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I started my writing career working in a creative design team, and let me tell you – there’s nothing better than seeing your creative vision come alive during a project. However, I also know that it’s not all smooth sailing. Between managing your team’s time and handling creative differences, there’s always the risk of missing your deadline.
Fortunately, those sticky projects that always get pushed back can be a thing of the past. With the right project management tool, you can get closer to achieving your team’s goals in time without sacrificing artistic integrity. Whether you’re looking for a tool that lets you get started quickly with ready-to-use templates or a collaborative workspace with full customization, there’s a software solution for you.
After extensively testing numerous project management software options for creative agencies, I have narrowed down my top recommendations. Among them, monday.com stood out the most due to its impressive versatility, catering to creative teams from diverse backgrounds. Even better is its fantastic free plan, making it an ideal choice for freelancers and small agencies. You can unleash your creativity and save time and money – I call that a win-win.
Sign up for your free monday.com plan, or continue reading to learn more about the other great options I found.
What We Look For in the Best Creative Project Management Software Tools
While working to bring your creative vision to life, the last thing you want to do is spend more time managing your project. That’s why I made sure to look out for these features when reviewing project management software:
Asset management. The ability to upload, store, and share files makes it easier for everyone to find what they want. Not only does this save a ton of time in the long run, but it’s far less frustrating for your team when they have a reliable central source of truth.
Collaboration tools. Speaking of a central source of truth, keeping your conversations within your project management software helps keep everyone organized. No more wasting precious time hunting through your emails or direct messaging apps!
Guest seats. Whether you’re an agency or a creative department, you’ll want your clients and external stakeholders to view your project. Every option on my list lets you add guests and manage what they can see and do in your project space.
Integrations. The best creative workflow tools offer seamless integration with popular design tools like the Adobe Creative Cloud suite, Figma, and more. Integrations make sharing project files with your team and external stakeholders easy.
Time tracking. Whether you charge by the hour or simply have a time budget you need to stick to, time-tracking features keep that information stored alongside your project. While some tools have built-in trackers, others offer integrations with popular solutions like Harvest and Clockify.
monday.com’s interface is bold, bright, and a pleasure to use – even if you’re not used to project management software
Monday.com is the best all-in-one solution for managing creative projects, tasks, and billing, offering a vast suite of features to suit creative teams of all kinds. With over 200 templates, you’ll quickly find an already-done-for-you setup for your creative projects. Each template is fully customizable, so you can tweak one that’s almost right to suit your project (and team!) perfectly.
However, the best feature for creative teams is monday.com’s shareable boards. These allow you to seamlessly share your project with clients1 without paying for an entire team seat. It’s perfect for any team that wants to involve external stakeholders, as you’ll get built-in controls to ensure they can only see and work on projects that concern them. Plus, you’ll get unlimited guest seats on the Pro plan and above.
Even if this is your team’s first full-fledged creative project, monday.com is a breeze. Its drag-and-drop interface makes it super easy to move tasks around. The fantastic support center is a few clicks away no matter where you are, and there are tons of video tutorials available to help even the biggest technophobe become a project-planning guru in no time.
Features
Asset management. Thanks to its separate Files view, it’s easy to find your project files with monday.com. Attaching a file to your project or task automatically uploads it to this central database.
Customizable workflows. You can easily tailor your project to meet the specific needs of creative teams with monday.com’s wide range of project views. No matter how you like organizing your project data, monday.com can fit your workflow.
Reporting features. Monday.com provides various reporting features, including real-time updates on project progress, task completion, and team member workload. These features make it easy for you to monitor project status, identify potential issues, and make informed decisions about how to move forward.
Time tracking. This helps you track your project progress, making it easy to manage time and ensure that projects stay on schedule. Plus, it’s built into your workflow – you won’t need to add any apps or integrations.
ClickUp’s dashboards are a great way to focus on the metrics that matter to your team
As someone who has worked in a creative team before, I know how important it is to have a project management tool that lets you organize data in the most brain-friendly way possible. ClickUp excels in this area, offering a range of views such as Gantt charts, calendars, boards, and lists. These views give you and your team the flexibility to manage different projects, ensuring you have the tools needed to stay organized and productive.
One of the features I find most useful for creative workflows is the ability to customize the Lists view. For example, if you’re managing a graphic design project, you can use custom fields to track the status of each design, assign subtasks for revisions, and prioritize tasks based on their importance. This customization means you can keep track of the metrics that truly matter to your team, helping you streamline your project’s workflow and deliver high-quality work on time.
Overall, ClickUp’s customizable dashboards are my top feature for creative teams. These dashboards allow you to visually represent your projects and tasks1, making it easier to see how everything fits together. You can customize your dashboard to display the most crucial information, whether that’s a calendar view of upcoming deadlines or a progress bar showing the status of each project.
Features
Multiple assignees. Have an intern on board that needs supervision, or have a larger task that needs multiple team members? ClickUp supports multiple assignees on tasks, so you’ll no longer have to use Post-it notes stuck on your monitor to remember your senior designer is showing your intern the ropes.
Real-time communication. Your team can chat about the project using comment threads and chat widgets on project dashboards. You’ll even get a whiteboard feature, perfect for brainstorming and sketching rough concepts.
Plenty of integrations. You can automate task submissions with ClickUp’s Typeform integration or connect to Slack to notify team members about new assignments. An integration with Zapier also integrates ClickUp with thousands of other software tools.
Built-in automations. Save time on project management by using “if this, then that” statements to automate mundane tasks. You can set up your own automations or select from a library of dozens of pre-built options.
Smartsheet has a slightly steeper learning curve, but it’s worth it – its support for larger projects is second to none
If your team is spread across multiple countries, you’re no stranger to miscommunication. Fortunately, Smartsheet supports several languages1, including French, Spanish, German, and Japanese, making it fantastic for international teams. If you want to support more languages, you can easily connect to Google Translate, simplifying your team’s communication, no matter their native language.
Smartsheet also allows you to create your own task lists and sort them however you want. This is especially useful for teams that must manage multiple creative projects simultaneously or want to separate their tasks into different categories. For example, you can create columns for Design Phase and Production, so your team knows exactly where each task is in its lifecycle. It’s a great way to focus on the creative metrics that matter most.
Smartsheet helps you get results faster by generating reports on everything, including your return on investment. Since everything is so transparent, you always know what innovation is needed to improve your creative process in the future.
Features
Resource management. Smartsheet’s resource management features help creative teams track and manage team member availability, ensuring everyone does the right tasks at the right time.
Gantt charts. These provide a visual representation of project timelines, making it easy to see the progress of your projects and identify potential issues in your creative workflow.
Forms. Forms provide a central area for clients and stakeholders to make requests and add new requirements. You can move these requirements into different parts of your workflow, so everyone knows whether a client request is a requirement or a nice-to-have.
Mobile app. Shower inspiration is a real thing – taking advantage of this creative spark with Smartsheet’s mobile app allows creative teams to access and update project information on the go (but ideally not while they’re showering).
Jira is the go-to project management option for developers thanks to its built-in support for code repositories
Jira is almost synonymous with software development, and for a good reason. It’s designed from the ground up to help developers optimize their workflow and stay in the “flow” state for longer. You don’t want to break your flow by constantly switching tabs to manage administrative tasks, and Jira solves this by having a built-in Code view within your project view. This view allows you to see and manage your code alongside your project tasks, making it easy to track changesas you go. Jira’s integrations with GitHub and Bitbucket allow you to also link your code to your project tasks, ensuring that everyone on your team is working from the same page. Whether this sprint focuses on your game’s environment, the quest system, or even adding fun easter eggs for players to find, it’s easy to manage pull requests from your team and see any issues in your code branch.
Jira doesn’t offer many templates, so you may need to create your own templates or customize the existing ones to fit your needs. However, unless you’re not following Agile development practices, Jira’s three templates are likely to be enough to see you through your project.
Features
Bug tracking. Jira offers a template that makes it easy to track bugs in one place. Users and QA testers can submit bug reports to your central bug tracking system, and you can then use these bug reports to create new tasks for your next sprint.
Integrations. Jira Software offers a wide range of integrations with popular game development tools like the Unity engine and Jenkins, making it easier to streamline your workflow.
User permissions. You’ll get plenty of user permission settings that allow you to control who has access to what information and ensure that sensitive data is only visible to authorized team members.
Sprint planning. The sprint planning feature allows you to manage your team’s workflow, making it easier to deliver high-quality games on time and on budget. This feature also helps ensure that your entire team is aligned and working toward the same goals.
Teamwork makes it easy to track whether your project is on scheduleTeamwork is an excellent choice for creative agencies because it offers unlimited client seats on the Deliver plan and above. Clients are placed in larger groups (or Companies), limiting the projects they can view and edit but making it easy to keep them up to date on project progress. Similarly, Teamwork’s unlimited collaborator seats allow external team members (e.g., freelancers and contractors) to join your team without paying for additional user seats.
Thesegroup permissions are already set up for you. You can quickly and easily add users to your projects with appropriate permissions assigned based on their role. Collaborators can only view and comment, while team members have complete access. Clients can do everything a team member can do.
Unfortunately, if you want to change user permissions, you must do so individually. You can’t edit client or collaborator permissions as a group, which can be time-consuming if you have many users to manage. It’s a shame, given that Teamwork has put a lot of thought into the user experience elsewhere.
Features
Built-in chat. With this feature, you can communicate with your team and clients in real time, making it easier to collaborate and stay on the same page. You can even host video calls and meetings.
Task templates. On top of a template library for projects, you can create and save templates for common task groups. These templates make it easy for your team to follow your agency’s creative guidelines by adding the same list of tasks to every applicable project.
Time tracking. You’ll get a built-in time tracker to monitor how long each team member spends on their client’s project. This makes it easier to bill your clients for your agency’s time and to monitor the progress of your projects.
One-click reporting. Quickly save reports as an Excel document or PDF from your project page. You can also see a series of reports about your project’s health, progress, and your team’s workload on your project page.
Zoho’s intuitive and colorful interface is ideal for creative teams that want a simple project management solution
Thanks to the Blueprints feature, Zoho Projects is ideal for teams that run similar projects repeatedly. This feature allows you to create a project template and save it as a blueprint, making it easy to replicate the project in the future. You’ll save time and effort when planning and executing campaigns, giving you more time to work on the stuff that matters.
Zoho’s Blueprints feature is flexible, so you can customize the blueprint to fit the specific needs of your campaign. For example, you can create a blueprint for a social media campaign and define every step, such as creating content, scheduling posts, and analyzing metrics. This feature helps ensure that each campaign is executed in the same way, reducing the risk of errors and inconsistencies.
That said, Zoho isn’t the easiest creative workflow tool to set up and use. Features like Blueprints are easy to miss if you don’t know exactly where to look. That said, once you get the hang of it, Zoho starts feeling very intuitive.
Features
Resource allocation. Zoho offers a project view that lets you see your team’s workload at a glance. That ensures tasks are divided up fairly to avoid creative burnout.
Issue tracking. Creative projects aren’t always smooth sailing. Zoho helps you keep your project running with an issue tracker that makes it easy to assign team members to handle any roadblocks.
Integrations. Zoho integrates with various other tools, including Google Drive, Dropbox, and Zapier. Your team won’t have to constantly switch tabs to find relevant files or collaborate with the rest of their team.
Timesheets. You’ll get access to your team’s timesheets, which makes it easy to bill your clients for their time and ensure you’re sticking to your time budget. It’s also easy for team members to submit their time spent on tasks, minimizing admin work.
Which Is the Best Creative Project Management Software for My Team?
Creative workflow tools come in a variety as diverse as creative projects themselves. They offer options that span from intricate workflow management designed for larger creative projects to tools that specifically target time management within creative agencies. After conducting extensive testing and research, I have identified three standout tools.
Monday.com was my favorite creative tool overall1. Thanks to its shareable boards feature, it makes it super easy to get clients set up in your workflow without paying for extra team seats.
Next up, I recommend ClickUp for its customization options1. I love that you can organize your project’s data in various ways, so no matter how you prefer to work, there’s a project view to suit you.
Finally, Smartsheet’s support for larger creative teams1 stood out to me. On top of supporting several languages, its seamless integration with Google Translate makes it really easy to collaborate with your international colleagues.
Is your coffee break almost over? Don’t worry – I’ve got your back. Here’s what you need to know about the best creative project management software tools.
Free Plan
Best Feature
Best For
Starting Price
monday.com
✔
Shareable boards that make it easy to keep clients up to date
Creative teams with external stakeholders that need to oversee the project
What is the best software to manage creative projects?
It depends. For example, Jira was designed for software development projects, so it’s best for game developers and other creative software projects. In comparison, monday.com offers features that apply to various creative projects, but it doesn’t work as well for software projects. Ultimately, the best software is the one that fits seamlessly into your workflow and supports your creative vision.
Can I use Excel for creative project management?
You can, but Excel has limitations and lacks many advanced features and capabilities. If you enjoy using Excel and are comfortable with its interface, you may want to consider using Smartsheet. With Smartsheet, you can easily manage projects, track tasks, and collaborate with team members, all within a familiar spreadsheet-like interface.
What is the best way to keep track of multiple creative projects?
Using a creative project management tool is the best way to keep track of multiple projects. In particular, my top pick for running simultaneous projects is Teamwork. Teamwork allows you to easily create and manage projects, track tasks and deadlines, and collaborate with team members. Teamwork’s intuitive interface and powerful features make it an ideal choice for teams that need to manage multiple projects simultaneously.
What is the easiest creative project management method?
Kanban is often considered the easiest creative project management method to implement and use. If you’re interested in using Kanban for your projects, consider using a project management tool like ClickUp. With ClickUp’s Kanban view, you can easily create and manage Kanban boards, move tasks through different stages, and collaborate with team members.
Emma is a freelance content writer who specializes in thoughtful and insightful blogs and articles. Her main passion is the intersection of human behavior and modern technology, particularly in the context of marketing and cybersecurity. Outside of work, Emma loves video games, superhero movies, crochet, and cuddling her German Shepherd.
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