I’m looking for tools that make collaboration easier for design projects. Any recommendations?
For the last 25 years I’ve been managing just fine with good old email. Not glamorous, but it works. I’m curious what you’ve got in mind, is this a genuine search for tools, or are we gearing up for the shiny product name and link moment?
Truth is, all the cloud and online platforms look slick, but most clients don’t have the time or patience for learning curves. You might get them on board at first, but staff turnover means you end up reteaching the next person, and before long the whole system fizzles out. Email sticks around because it’s universal, free, and doesn’t vanish when someone changes job.
So while new systems always sound like the solution, in practice they can end up creating more problems than they solve. Clients are rarely as tech-friendly as we’d like, and even when they are, the replacement often isn’t.
At the end of the day it usually comes down to this, one provider says “our great system costs $1 a month” and the other says “ours costs $0”. The $0 option wins every time, because email is already paid for.
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Collaboration with who? Other designers? Writers? Editors? Web developers? Other team members? Clients?
Collaboration for what purpose? Sharing ideas? Production? Brainstorming? Scheduling? Fiscal/Accounting? Client interactions?
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It depends what you want, first you need specify what kind of tools you are looking for. For example if you want to communicate your ideas or bring ideas to a group of people. Then you will need paper, pencils and colors (for drawing or what you want to show to your people) to make wire frames and prototypes may be later you will need a computer with photoshop,illustrator and etc…