Designers on balancing time between meetings and focused creativity

Following the pandemic, remote collaboration has increased. While meetings are now great for staying in touch amidst physical disconnection, they can also harm creativity, as the more you communicate virtually, the less time you have for your actual creative work. Where is the balance, and are there ways to strike it?

Both creatives from studios and individual designers shared their approaches to reclaiming their time and rekindling their creativity while staying in contact with each other and their clients.

Tessa Sophie Huber, co-founder and designer at RAWTY Studio.

Esme Greaves, founder and designer at Peculiar Studio.

Lino Di Maio, founder and designer at Pop-Eye Studio.

Ayusha Dallakoti, freelance design lead.

Alexander Moskovskiy, head of design at Readymag.

Why calls matter and how to organize them rationally

Esme Greaves: Transparency when working on projects is super important, but so is time management and efficiency for both parties. If there’s an issue with communicating an idea over a message, then I’d say it’s more efficient for all parties to have a call. However, if there are only general updates, as opposed to discussions or questions, I feel these can be handled via email, Slack, or a WhatsApp message. 

Depending on the length and scope of the project, I tend to schedule calls every other week and use WhatsApp or Slack to keep in contact about any minor things in between. At the beginning and end of projects, I expect there to be more calls to ensure we’re aligned in the project aims and discuss handing over the work and finalising details.

For clients, it’s crucial to know the timelines, communication frequency, and method, so that nothing comes as a surprise. As the project manager and designer, they also help me stay on top of what needs to be done and when. Generally, all of my meetings are included in the scope of work. However, I do limit this to a 1-hour call per week, plus all written communication. If anything goes beyond this, it’ll go into the contract and come with an extra cost. 

Tessa Sophie Huber: We’re a small, tight-knit studio, and we’re blessed with fewer calls: one morning meeting each day, and quick check–ins in between. The most important thing for us is to remove friction in our processes, so when questions are time-sensitive or a bit more complex, calls come in. For instance, we often need to share or casually discuss drafts, especially at the beginning of a project, when the design system and other elements aren’t yet established. You can’t really “talk” about that in a message. And often, we need gestures and the occasional sound effect to get the idea across. In those situations, a meeting online or offline is essential to keep the process flowing, get new impulses, or change direction.

We always have a few big meetings in every branding project where we meet our clients in person whenever possible. Personal connection is crucial: we need to understand who we work with, and they need to understand us. Our non-negotiables are the initial “getting to know each other” meeting, the brand strategy workshop, and the brand presentation. All the remaining meetings are usually done via call and are sometimes even better that way because they stay within their timeframe and are usually fast and to the point.

At the beginning of each project, we discuss the tools the client wants to use and the tools we prefer, then we provide our clients with a rough rhythm of checking in with them. We try to feel out what the clients’ individual needs are: some need more regular check-ins, and some are fine with only a few meetings and emails here and there if there’s something important to discuss. 

Alexander Moskovskiy: For me, calls are a natural trade-off when you switch to remote work. When you work from an office, you spend time commuting there when you’re moving around the space, but you also talk to each other within a team a lot. You might not call those conversations “meetings” or hold them in a conference room, but the interaction is there. Working from home gives you more time, but you lose those moments to connect. Talking inside the team is hugely valuable, as that’s how we learn from each other as talented designers with unique approaches. Connecting through calls brings that balance back.

I worked at a company where all communication was asynchronous, and that setup came with its own price. I had to document every step and describe everything I was working on. First, I spent time writing all of that down, and then even more time digging into other people’s documentation. For me, it’s usually easier to jump on a quick voice call: we can join in, talk everything through, and settle a question. Sometimes there are things you really need to dig into before saying anything. Then I ask people to send me materials I can read, look through in Figma, maybe test a couple of hypotheses, and then provide much more detailed written feedback.

Ayusha Dallakoti: Having worked as a freelancer and in agencies with constantly shifting teams and processes, I’ve learned a very adult truth: people work differently, and that’s completely fine. I always prefer first briefings to be presented rather than sent as a PDF. A briefing is the starting point, and it deserves a moment that sparks thought and, ideally, a bit of excitement. Presenting it live lets you surface both big and small questions early, reducing scattered follow-ups later and helping everyone land on the same place.

When I get to work, I like to set a timeline with a few solid, non-negotiable deadlines—those give clients confidence while giving you enough flexibility to work between milestones. I also plan casual check-ins along the way to answer growing questions and offer updates, and after those meetings, I send short bullet-point summaries so everyone stays aligned.

If conversations start to unravel, that’s definitely the moment for a call. It can happen at the beginning, halfway through, or right at the end. Making space for a call isn’t a failure—it’s a tool. I’d always rather pick up the phone and get a clear answer than spend time guessing.

Lino Di Maio: Our project communication process is pretty standard and includes several calls: an intro call and 2–3 meetings where we present the different project outputs and discuss any feedback. For more complex projects, we also schedule regular check-in meetings to make sure the project is progressing according to the plan defined at the beginning.

Unfortunately, after the pandemic, the situation has come to the point where calls are considered mandatory for any project. However, I mostly see them as interruptions that disrupt the creative process, and in reality, very few calls end up being truly productive or necessary. The ones that matter are mostly those where the main stakeholders have the opportunity to discuss blocking issues, but I always try to keep the number of participants limited. When there are too many people, it’s difficult to achieve meaningful results.

How to protect your focus time

Alexander Moskovskiy: We, the designers, have a large part of our work that requires deep immersion. It’s an inertial process: you need a lot of time to get into it, and then just as much time to get back into it if you get distracted. I feel it’s important to have, say, six hours of working time when no one touches you, you’re not joining calls, and you’re not answering messages, but simply thinking and designing. No amount of communication can replace those moments of concentration.

On Readymag’s design team, we block no-meetings time in the calendar. I’m pretty strict about no meetings on Tuesdays and Thursdays, but I don’t follow this rule religiously: if something important comes up, I can still hop on a call. But I try to make sure that meetings that easily fit on other days don’t end up on these two days. At first, I introduced this practice for myself, then I suggested it to the design team. As far as I see, it’s stuck, and it’s been useful for everyone.

Also, the most important practice that helps me reduce unnecessary calls is trust in the team. I think those endless routine meetings appear when you try to micromanage the team and control the whole process. In our design team, everyone understands their responsibilities and handles things on their own, even if that means they might make mistakes. It’s better to talk things through later and work on improvements together than for me to peek into their layouts, waste everyone’s time, and undermine their sense of creative ownership. When you give people space, the meetings that do happen end up being genuinely useful, deeper, and more strategic.

Esme Greaves: I always try to schedule meetings early on so I can get in a flow state during the rest of that day. This works well, because if there are extras to work on, I can get them done while they’re fresh in my mind, and they usually don’t bleed into the next day. 

Tessa Sophie Huber: We come in at about 8:30 and always have coffee together in our tiny studio kitchen and chat about everything non-work related before we have our quick stand-up—we call it “cereals”. We try to get all the important stuff for the day out of the way in that first, short meeting, then we have what we call “silent hours” till about 11:00—no meetings and no e-mails, because a focused workflow in the morning is important to us.

Ayusha Dallakoti: I’m not a fan of a packed calendar. It overwhelms me and makes it harder to notice the truly important things. Still, I usually send a team message or email letting everyone know when I’m going into focus mode from this time to that time, and that they can text or call if something urgent comes up. It helps me set creative boundaries while keeping communication open.

It’s not always easy to feel confident doing this, but the only way to create structure around you is to start by creating structure for yourself. If blocking your calendar or announcing your focus time doesn’t feel natural, then try to find whatever does. Maybe it’s working from home on your creative days and saying no to meetings, or protecting the first few hours of your morning. Once you find your pattern, you’ll discover the rhythm that supports your best creative work.

Tools to stay in the loop with teams and clients

Tessa Sophie Huber: We mainly use Slack for our internal communication, with different channels for each project and topic. Slack works well for all non-time-sensitive information or feedback, with Figma and other apps integrated so we get it all in one place. This makes for an easy overview and gives us the opportunity to answer when it fits our workflow. Some channel-specific guidelines help keep it kind of organized, so it actually works as a tool and not a time waster.

In communication with clients, we stick to well-structured e-mails, because everyone can look up information anytime and avoid recurring questions. The occasional quick phone call helps to keep a personal touch. Also, we noticed that we tend to think more about what’s really necessary when writing an email than when, for example, shooting off a Slack message, followed by five more messages because you sent the first one without really thinking it through.

We also set up a project management document that we share with clients: it contains deadlines, to-do lists, and other important information. It makes it easier for them to have a clear overview of the status and everyone’s responsibilities. Honestly, client communication is never the same and never perfect—projects grow over time, and responsibilities or stakeholders shift. We just try to adapt and keep it honest and as clear as possible. 

Ayusha Dallakoti: If the team I’m working with uses Figma, I share a prototype there and gather feedback directly in the file. When that isn’t an option, I send end-of-sprint emails to collect everyone’s thoughts. As the project gets closer to a deadline, especially when the team grows, I like to introduce a quick 15-minute daily check-in. It’s a moment to confirm that everything’s on track, surface any questions, giving the rest of the day back to me.

Lino Di Maio: Internally, the team works in a shared physical space, allowing us to keep calls to a minimum. When we work remotely, we rely on fast communication tools like WhatsApp, where we have a studio group, or Figma and its comment system. Additionally, we have a “start the day meeting” to kick things off.

Esme Greaves: I’m a big fan of Figma, where ideas can be shared in real time without having to review work in chunks. When it comes to more formed ideas and work created with Adobe Suite, mockups, and options, I use the Figma presentation feature, where the client can view designs in real time and add comments where applicable. Obviously, this has drawbacks in that the original files would still need to be shared in Photoshop, Illustrator, or After Effects. Although not totally foolproof, it works for me as a small studio owner working with smaller-scale clients. When my workload grows, I might need to rethink this, but for now it works a treat.

Readymag also has collaboration features that make it easier to stay aligned. You can invite teammates to work on a project with you and bring a client in to follow the process. There’s also a built-in comments tool that lets you leave notes anywhere on the layout, talk through ideas with collaborators, or jot down quick thoughts for yourself while you’re working. Comments can include both text and images, so everything stays in one place.