Creative projects demand proper team coordination, innovation, and flexibility while ensuring no deadlines are missed.
These projects involve people across many roles, such as designers, copywriters, and more, who follow an iterative creative process. Some like to have all their action items listed on a to-do list. Others prefer to visualize their work on a Kanban board or see their deliverables in a calendar view to plan their tasks accordingly.
Add a few (or many) stakeholders to the mix, and you have the perfect recipe for creative chaos.
With the help of creative project management software, you can not just cater to the diverse needs of your creative teams but also plan and track all your projects effectively while keeping all stakeholders aligned and updated.
To help you pick the best tool, we have compiled a list of the top 10 creative workflow software options. We’ll explore their key features, pricing structures, and user reviews to help you find the best creative project management solution for your creative project.
10 Creative Workflow Software for Managing Projects in 2024
Summarize this article for me pleaseWhat Should You Look for in Creative Workflow Software?
Creative project management software is designed specifically for the needs of your creative teams, including marketing, content creation, and sales, or creative agencies involved in managing complex creative projects in marketing, branding, advertising, publishing, etc.
Choosing the ideal creative project management software for your unique team is about understanding their requirements. For instance, marketing teams require good content workflow software to help them create, schedule, and manage content effectively at every stage.
Overall, there are some features that all creative workflow software should have to ensure that users can be creative without compromising on efficient project management. Here are some of the must-have features:
- Customization: Look for creative project management software that can be tailored to your unique requirements. This includes custom fields, statuses, and views that perfectly reflect your workflow
- Collaboration: The key to a successful project is team collaboration. Ensure that you choose a project management tool that makes it easy for your teams to brainstorm and collaborate, with real-time communication features like chat, whiteboard, live-access documents, and more
- Visual organization: The best creative workflow software empowers visual thinking. Look for project management tools offering various visualization options like Kanban boards, mind maps, and whiteboards. This enables your teams to get a clear picture of the project
- Progress tracking: Opt for creative project management tools that give you the ability to track the progress of various projects through dashboards that summarize data to give quick overviews
- Integrations: Your chosen platform should be able to integrate with your existing infrastructure and apps. This will ensure that the data that you are working on is always up-to-date, and there is no need for manual updates or data transfer from other apps or tools into the platform
- Scalability: A good creative management platform should have scalable features that can handle even your most complex projects down the line
Opt for the creative project management platform that addresses all your needs, and you’ll excel at creative project planning.
Summarize this article for me pleaseThe 10 Best Creative Workflow Software to Use in 2024
Now that you know what to look for, let’s explore the top 10 creative workflow software options for 2024.
1. ClickUp
ClickUp is an all-in-one productivity platform that can help you plan, organize, and collaborate on your creative process. This project management tool has 15+ customizable views, such as List, Board, or Calendar, that help your creative teams schedule and track their activities efficiently.
Creative teams can ideate and execute creative concepts using ClickUp’s collaborative Whiteboards and Docs and securely share them with stakeholders. With customizable ClickUp Dashboards for tracking team activities and goals, creatives can focus more on the work and less on progress updates.
Going beyond simple task management, ClickUp offers powerful tools specifically designed to fuel creative collaboration.
For instance, creative teams can use the proofing capability in ClickUp to review design mockups, videos, contracts, images, etc., and provide feedback through comments on the file. It helps streamline the creative review process.
With ClickUp, you can eliminate silos and consolidate all your tools into a single platform. Integrations with tools like Figma, Vimeo, and Slack help keep all work in one place. You can even simplify repetitive tasks and projects by automating workflows based on specific events and user actions, helping you improve the efficiency of workflow management.
You can also utilize ClickUp Brain to save time and effort by using its AI tools to create blog outlines and content briefs, generate action items, tasks, and subtasks based on your meeting notes, share project updates automatically, etc.
ClickUp also saves you time and effort with its ready-to-use workflow templates that help your teams hit the ground running. For instance, the ClickUp Creative and Design Workflow Template helps you plan and organize creative projects, establish and track deadlines and milestones, and work collaboratively with teammates on tasks.
Use the ClickUp Project Plan Template to establish team deliverables and break them into tasks, communicate goals, and track and share the team’s progress all in one place. It helps you have a clear roadmap for the project, and ensures that all stakeholders are on the same page. It comes with four custom views including Timeline and Project Board, for easy tracking.
ClickUp’s Creative Project Timeline Template is the perfect tool for any creative project. This template helps you:
- Visualize your entire project timeline, from concept to completion
- Track and manage progress in real time with flexible views for each stage
- Organize tasks, resources, and team members with priority labels, comment reactions, and nested sub-tasks
ClickUp best features
- Collaborative documentation: Create and store your project documents, such as creative briefs, brand guidelines, SOPs, etc., with cloud-based collaborative ClickUp Docs
- Goal setting: Set realistic goals and visualize your projects in one place with ClickUp Goals to stay on track and hit your project objectives
- Collective ideation: Collaborate and brainstorm with your creative teams using virtual ClickUp Whiteboards to ideate, create plans, build workflow diagrams, design mockups, and map ideas to tasks. This helps to foster open communication and ensure that everyone is on the same page
- Improving efficiency with AI: Use ClickUp Brain’s AI power to help you with your creative tasks, such as pulling information from your Tasks and Docs, writing briefs, creating project updates, or generating action items and assigning tasks using your meeting notes
- Progress overviews: Visually track project progress with customizable ClickUp Dashboards, to which you can add widgets for everything from team workload to time tracking and more
- Editorial control: Efficiently review, annotate, and approve mockups, videos, and designs with ClickUp’s proofing capabilities and secure sharing features
ClickUp limitations
- Can be a little intimidating at first due to its many features, but it is user-friendly
- The mobile app may not have as many features as the desktop version
ClickUp pricing
- Free Forever
- Unlimited: $7/month per user
- Business: $12/month per user
- Enterprise: Contact for pricing
- ClickUp Brain: Available on all paid plans for $5 per Workspace member per month
ClickUp ratings and reviews
- G2: 4.7/5 (9,000+ reviews)
- Capterra: 4.7/5 (4,000+ reviews)
2. Bynder
Bynder is a digital asset management (DAM) system that offers project management functionalities alongside robust creative workflow tools. This enables you to streamline content creation and organization, creative project management, resource utilization, workflow optimization, and more.
Bynder best features
- Store, organize, and access all your creative assets–from marketing collateral to design files–in one central location
- Maintain brand consistency by creating and sharing brand guidelines and style guides within Bynder
- Keep everyone on the same page with collaboration tools and features like version control, in-app proofing, and task assignments
Bynder limitations
- Complex pricing structure, especially for those looking for a simple creative project management platform
- May not have project management features to match those of dedicated workflow software solutions
Bynder pricing
- Custom pricing
Bynder ratings and reviews
- G2: 4.5/5 (600+ reviews)
- Capterra: 4.4/5 (200+ reviews)
3. FigJam
FigJam is an online whiteboard for teams powered by the creators of Figma, a well-known design creation and management tool. This real-time collaboration tool helps you with multiple creative deliverables and managing design projects, including brainstorming, diagramming, creating agile workflows, strategic planning, and more.
FigJam best features
- Manage design projects seamlessly using 300+ ready-made project templates
- Work collaboratively with your creative team on the same design file simultaneously, enabling faster iteration cycles
- Create interactive prototypes to test and refine your designs before development using built-in prototyping features
FigJam limitations
- Limited project management functionalities outside of design tasks
- The free plan restricts features and file storage
FigJam pricing
- Starter: Free
- Professional: $3/month (billed annually)
- Organization: $5/month (billed annually)
- Enterprise: $5/month (billed annually)
FigJam ratings and reviews
- G2: 4.5/5 (400+ reviews)
- Capterra: Not enough reviews
4. Robohead
Robohead is a work management platform designed for creative and marketing agencies. It provides insight into project health and priority, enabling creative teams to track time, manage projects and tasks, allocate resources, and more.
Robohead best features
- Streamline repetitive tasks with Robohead’s automation engine to automatically send client approval requests or assign work based on deadlines
- Manage your team’s workload and identify potential bottlenecks with Robohead’s resource management tools
- Gain valuable insights into project performance with its reporting and analytics features
- Track project progress, identify areas for improvement, and demonstrate ROI to clients
Robohead limitations
- May have a steeper learning curve compared to some other options
- Interface might feel cluttered for smaller teams
Robohead pricing
- Custom pricing
Robohead ratings and reviews
- G2: 4.3/5 (77 reviews)
- Capterra: 4.6/5 (149 reviews)
5. Krock.io
Krock.io is a creative collaboration and video review software primarily focused on creative agencies that do lots of work in animation or video production. The tool allows you to collaborate on video and animation projects, with features like video templates, comments, version history, and task assignments all in one place.
Krockio best features
- Visually organize and share ideas and inspiration with mood boards and image collections
- Enable real-time client feedback and team collaboration on videos and animation projects with annotation and comments and the ability to assign tasks
- Get a jumpstart on your creative projects with pre-built templates specifically designed for everyday creative tasks like social media campaigns or website launches
Krockio limitations
- Limited customization options compared to some more robust project management platforms
- May not be ideal for large creative teams or complex creative project management requirements
Krockio pricing
- Free Plan
- Pro: $15/month per user
- Team: $50/month per user
Krockio ratings and reviews
- G2: 4.8/5 (Not enough reviews)
- Capterra: 5/5 (Not enough reviews)
6. Quip
Quip is a document and spreadsheet management tool that combines all your organization’s documents, sheets, and chats into one place inside Salesforce. Thus, your creative teams can collaborate on specific projects, track processes, and optimize design projects.
Quip best features
- Improve team collaboration by editing documents and spreadsheets simultaneously, leading to faster iteration cycles
- Connect your essential apps, such as Slack, Jira, etc. with Quip for better productivity
- Access and update Salesforce data directly within Quip documents, eliminating the need for switching between platforms
- Keep your sensitive customer data secure with user permissions, content security controls, and disaster recovery practices
Quip limitations
- May lack some advanced project management features compared to dedicated workflow software solutions
- It is only suitable for Salesforce users
Quip pricing
- Quip Starter: $10/month per user (billed annually)
- Quip Plus: $25/month per user (billed annually)
- Quip Advanced: $100/month per user (billed annually)
Quip ratings and reviews
- G2: 4.2/5 (1000+ reviews)
- Capterra: 4.4/5 (199 reviews)
7. Kantata
Kantata is a cloud-based project lifecycle management software ideal for professional service teams looking to collaborate on real time on projects. It offers all the features of project management, financial and resource management, team collaboration, and workflow creation in a single tool.
Kantata best features
- Optimize team schedules and avoid conflicts with Kantata’s resource management and scheduling tools
- Streamline client approval processes with built-in traffic management and approval workflows
- Track project budgets, monitor progress, and generate reports to gain valuable insights into project performance
Kantata limitations
- May be less user-friendly for teams unfamiliar with project management terminology
Kantata pricing
- Custom pricing
Kantata ratings and reviews
- G2: 4.2/5 (1300+ reviews)
- Capterra: 4.2/5 (600+ reviews)
8. Brandfolder
Brandfolder is an intuitive Digital Asset Management software by Smartsheet that helps marketers and creatives manage and distribute their digital assets. The primary focus of this tool is to optimize design processes and make it easy to share design assets safely with advanced privacy controls.
It has all the usual features of creative project management software, so you can create custom workflows, manage creative teams, and collaborate on specific projects and activities.
Brandfolder best features
- Organize, store, and share all your brand assets—from logos and brand guides to marketing materials—in a central, easily accessible location
- Ensure brand consistency by tracking changes and collaborating on assets seamlessly with version control and user permission features
- Distribute and manage brand assets across various channels while maintaining brand compliance with Brandfolder’s approval workflows and usage tracking tools
Brandfolder limitations
- May lack some advanced project management features compared to dedicated workflow software solutions
- The user interface might be less intuitive for those unfamiliar with DAM systems
Brandfolder pricing
- Premium: Custom pricing
- Enterprise: Custom pricing
Brandfolder ratings and reviews
- G2: 4.5/5 (1200+ reviews)
- Capterra: 4.7/5 (442 reviews)
9. Marq
Marq is a brand enablement platform that allows you to create, customize, and share branded content with your audience. It also turns any design into a branded template for your teams, enabling them to customize the content to your brand guidelines and collaborate on it across your organization.
The platform also has features similar to other creative project management tools, including team management, creative automation, content creation workflow management, and resource planning.
Marq best features
- Organize projects visually using mood boards, Kanban boards, and calendars within dedicated creative workspaces.
- Design and create branded content easily using ready-to-use templates that you can personalize to your brand standards, using features like image editing, text formatting, and prototyping directly within the platform.
- Get seamless client feedback and approval with annotation tools and version control features.
Marq limitations
- Limited features for creative project management and project planning, as its primary focus is on design rather than task management or being a project management platform
Marq pricing
- Free plan
- Pro: $12/month per user
- Team: $12/month per 2 users
- Enterprise: Custom pricing
Marq ratings and reviews
- G2: 4.4/5 (207 reviews)
- Capterra: 4.6/5 (279 reviews)
10. Flow
Flow is a creative workflow design software that integrates your tasks, projects, timelines, and conversations into a single platform. Designed for creative agencies and marketing teams, it combines unique project management features with creative workflows.
You can create and track projects, plan tasks, and brainstorm with creative professionals on the same platform.
Flow best features
- Automate repetitive tasks like sending approval requests or assigning work based on deadlines using automated workflows
- Visualize project progress and key metrics with customizable dashboards that display the information most relevant to your team
- Streamline communication and collaboration with built-in chat and real-time proofing tools
Flow limitations
- Lacks advanced reporting and analytics features compared to some of its peers
- The interface can feel overwhelming for new teams, especially if they haven’t used any traditional project management tools
Flow pricing
- Basic: $8/month per user
- Plus: $12/month per user
- Pro: $18/month per user
Flow ratings and reviews
- G2: 4.3/5 (54 reviews)
- Capterra: 4.5/5 (100+ reviews)
Summarize this article for me pleaseLeverage ClickUp for Your Creative Project Planning
Creative workflow software should help you manage creative projects, track progress, and support the creative process. It should also allow your creative team to work efficiently with other team members and offer seamless integration with their preferred creative software.
Deciding on the best project management software for your team depends on your team’s specific needs and budget. When deciding, consider factors like project complexity, team size, preferred features, and budget.
If you have yet to pick a creative workflow software, try ClickUp. This creative project management software provides all the features to help creative teams improve productivity and speed up project delivery.
With the ClickUp platform for creative agencies, you can do everything from building an automated workflow to tracking financial performance in one project management system.
Be it project tracking, managing creative project timelines, or project planning, ClickUp is the one solution for all your creative agency requirements.
Sign up for ClickUp today and unlock next-level productivity and efficiency for your creative agency.
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