A creative project management software can not only increase your team’s creative thinking but helps make the process easy too.
Of course, being creative is a trait that can help you excel at any position in any company. Everyone appreciates the creative team and everything they come up with, but the process needs to be adequately managed to be more productive.
Fighting other creative agencies for clients, falling behind on deadlines, and struggling with administrative tasks are a few signs that you need more help than you are getting or that you are biting more than you can chew.
Managing the creative workflow or the entire creative agency can become overwhelming for anyone to do manually. Using creative management software and tools can make this task substantially more straightforward.
Creative management software can help take the burden off of you. You can use these tools to automate some administrative tasks, streamline work to meet deadlines, take the initiative to collaborate, impress clients, and do so much more.
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Table of Contents
What Is Creative Project Management?
As the name tells you, it is the management of creative projects such as advertising campaigns, marketing campaigns, web design, video production, and more. Although some aspects of creative and traditional project management are similar, there is a lot to distinguish between the two.
Creative project managers have to ensure the innovation is allowed to flow while the project’s brief is followed and delivered on time. It is more challenging to track the creative team’s progress compared to engineering or software development projects.
If done perfectly, creative project management aligns the customer’s needs with projects while allowing the team to develop new and exciting ideas and manage all the resources effectively. It is not easy to manage creative projects, even if you have an entire team for the job. The need for creative project management software is growing with each passing day.
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How Can Creative Project Management Software Help The Creative Agency Process?
There are numerous ways creative project management software can help you manage the workflow and creative process at work. Let’s have a look at some of the uses of creative approval software.
Approval and Proofing
Any creative agency needs to track numerous documents, and having software that allows them to proof and approves files in one place is essential. Teams can send comments and make edits without sharing documents back and forth on email or Slack.
External Users
For creative teams, they must have a platform to get external users involved with the process. For many projects, you need to get the approval and feedback of clients, and creative approval software can enable the external stakeholders to hop in and check the progress your team is making.
Integration For Creative Software
What sets creative project management software and tools apart from traditional PM tools is that they allow you to integrate other innovative software you need. Having integrations for Photoshop, Illustrator, InVision, and more can help your team immensely.
Time Tracking
Another important use of creative project management software is tracking your team’s time and resources spent on a project. It enables you to have a better idea of which process is taking up the most time and how you can improve your team’s efficiency. It is also vital to track the time you spend on a project for clients paying you hourly.
Document Tracking
From the conceptualization to the final approval, you can track the entire lifecycle of all your documents with creative project management tools. Ads, website design, marketing campaigns, you can track all your documents and files.
Benefits Of A Creative Project Management Software
Creative project management software and tools can provide you with countless opportunities to improve your results, making your task easier for you.
Here are some of the benefits of creative approval software.
- Collaboration and communication enable you to communicate with all the team members more efficiently and cut down on the long email chains between all the stakeholders.
- Time management – You can save time and make the process more efficient by tracking your team’s time on the project.
- Project budget allows you to check the project resources and where they are being spent, ensuring your team is on track and no resources are being wasted.
- Tracking the progress – You can see if anyone is going off-track, and warn them to ensure your team is productive and meeting deadlines.
- Planning projects – With the help of creative project management software, you can plan new projects quicker and with ease.
15 Top Creative Management Software And Tools
1. GoVisually
As one of the best creative approval software, GoVisually helps your team to collaborate and work effortlessly. You can use the tool to make your creative process more efficient and productive. With GoVisually, you can communicate with all the stakeholders on one platform and review and edit documents in real-time.
It is an excellent tool to track your team’s progress and the time they spend on all the various processes. It has a straightforward method for signing up, and you don’t need to be extra tech-savvy to use it. With the countless features provided by GoVisually, you will never have to use any other tool or software for managing your projects.
Key Features:
- Direct comments on the platform
- Efficient review process
- Video review available
- Option for private comments
- Creative asset management
- Real-time updates and edits
- Customizable dashboards
Pricing:
The solo option costs $20 per month, and the cost for a team account is $50 per month. If you add more than five people to your team, you must pay an additional $10 per person.
2. Monday
Monday is a highly versatile creative project management software that can help creative teams collaborate.
It enables you to manage tasks, creative assets, and workflow. You can use Monday to manage projects, track the time spent on various tasks, team collaboration, and much more.
Key Features:
- Drag and drop interface
- Ready-made templates for creative agencies
- Fast search engines
- Offline mode
- Integration with other creative software and applications
- Multiple viewing options
Pricing:
If you are just starting as a team, you can get the basic plan with limited features and $8 per month. There is another plan for $29 per month that offers numerous features fit for creative teams.
3. nTask
nTask provides creative teams with a simple platform to work on various projects and communicate seamlessly. It is an excellent innovative project management software to organize all your assets and designs.
nTask enables you to communicate with external stakeholders and share your progress. It provides you with a host of different features that make the process of project management easier for creative teams.
Key Features:
- Risk management
- Checklists
- Sorting and filtering options for all your data
- Time trackers and timesheets
- Integration with 1000+ applications
- Multiple-design workspaces
Pricing:
nTask has free plans available for teams with five or fewer members, individuals, and freelancers. It has three different plans for larger teams, with the most basic plan starting at $2.99 per month.
4. Infinity
Infinity has a unique structure that makes it one of the best creative project management software available for all teams. You can use it to manage a creative agency’s workflow and organize all the documents in a manner that makes it easy for you to find them.
With Infinity, you can access all the different tasks of your project from one workplace and keep a check on everything. It is a brilliant tool to help you visualize all your creative work and bring exciting ideas to life.
Key Features:
- Customize attributes given to all tasks
- Automate administrative tasks and reminders
- Manage tasks by prioritizing
- Track progress
- Collaborate with external stakeholders
- Numerous pre-made templates available for use
Pricing:
Infinity offers different prices for plans with a varying number of people in a team. Their most basic plan for a five-person team allows you to pay $149 as a one-time payment instead of making a payment every year.
5. Asana
With the help of Asana, you can be on top of all the creative projects and tasks. It enables you to manage your team, designs, time, track progress, give feedback, review and edit documents, and so much more.
It is one of the best creative approval tools and is essential for creative teams. Asana can help you meet all your deadlines and achieve the best results. It is an excellent platform to carry out team discussions and receive feedback in one place.
Key Features:
- Automate your routine work
- Advanced fast search
- Export your designs
- Integrate Adobe creative cloud and over 100 other tools and applications
- Pre-made design templates
- Task approval and admin control
Pricing:
Asana offers free plans for small teams and individuals. For larger units, it has three different plans. The most basic plan for work teams starts at $10.99 per month when billed annually.
6. ClickUp
If you are looking for creative project management software that enables you to handle every task, no matter how tiny, ClickUp is the perfect software for you. It has countless features that allow you to manage everything, from designs to approval.
ClickUp integrates with some of the top design applications and tools, and you don’t have to leave the platform for any task. You can leave comments and feedback for the team and invite all stakeholders to track the progress of any project.
Key Features:
- Automate trivial administrative tasks
- Track time spent on all tasks
- Image and design mockups
- Track progress percentage
- Multiple assignees
- Pre-made design templates
Pricing:
ClickUp offers two plans. The forever-free plan has limited features and no cost. The plan with unlimited features costs $5 per month per user.
7. Hive
Hive is one of the best creative project management software and tools. It has a rich database of customizable templates and enables your workflow to be as flexible as possible.
It is an excellent tool that revolutionizes the old-fashioned way of managing workflows and projects. Hive allows you to have your dashboard, and you can track your tasks and projects along with the entire team. It is one of the top platforms for creative collaborations sharing documents.
Key Features:
- Integrate with creative softwares
- Approvals and proofing
- One place for all team communications
- Invite external stakeholders
- Ready-made templates that can be customized
- Track your team’s progress
Pricing:
The base package offered by Hive starts at $13 per month for each person. You can also choose from other plans with more features and customized based on your needs.
8. FunctionFox
FunctionFox can help you manage all your creative projects and tasks. It is one of the best software for teams that are working on collaborations. It offers numerous features to help designers, marketing teams, and everyone working in the creative field.
You can analyze all the progress being made and complete tasks to stay ahead of the curve. As a project manager, FunctionFox allows you to have complete control over every job, and you can keep a check on your team and complete tasks more efficiently.
Key Features:
- Stream of activities
- Tracking time and progress
- Graphical view of the dashboards
- Boards for internal communications
- Task prioritization
- Resource and expense tracking
Pricing:
With FunctionFox, you get three paid plans:
- The classic plan costs $5 per month per user
- The premium plan costs $10 per month per user
- The in-house plan costs $20 per month per user
You can get free demos for each plan before you make a decision.
9. Flow
Flow is the best creative approval software that accommodates teams of all sizes. It is sleek and flexible enough to meet everyone’s needs.
Flow is a brilliant tool for teams as well as creative content agencies and studios. It enables you to visualize and plan every task and step involved with all projects. Flow allows you to check if anyone is overloaded with work. You can divide the load between other team members, making the process more efficient and boosting productivity.
Key Features:
- Calendar, list, and board view
- Get notifications in real-time
- Export projects
- Focused mode
- Drag-and-drop feature in the interface
- Integrate 1000+ other tools
Pricing:
The basic plan offered by Flow has all the essential features and starts at $6 per month. The plus plan starts at $8 per month, and the premium plan costs $10 per month. The premium plan comes with all the advanced features.
10. Wrike
Wrike is a brilliant creative project management software that makes your work significantly more effortless and allows you to deliver extraordinary creative projects. It enables you to see every step and task being completed, and you can improve the entire team’s performance.
Wrike is the perfect platform to organize all of your work and provides you with a workplace where the whole team can fulfill all their tasks.
Key Features:
- Interactive Gantt charts and Kanban boards
- Ready-made templates
- Customize your dashboard
- Automate your workflow
- Track time
- Visual proofing
Pricing:
If you have a small team, Wrike has a basic free plan for teams that have five or fewer five people. Paid plans for Wrike start at $9.80 per month for each user.
11. Paymo
Paymo is a fantastic creative project management software that is designed to handle any creative agency’s workflow. It analyzes your projects and allows you to have an overview of all the tasks.
You can find out any project’s scope through Paymo. It enables you to manage all activities and provides your team with a customizable workplace. Paymo is a brilliant tool to keep your creative team engaged and produce top-level content on time.
Key Features:
- Alerts for each task
- User reports with time checks
- Integrates with 1000+ apps, including Adobe creative cloud
- Manage finances
- Automated time tracker
- Customizable dashboards and workplace templates
Pricing:
Paymo’s small office plan starts at $9.95 per month, and the business package starts at $15.79 per month for each member.
12. Scoro
If you are a small to mid-sized business, Scoro is one of the best creative project management software for you. It is built to help a creative agency’s workflow by providing advanced planning, managing, and tracking features.
It automates administrative tasks and allows you to save a significant amount of time. Scoro turns your tasks into lists and lets you see how much time it will take to complete each one.
Key Features:
- Drag-and-drop interface
- Automate tasks and receive reports
- Share content with external stakeholders
- Activity logs
- Personally customized dashboards
- Milestones and phases for all projects
Pricing:
Scoro has an essential plan which has limited features. The basic plan starts at $26 per month. Advanced packages offered by Scoro begin at $37 per month.
13. Smartsheet
Smartsheet is the answer to every creative project manager’s wishes. It is an incredibly user-friendly tool with numerous built-in features that help manage every project and keep a check on each task.
You can view your creative projects in various forms and look at each aspect in great detail. Smartsheet enables you to achieve the best results and meet all your deadlines. It encourages teamwork and collaboration, helping you out every step of the way.
Key Features:
- Manage resources
- Activity logs
- Advanced sharing and reporting features
- Sync across numerous devices
- Custom branding
- Integration with many applications, including Adobe creative cloud
Pricing:
Smartsheet has four plans that come with different features. Their prices are kept secret, and you can contact Smartsheet for more information.
14. Milanote
Milanote is known for being one of the most visually appealing creative project management software. It can help you organize all of your ideas and files seamlessly, making it easier for you to find any document at any time.
It is loaded with features that enable you to carry out various creative tasks on one platform. You can communicate effortlessly between all team members and keep a check on different tasks.
Key Features:
- Numerous ready-made templates
- Built-in commenting between team members
- External sharing of boards
- Sync across various devices
- Drag-and-drop interface
- Make notes and checklists
Pricing:
Milanote is free for individuals. For advanced features, you can pay $9.99 per month, $49 per month for ten people, and $99 per month for a team of fifty people.
15. ActiveCollab
The fantastic interface of ActiveCollab speaks volumes of the innovative team behind this creative project management software. It enables you and your team to focus on your work and provide better results than you could have imagined.
You can use ActiveCollab to schedule your work ideally and check every task carried out by your creative team.
Key Features:
- Bird’s eye view of all tasks
- Batch edit and rearrange projects
- History of all modifications and changes
- Drag-and-drop file upload
- Email notifications
- Time and resource tracking
Pricing:
ActiveCollab has one paid plan that includes all the features. The package costs $6.25 per month, and you can get a 14-day free trial.
Key Takeaway
Traditional project management is challenging as it is; creative project management can be even more tricky. You must use software or tools that can help you keep a check on all tasks and projects.
Countless creative project management software features can help you improve results and enable your team to work more efficiently. Creative approval software and tools are necessary to track your team’s progress and ensure that all deadlines are being met.
