Here’s something most designers won’t admit: we spend more time on busywork than actual design.
Removing backgrounds. Resizing for seventeen platforms. Creating fifty color variations. Manual mockups.
The average designer loses 5-10 hours weekly to repetitive tasks. That’s a full workday gone.
Make.com fixes this. It’s a visual automation platform connecting your design tools—no coding required. Better yet? It has ready-to-use templates you can customize in minutes.
Below are five high-impact automations with direct template links. These aren’t theoretical—they’re proven blueprints working designers use right now.
#1: Auto-Remove Image Backgrounds in Bulk
Difficulty: Very Easy (One-Click Setup)
Time Saved: 4-5 hours per project
Perfect For: Product photographers, e-commerce designers, photo editors
The Problem
You’ve got 50 product photos. Each one needs a transparent background. Manual process: open Photoshop, select subject, refine edges, export. Repeat 49 more times.
At 5 minutes per image, that’s 4+ hours of mind-numbing work. And if you’re working with e-commerce, you might have hundreds of SKUs.
The Solution
Upload images to Google Drive or Dropbox. Make.com automatically removes backgrounds and saves cleaned files back to your cloud storage.
The Workflow:
- Trigger: New image uploaded to “Products – Raw” folder
- Action 1: Picsart or Remove.bg automatically removes background
- Action 2: Processed image saved to “Products – Clean” folder
- Action 3: (Optional) Notification sent when batch is complete
You upload 50 images before lunch. By the time you’re back, all 50 have clean, transparent backgrounds waiting in your output folder.
Create separate folders for “people photos” and “product photos” with different automation scenarios. People photos often need softer edge feathering, while product shots work better with hard edges. Running them through different scenarios with optimized settings produces better results than one-size-fits-all processing.
Real-World Application
- E-commerce teams processing product photos for online stores
- Print-on-demand designers preparing designs for mockups
- Marketing agencies creating consistent visual assets
- Freelancers offering product photo editing as a service
#2: Batch Resize Images for All Social Platforms
Difficulty: Easy
Time Saved: 2-3 hours per campaign
Perfect For: Social media designers, marketers, agencies
The Problem
You’ve designed one perfect image. Now you need it in:
- Instagram Feed (1080×1080)
- Instagram Story (1080×1920)
- Facebook (1200×630)
- LinkedIn (1200×627)
- Twitter/X (1200×675)
- Pinterest (1000×1500)
Manually resizing means opening each file, changing dimensions, checking that nothing got cropped weird, exporting, repeating. 20-30 minutes per design, and if you’re running multi-platform campaigns, that’s 2-3 hours per week minimum.
The Solution
Upload one master image. Make.com creates every size variation you need automatically.
The Workflow:
- Trigger: New image uploaded to “Master Assets” folder
- Action 1: Loop through predefined size array (all platform specs)
- Action 2: Resize image for each platform specification
- Action 3: Save each version with platform name in filename
- Action 4: Organize into platform-specific folders
- Image Tool Integration – Use “Resize an Image” module
- Mallabe Images Integration – Resize/Scale module
- Picsart Integration – Includes resize capabilities
Note: There’s no pre-made template for this one, but building it is straightforward using Make.com’s iterator/loop function.
Don’t just resize—add platform-specific safe zones to your automation. Instagram Stories need content away from top/bottom edges (where UI elements sit). LinkedIn prefers more whitespace. Build these rules into your automation so resized images aren’t just the right dimensions—they’re optimized for each platform’s visual guidelines.
Real-World Application
- Social media managers publishing consistent content across platforms
- Agencies managing multiple client campaigns simultaneously
- Freelance designers offering social media packages
- Marketing teams scaling content production
#3: Auto-Generate Product Mockups
Difficulty: Easy to Moderate
Time Saved: 30-45 minutes per mockup set
Perfect For: Logo designers, brand designers, freelancers
The Problem
You’ve designed a killer logo. Now you need to show clients how it looks on business cards, t-shirts, coffee mugs, letterhead, and signage.
Manual process: open mockup template, replace placeholder, adjust positioning, export. Repeat for every mockup type. 30-45 minutes per set, and if you’re doing multiple brand variations, this time multiplies fast.
The Solution
Store your designs in Google Sheets (or Airtable). Bannerbear automatically generates mockups and saves them to Google Drive or Dropbox.
The Workflow:
- Trigger: New row added to “Client Mockups” spreadsheet
- Action 1: Bannerbear retrieves logo from URL or storage
- Action 2: Applies logo to predefined mockup templates
- Action 3: Generates all mockup variations
- Action 4: Uploads finished mockups to client folder
- Action 5: (Optional) Sends notification when mockups are ready
- Create Bannerbear images from Google Sheets
- Upload Bannerbear images to Google Drive
- Upload Bannerbear images to Dropbox
- Bannerbear Integration Hub (Create custom mockup templates)
Create a “mockup library” spreadsheet with different mockup sets for different project types. Logo projects get the full suite (cards, letterhead, signage). Social media branding gets device mockups (phone, laptop, tablet). This way, you can trigger the exact mockup set you need just by selecting a project type in your spreadsheet.
Real-World Application
- Logo designers presenting brand identity concepts to clients
- Freelancers building impressive portfolio pieces
- Agencies showing clients real-world applications before final delivery
- Brand designers validating how logos perform across different media
#4: Create Canva Designs from Spreadsheet Data
Difficulty: Moderate
Time Saved: 5-6 hours per batch
Perfect For: Social media managers, agencies, anyone doing repetitive designs
The Problem
You need to create 50 social media posts. Same template, different content for each one:
- Monday Motivation quotes (30 variations)
- Product spotlight posts (20 different products)
- Team member features (15 employees)
Manual process: open Canva, duplicate template, change text, change image, export. Repeat 49 times. This takes 5-6 hours minimum.
The Solution
List all your content in a Google Sheet (quotes, product names, images, etc.). Make.com automatically generates a unique Canva design for each row, then saves all finished designs to Google Drive.
The Workflow:
- Trigger: Google Sheet updated with content data
- Action 1: Loop through each spreadsheet row
- Action 2: Create new Canva design from template
- Action 3: Replace text placeholders with spreadsheet content
- Action 4: Replace image placeholders with linked images
- Action 5: Export finished design
- Action 6: Upload to Google Drive with descriptive filename
- Create Canva designs with Google Sheets + upload to Google Drive ⭐ Most Popular
- Canva Integration Hub (Build custom workflows)
This is Make.com’s most popular design automation for a reason—it solves batch creation like nothing else.
Use Google Sheets formulas to generate variations automatically. For example, if you’re creating quote graphics, use formulas to randomize background colors from a preset palette, or rotate through different font styles. This adds visual variety to your batch without manual design work, making your 50 posts look less “templated.”
Real-World Application
- Social media teams maintaining consistent daily posting
- Agencies managing multiple client social calendars efficiently
- E-commerce businesses creating product feature posts at scale
- Course creators generating lesson graphics in bulk
#5: Generate Design Concepts with AI
Difficulty: Easy
Time Saved: 2-3 hours per concept phase
Perfect For: All designers looking for inspiration and rapid concepting
The Problem
You’re staring at a blank canvas. Client wants “something fresh” for their summer campaign. You spend 2-3 hours browsing Pinterest, creating mood boards, sketching rough concepts, and trying different directions.
Creative block is real, and the early concept phase burns significant time even for experienced designers.
The Solution
Describe what you need (or pull prompts from a spreadsheet). OpenAI’s DALL-E or Midjourney generates visual concepts automatically. Images are saved to Google Drive, ready for refinement.
The Workflow:
- Trigger: New row in “Design Briefs” Google Sheet or manual trigger
- Action 1: Send design brief/prompt to AI image generator
- Action 2: Generate multiple concept variations
- Action 3: Upload all generated images to project folder
- Action 4: (Optional) Create Instagram post draft for client preview
Don’t just generate one image per prompt—use Make.com’s iterator to generate 4-6 variations with slightly different prompts. For example, if you’re creating a beach scene, generate variations with “golden hour lighting,” “overcast moody,” “vibrant saturated colors,” and “minimalist composition.” This gives you a range of visual directions to explore without spending hours manually creating each one.
Real-World Application
- Designers beating creative block with rapid visual exploration
- Agencies presenting multiple concept directions faster
- Marketing teams generating campaign visuals for A/B testing
- Solo freelancers competing with larger studios by producing more concepts
Getting Started in 30 Minutes
All these templates sound great, but here’s what matters: getting your first automation running today.
Step 1: Pick Template #1 (Background Removal) – It’s the easiest and delivers the most obvious time savings.
Step 2: Sign up for Make.com – Go to Make.com. Free plan includes 1,000 operations/month (plenty for testing). No credit card required.
Step 3: Connect your tools – Link your Google Drive or Dropbox, connect Picsart or Remove.bg (both have free tiers).
Step 4: Use the template – Click the template link, hit “Create New Scenario from Template,” customize folder names, save and activate.
Step 5: Test it – Upload 3-5 sample images, watch the automation run, check your output folder.
Make.com Basics in Plain English
Scenarios = Your automated workflows. Think of it like a recipe: when this happens, do these steps.
Triggers = What starts everything (file uploaded, new spreadsheet row, scheduled time, manual button).
Actions = What happens next (resize image, remove background, save to folder, send notification).
Modules = Individual steps you drag onto your canvas and connect visually.
It’s all drag-and-drop. No programming required. If you can use Canva, you can use Make.com.
What You Actually Get Back
Let’s do the math based on these five automations:
- Background Removal: 4 hours saved per project
- Batch Resize: 2 hours saved per campaign
- Product Mockups: 30 minutes saved per mockup set
- Canva Batch Creation: 5 hours saved per batch
- AI Concept Generation: 2 hours saved per concept phase
If you implement just three of these (#1, #4, #5), you’re saving 11+ hours per week. That’s more than a full workday.
- Take on another client (more revenue)
- Finally build that portfolio site you’ve been putting off
- Spend less time working evenings and weekends
- Learn a new design skill
- Actually take your lunch break
Your Next Step
You’ve read this far, which means you’re interested. Here’s what to do next:
- Open Make.com right now
- Sign up (2 minutes, no credit card needed)
- Click the Background Removal template link from #1 above
- Connect your Google Drive (5 minutes)
- Upload 3 test images and watch the magic happen
Automation doesn’t replace your design skills—it eliminates the busywork so you can use those skills on things that matter.
The templates are linked above. The free account is waiting. Start with one template and 30 minutes. Six months from now, you’ll wonder why you didn’t start sooner.
