Are you looking to optimize your creative workflow? We know it’s challenging to balance creative flow and consistently hitting deadlines. So, having effective creative workflow management is essential to get projects done on time without burning out your creative team. 

Creative workflow management is the process of managing and controlling the flow of creative projects through an organization. It involves the coordination of people, processes, and technology to ensure that your projects are completed on time and with the highest quality. 

In this blog post, we will talk about 5 of the best creative workflow management tools and software to help you improve your work efficiency and deliver successful projects. So, let's get started!

1. Artwork Flow

With Artwork Flow, users can manage their creative workflows in a highly flexible and extensive manner. Using this platform, you can easily build even the most complex workflows and ensure complete transparency of your creative operations.

Pros

• User-friendly design and easy navigation.
• All asset versions are available in one place to preview or restore any time you need.
• AI-driven smart tags to find assets instantly for designers, managers, and stakeholders alike.
• Organized and efficient workflow that makes it simple to collaborate and finish projects and tasks quickly.
• Free tools such as spell checker, color extractor, and pdf compare to ensure error-free creatives and brand consistency.
• You can count on excellent customer service at any time.
  

Cons

• Doesn’t offer a free version of the product.
  

Pricing model

Artwork Flow’s pricing plans are as follows:

• A free plan for small businesses.
• A Pro plan for small businesses priced at $39 per user per month when billed monthly (and $30 when billed annually).
• Custom quotes for the Enterprise plan. 

2. Air Inc.

Air Inc. is a creative collaboration and digital asset management tool, purpose-built for visual assets, including label design software. Its intuitive UI is designed to streamline collaboration

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Pros

• Collaborate with external stakeholders easily.
• Quick editing and distribution with smart search (search by keywords, metadata, and tags).
• With rights management, you can easily see who has access to your assets.
• Use workflows to keep your team members communicating effectively.
• Provide timely feedback on all resources, including videos.

Cons

• The free version of the software has fewer features. 
• Bandwidth issues may slow down the functionality of the software.

Pricing model 

Air Inc's pricing structure is:

• Free: No CC required. For individual users.
• Plus: $10/month. For small teams and freelance projects.
• Pro: $25/user/month. For growing teams.
• Enterprise: Custom plans for very large organizations.

3. Wrike

Wrike is a workflow management platform built for teams and organizations to manage projects from start to finish, providing full visibility and control over tasks.

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Pros

• Security procedures to ensure that information is only accessible by authorized people.
• Using the Activity Stream, a project manager can view activities chronologically, tag team members, and micromanage small tasks.
• The option to unfollow activities to declutter your own personal stream.
• Email and calendar synchronization.
• Built-in editing and approval features.

Cons

• Lesser flexibility in task management.
• Projects are limitedly visible.

Pricing model

Wrike's pricing plans are as follows: 

• The Free plan with limited features. 
• The Professional plan at $9.80 per user per month.
• The Business plan at $24.80 per user per month.
• Custom quotes for the Enterprise plan.

4. Lytho

It is a workflow automation solution for enterprise creative teams, combining project management with creative brief management and online proofing.

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Pros

• Customized review routing avoids endless feedback loops and rework.
• Automatic proof routing ensures the right stakeholders provide feedback and approval at the right time.
• Team members can digitally mark up proofs, leave comments, use @mentioning, compare versions, and more.
• With accessibility on both Android and iOS platforms, you can make edits on your mobile.
• Kanban Boards show your work in a visual card view that you can update easily by dragging and dropping work across the board.

Cons

• This workflow does not have an API available.

Pricing model

Lytho provides pricing quotes on request through their website.

5. Ziflow

The Ziflow platform combines asset management, creative collaboration, and project management functions. It mostly serves marketing agencies. 

Pros 

• Multiple users can add feedback in multiple formats making collaboration easier.
• Easily include your clients in every step of the review and approval process.
• Every team member can stay in the loop as the system sends email notifications once the feedback process and approval have been done.
• Highly flexible and customizable. 
• Integrates with other third-party tools.

Cons

• Buggy plugins and glitches.
• The uploaded files may not give clarity sometimes.
• If there are any revision changes while reviewing multiple assets, all of the evaluated assets must be uploaded again.

Pricing model 

The following are Ziflow's pricing plans:

• For personal use, one can use the software for free.
• Businesses can purchase at $40 per user per month.
• Customized plans for large organizations.

Final thoughts

Your team will be able to work more effectively and collaborate more fluidly if you use creative workflow management tools and brand asset management software. When obstacles are removed, you can be sure that your team will be able to focus on what matters. Before that, you need to check which software would work out best for your organization. 

To know more, check out what Artwork Flow has to offer!

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