
• Look for the "Tree view" option or similar
• Navigate manually using breadcrumbs

Conclusion

Boards in Polimake Studio are a powerful tool for visual organization. Whether you use them for campaigns, series, moodboards, or just general organization, boards give you the flexibility to structure your content in whatever way works best for you.

Start with simple boards and gradually incorporate hierarchies and advanced features as you need them. The key is finding the structure that best fits your workflow and your team's.

To go deeper into visual design within boards, check out our Studio guide, which will teach you how to create professional designs directly on the platform.