Google Drawings joined Google’s arsenal about a week and a half ago. I played around with it, and things look promising. Not much for designers looking for a spit shine polish, but I’ve got to say, Google Drawings looks like a great tool for banging out quick charts, diagrams, and layouts. A few features caught my attention:
- download drawings as image files (png, jpg, svg, pdf)
- copy to web clipboard (I tried this, and it works just fine between the drawing and a new Google Doc)
- send drawings via email
- share the drawing, then collaborate and chat while editing
Here’s a few screenshots of Google Drawings in action:
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- Google Drawings: Web clipboard
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- Google Drawings: Using web clipboard with Google Docs
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- Google Drawings: Add text to shapes
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- Google Drawings: Rotate shapes and images
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- Google Drawings: Available shapes
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- Google Drawings: Sweater vest sales cycle
For all of you designers, I’d definitely check out Morten Just’s wireframe kit for Google Drawings. Morten feels Google Drawings beats Visio and Omnigraffle, and I’m inclined to agree. There are more robust online diagram tools, but if you’re already entrenched in Google’s services, Google Drawings will fit right into your workflow.
One word of caution… it could just be me, but after I tried the web clipboard feature on a slower desktop, Firefox went berserk with the CPU. Closed all tabs with Google Docs / Drawings, and all was back to normal.
