Run a client job in Studio from brief to delivery
Studio keeps each client job in one place: the brief, references, directions, the key visual and its formats, review rounds and the final files. Here is how a job moves through it.
Beginner4 min readUpdated 25 September 2026Studio
On this page
Studio is where a client job lives. The Editor is where you make the design; Studio holds everything around it: what the client asked for, what you are looking at, which idea they picked, what they said about each version and which files you handed over. Read this first if you do client work, so you know which tab does what before you start.
What is on the Studio home screen
Open Studio and you see your jobs, most recently changed first. Each row shows the client, the job name, its status, the one thing to do next and the earliest due date (or the last change, if nothing has a due date). The first reference you added becomes the row's picture.
- Start a job makes a new, empty job and opens it on the Brief tab.
- Find a job or client and the status filters (All, Direction, Design, Review, Delivered) appear once you have more than five jobs. Until then there is nothing to search.
- Client brands opens your saved brands. See Save client brands and reuse them.
- Brand guideline builder opens the guideline tool. See Build a brand guideline.
The six steps of a job
Inside a job, the tabs run in the order the work does. A tick on a tab means that step has something in it; the current tab is white. You can jump to any tab at any time, nothing is locked.
| Tab | What you do there | Ticked when |
|---|---|---|
| Brief | Paste the client's words, check what Studio read from them, list the formats you owe, pick the client's brand | There is a brief |
| References | Drop in images, read their colour, light, composition and lettering, take a look to reuse | There is at least one reference |
| Directions | Sort references, notes, swatches and type into two or three ideas, present them, record which one the client chose | One direction exists, or one of several is chosen |
| Key visual | Design one hero in the Editor, then build every format from it | The key visual exists and every format is marked done |
| Review | Save versions, pin the client's comments, turn their reply into a checklist, compare, make mockups | A version is set to Approved |
| Deliver | Render every format at full size, named and zipped, with print PDFs set up for the printer | The package has been built |
Status: direction, design, review, delivered
A job's status moves forward by itself as you work, so you never have to set it by hand:
- Direction: every new job starts here.
- Design: when you mark a direction with Client chose this one, or when you start the key visual.
- Review: when you save the first version on the Review tab.
- Delivered: when you press Build the package on the Deliver tab.
Setting a version to Approved on the Review tab also sets the job to Review, even after delivery, so an approval never goes unnoticed. Saving a new version after delivery leaves the status as it is; use the version status (Draft, Sent, Changes asked, Approved) to track that round.
The Next button
At the bottom of a job there is a Next bar that names the single most useful thing to do, such as Paste the brief, Add references, Set a direction, Pick a direction, Start the key visual, Add the formats, Send for review, a count like 2 formats to build, or Ready to deliver. Press it to jump to the right tab. The same label shows on the job's row on the home screen, so the list doubles as a to-do list. The bar hides when you are already on that tab, and once the job is delivered.
How Studio and the Editor pass work
Studio never edits pixels itself. When you start the key visual, open a direction as a board, or apply a reference's look to a photo, Studio opens the Editor with the work already in it. The key visual design remembers its job: the Editor's Brief panel shows the brief as a checklist, checks the design against the job's brand, and has a Back to the job in Studio button that saves and returns you to the job.
Studio reads the Editor design straight from this device to draw thumbnails, review images and delivery files, so what you deliver is exactly what you designed. If you come back to Studio in the same tab after working in the Editor, it picks up the latest save when the tab becomes visible. For more on the handoff, see Move work between tools.
Good to know
- Jobs are saved in this browser as you type, a moment after you stop. Nothing is uploaded and there is no account. See Where your designs are saved.
- The client and job name at the top of a job are editable fields. Until you rename it, the job takes its name from the headline Studio reads in the brief.
- Deleting a job removes its references, directions and versions. The Editor designs it made stay in the Editor.
- A link from the Editor back to a job only works on the device and browser where the job was made. Anywhere else Studio says That job is not on this device.