Workflow Template

Design Approval Workflow

Manages design submissions from a creative team through review, revision loops, and final approval or rejection before publication. Designers submit designs for review, reviewers check them against brief and brand guidelines, and approved designs are handed to the publishing team.

Creative teams often lose track of which design version a reviewer is looking at, and feedback gets buried in email threads. This workflow gives designers a request form to submit work, routes it to a reviewer who checks it against the brief and brand guidelines, and manages revision loops until the design is approved or rejected. Reviewers, designers and the publishing team each get their own tasks, and the record's timeline keeps a history of every version and decision.

Business Outcomes

Helps reduce time lost tracking design versions across email
Makes revision cycles easier to follow with status updates at each stage
Supports faster handoff to the publishing team once a design is approved
Gives designers a clear reference number and status instead of chasing updates
Helps keep review feedback and decisions attached to the record for later reference

Workflow Steps

Steps

1
Create Design Submission Recordcreate record
Registers the submitted design as a record.
2
Set Status to Submittedupdate record
Marks the design record as Submitted.
3
Send Acknowledgement Emailsend email
Emails the designer an acknowledgement with their reference number.
4
Set Status to In Reviewupdate record
Marks the design record as In Review.
5
Reviewer: Review Designcreate task
Assigns a reviewer to check the design against the brief and brand guidelines and record a decision.
6
Save Review Outcomeupdate record
Persists the reviewer's decision and feedback to the record.
7
Route on Review Decision
Branches the workflow based on the reviewer's decision.
review_decision: "Approved"→Set Status to Approved
review_decision: "Changes requested"→Set Status to Changes Requested
review_decision: "Rejected"→Set Status to Rejected
Default→End
8
Set Status to Changes Requestedupdate record
Marks the design record as Changes Requested.
9
Designer: Revise Designcreate task
Gives the designer a task to review feedback and upload a revised design with a new version number.
10
Save Revised Designupdate record
Persists the revised design file and version number to the record.
11
Set Status back to In Reviewupdate record
Marks the design record as In Review again ahead of re-review.
12
Restart Review Cyclerestart from step
Restarts the workflow from the review task so the revised design is re-reviewed.
13
Set Status to Rejectedupdate record
Marks the design record as Rejected.
14
Send Rejection Emailsend email
Emails the designer the feedback explaining the rejection.
15
Set Status to Approvedupdate record
Marks the design record as Approved.
16
Send Approval Emailsend email
Emails the designer to confirm the design has been approved.
17
Publishing Team: Publish Designcreate task
Creates a task for the publishing team to publish the approved version without waiting for completion.

Fields

Show all 12 fields

FormDesign Submission Form

Designer Name*· Text
Designer Email*· Email
Design Title*· Text
Brief Reference*· Text
Version*· Text
Channel / Use*· Text
Design File*· File upload

TaskReviewer: Review Design

Review Decision*· Choice
Reviewer Feedback*· Long text

TaskDesigner: Revise Design

Revised Design File*· File upload
New Version Number*· Text

Other fields

Design Status· Choice

Designer Name*
Designer Email*
Design Title*
Brief Reference*
Version*
Channel / Use*

Forms

Design Submission Form

7 fields

Data Views

Design Submissions

design_title, brief_reference, version, design_status

Dashboard Widgets

Designs by Status

Recommended integrations

Setup the following integrations to extend workflow capability.

Send email in the workflow
AWS SES

design approvalcreative approvaldesign reviewartwork approvalbrand approval

Similar Workflows

Creative Brief Workflow Marketing Content Approval Workflow Social Media Content Approval Workflow

Similar Categories

Marketing

FAQs

How do I set up this workflow for my creative team?

Publish the template to your workspace and it's ready to run immediately, no installation or development project needed. Share the public request form link with designers, or point them to it from wherever they currently submit design work. You can assign reviewers and publishing team members as workspace members once it's live.

How long does it take to get this workflow running?

Since it's a ready-to-use template, a workspace can publish it and start accepting design submissions within minutes. There's no build phase involved. Any adjustments to steps or wording can be made afterwards without disrupting submissions already in progress.

Can I customise the review criteria or add more reviewers?

Yes, you can describe the change you want in plain English or edit the steps directly in the workflow editor. Earlier versions of the workflow are kept, so you can see what changed over time. This makes it straightforward to add extra review steps or change who gets assigned the review task.

What happens when a reviewer requests changes?

The record status moves to Changes Requested and the designer gets a task to review the feedback and upload a revised file with a new version number. Once submitted, the record moves back to In Review and the workflow restarts the review step so the reviewer checks the new version. This loop can repeat as many times as needed until a final decision is made.

Do designers need an account to submit or revise designs?

No. Designers use the public request form to submit a design and receive task and status emails from the workflow. They never need to log in or create an account to take part in the review or revision process.

What does the designer see if their design is rejected?

If the reviewer's decision is Rejected, the record status is set to Rejected and the workflow sends the designer an email containing the reviewer's feedback explaining the decision. This gives the designer a clear record of why the design didn't proceed, saved on the record's timeline.

What happens after a design is approved?

The record status is set to Approved and the designer receives a confirmation email. The publishing team then gets a task to publish the approved version, and the workflow does not wait for that task to finish, so approvals aren't held up by publishing timelines.

Can I see the history of decisions and versions for a design?

Yes. Each design submission is a record with its own reference number, status and timeline showing what happened at each step, including review decisions, feedback and version numbers. Table views and dashboards let you see records grouped by status, such as In Review or Approved, across your team.

Ready to use this workflow?

Create a free account and customise this workflow for your business.