How to Customize Your Asana Workspace for FUN and SEAMLESS Planning

I’ve been using Asana for years to run my business and help my clients organize their operations, and let me tell you: adding visual and playful elements can help with how you feel about your daily tasks.

For example, when I revamped my business hub in Asana with emojis, board covers, and color-coded sections, planning just became more enjoyable.

Today, I’m showing you how to make your work in Asana more visual and fun with simple additions!

Either keep reading or watch the video below:

Let’s dive into how to make work more visual and fun in Asana.

Visuals in the Board View

If you are a visual person but haven't played around with Asana's board view, it's time to give it a try.

Board view is great for creating a more visual representation of your tasks. Instead of a long list, you see your work laid out in columns, like a digital Kanban board.

Here’s an example: I use board view to manage my content calendar. Each column represents a stage of the process, from “Ideas” to “In Progress” to “Published.” When I’m planning content, I can see everything at a glance and quickly move tasks through the workflow.

One of my favorite ways to make Asana more visual is by adding custom covers to tasks. These covers can include images representing the work or covers for the entire section.

For example, when I'm creating content for YouTube, I always attach my thumbnail to the task that represents the appropriate video. This makes it easier to identify the different videos I'm working on, and makes it a much more visual experience.

And when it comes to section board covers, I like to design branded images that clearly and visually show the different sections. You can drag and drop any image into any Asana task and then navigate to the board view and it will automatically show up.

If this sounds like something you want to try out, all of my templates now come with these covers, so if you’re using one of my Asana systems, you’re already a step ahead! I've created board section covers for you to either use as is or easily customize to match your brand colours.

Add Emojis to Sections

Emojis might seem small, but they can make a big impact when it comes to making your workspace more fun. Use them in task titles, section headers, and project names to add personality and context.

For instance, you could use a lightbulb emoji for ideation sections, a calendar emoji for scheduled tasks, and a sparkles emoji for projects that are in a growth phase.

It’s a simple way to make everything feel less formal and more exciting. And really helps if you are the type to process better with visuals.

Here’s a tip: If you’re managing a team in the free version of Asana, since you don't have access to custom fields, you can use emojis to indicate task priority or status. For example, you could use a fire emoji (🔥) for urgent tasks or a party popper emoji (🎉) for celebratory milestones.

Collaboration in Asana doesn’t have to be boring either and can be made more fun with visuals. Use task comments to leave feedback or share ideas, hit the heart icon to celebrate someone’s hard work, and don't forget to use Asana's appreciation stickers too!

You can even encourage your team to add GIFs in comments to make your communication more lively!

Colour-Code Your Workspace

Colour coding is a game-changer for visual organization. In Asana, you can assign colors to projects or tags to make it easier to differentiate between them at a glance.

For instance, you can use green for client work, blue for internal projects, and yellow for personal tasks. This way, when these tasks pop up on your My Tasks, you can easily know where to focus your energy.

If you're on a paid Asana plan, you can add even more colours with custom fields.

Create Visual Workflows with Sections and Dividers

Another way to add structure and clarity is by using sections in your projects. Think of these as visual checkpoints that guide you through your work, or categories for organizing your tasks.

For example, in my client management template for coaches, some of the sections are "Ongoing Tasks," "Initial Session", and "Offboarding."

Each section has its own set of tasks, and as you move through the workflow, you can visually track your progress. You can get this template and many more in my Asana Essentials toolkit, which you can check out here.

From board view to custom covers to emojis, these tweaks can completely change how you experience your tasks and projects.