By employing the right project management tools, creative projects are executed with greater efficiency, ensuring that deadlines are met, budgets are adhered to, and overall quality is maintained. Here is a list of the top creative project management software you can use for your next project.
- ClickUp – Best for Managing the Full Creative Process
- monday work management – Best for Spreadsheet Users
- Hive - Best for Proofing and Approver Management
- Asana – Best for Scaling Creative Teams
- Notion – Best for Highly Versatile Teams
Featured Partners
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Our Picks
Although creativity is often associated with spontaneity and free-flowing ideas, having a structured approach can greatly enhance the outcome of a project. Using project management tools in creative projects helps in organizing tasks, tracking progress, and managing resources effectively. Additionally, creative project management software provides a centralized platform where team members can collaborate, share ideas, and keep everyone on the same page.
ClickUp: Best for Managing the Full Creative Process
ClickUp provides a one-stop solution for managing creative projects, saving teams time and effort. Its features make easy collaboration and brainstorming possible, ensuring that no creative concept is left unexplored. Once the project is underway, ClickUp provides a seamless platform for execution, allowing teams to track progress, assign tasks, and manage deadlines. Finally, ClickUp’s reporting capabilities enable teams to generate detailed reports on project performance, ensuring that all stakeholders are kept informed and updated.
Key Features
Annotation
With ClickUp, users can proof images, videos, and PDFs. This feature is especially valuable for teams working on design, marketing, or multimedia projects, as it allows them to centralize feedback and streamline the review process.
Users can easily attach files to tasks or comments within ClickUp and provide feedback directly on the attachments. This eliminates the need for back-and-forth emails or separate feedback channels.
ClickUp Docs
ClickUp Docs enables users to create and store various documents such as project briefs, meeting minutes, and other information essential to project completion. These documents can be easily accessed and organized separately from tasks, or they can be integrated within lists or specific tasks. This allows team members to collaborate efficiently, as they have all the necessary information readily available in one centralized location.
Mind Maps and Whiteboards
ClickUp’s Whiteboard and Mind Map’s views provide valuable resources for brainstorming and idea generation.
The Whiteboard view allows team members to collaborate in real time, creating an interactive space where ideas can be shared, refined, and organized. The Mindmap view enables users to visually map out their thoughts and ideas, which helps establish connections and identify patterns. This feature is particularly beneficial for those who prefer a more structured and hierarchical approach to brainstorming.
Form Builder
ClickUp has an impressive form builder feature that enables users to create customized forms when adding tasks directly to project lists.
By utilizing the form builder, project managers can ensure that all necessary information is captured, including deadlines, priorities, and specific requirements. This helps streamline the project management process and ensures that all team members are on the same page.
Guest Access
Guests are individuals who have been invited to your Workspace by sharing specific items with them. Typically, guests are people external to your organization, such as clients, contractors, or freelancers. However, you can also invite internal guests, such as team members from different departments. This flexibility ensures that everyone involved in the project can collaborate efficiently within the platform.
Owners and admins can limit the access and privileges of individual guests, meaning they decide which particular features and functionalities guests can use. This ensures that each guest has the necessary tools to contribute effectively without compromising the integrity of the project management process.
ClickUp Pros
ClickUp Cons
Why We Chose ClickUp
ClickUp is a versatile project management tool that offers a range of features to support creative production. One of its standout features is the Whiteboard and Mind Map, which allows users to brainstorm and visualize ideas in an interactive and collaborative way. This is particularly useful during the initial stages of a project, when creativity and innovation are key.
Furthermore, ClickUp offers robust task management capabilities that ensure efficient execution of tasks. It also provides comprehensive reporting features that allow teams to analyze their performance and measure the success of their projects.
With its wide range of features, ClickUp can be used throughout all phases of creative production, from concept development to completion, making it a valuable tool for any creative team.
monday work management: Best for Spreadsheet Users
monday work management is an excellent tool for creative project management teams that are ready to up their project management game from organizing their projects using spreadsheets.
This platform follows a similar structure to spreadsheets, allowing for an easy transition. What is different is that monday.com offers other powerful features that enhance the project management experience and make managing work seamless.
One is annotation that allows team members to add comments and notes directly to the tasks, providing clarity and context to the project. monday also has custom fields that can carry file attachments so team members can easily attach documents, images, or videos directly to specific tasks or projects.
monday offers the organizational capabilities of spreadsheets and supplements them with more features to make them even easier to use and more efficient for creative teams.
Key Features
Annotation
monday.com offers great annotation functionality that lets users annotate images and turn feedback into actionable steps, eliminating the need for lengthy email chains or external tools. This feature is particularly useful for teams collaborating on projects or reviewing creative assets.
Shareable Boards
monday.com’s Shareable Boards feature allows users to share specific boards or tasks with guests for collaboration purposes without granting them access to the Main Boards. This ensures that guests only see the information they need to see and the rest of the project boards remain private.
Customizable Fields
With monday.com, users can choose from various field types that best suit their data needs. These field types include checkboxes, buttons, date and time, long text, multiple select fields, attachments, and more. This wide range of field options allows users to capture and store data in the way that makes the most sense for their specific use case.
Pros
Cons
Why We Chose monday.com
monday.com’s annotation capabilities, shareable boards, customizable fields, and spreadsheet-like structure all contribute to enhancing collaboration, communication, and efficiency within creative projects. The spreadsheet-like format, in particular, makes the tool easy to navigate for those accustomed to using spreadsheets in their projects. The familiar grid layout allows for seamless data entry and manipulation, further enhancing the efficiency of project management processes.
Hive: Best for Proofing and Approver Management
Hive is a versatile and powerful tool that is great for creative project management. Its proofing capabilities and approver management features make collaboration smooth and ensure that all necessary approvals are obtained. Moreover, its wide range of other productivity-enhancing features makes it a valuable asset for creative teams looking to streamline their workflows and increase efficiency.
Key Features
Proofing and Approvals
Hive offers features that can streamline the process of proofing and approvals. Users can easily add files to be proofed and set up approval rounds with multiple approvers. These approvers can be individuals or teams, providing flexibility in the approval process. Task status changes are automated to eliminate the need for manual updates. Hive also allows for the inclusion of both internal and external approvers to ensure that all stakeholders concerned are involved in the decision-making process.
Hive Notes
With Hive Notes, users have the ability to transform any talking point or discussion into an actionable task. It also allows users to set deadlines for each task, which is crucial for keeping projects on track and ensuring timely completion.
An option to add comments for quick follow-ups and share feedback, questions, or suggestions directly within the task are also available, fostering effective communication and collaboration within the team.
Focus Mode
The Focus mode allows users to shut off all notifications and effectively mute the app. When working on creative projects, it is crucial for individuals to maintain their focus and concentrate on their tasks without any interruptions. By enabling Focus mode in Hive, users can create an environment conducive to productivity and creativity.
Task Creation from Emails
Hive gives team members the ability to send an email to a designated address and have it automatically converted into a task within the platform. This eliminates the need for manual task creation and streamlines the workflow for creative teams. The ability to create tasks using email is particularly beneficial for creative projects that involve multiple stakeholders and frequent collaboration via email.
Project Portfolio Views
Hive’s Project Portfolio view provides users with a comprehensive overview of all their projects on one screen. By consolidating all projects and tasks in a single interface, users can efficiently manage and track progress without the need to switch between multiple screens or tabs.
Hive’s portfolio view also allows users to customize and edit relevant information using custom fields. This gives users complete control over the data they want to track and organize within their projects.
Project Nesting
Hive’s project nesting feature lets project managers create interconnected projects to make managing complex and multifaceted endeavors easier. For instance, if you are working on a play, you can start a parent project for the overall production and create child projects for specific aspects such as script creation, casting and auditions, and production design. This hierarchical structure helps in organizing and tracking the progress of different components of a project.
Pros
Hive Cons
Why We Chose Hive
One of Hive’s key strengths is its proofing feature that allows team members to review and provide feedback on creative assets seamlessly. With this, stakeholders can easily annotate and comment on designs, videos, and other creative elements, facilitating a collaborative and iterative process. Additionally, Hive’s approver management feature streamlines the approval process by assigning specific approvers for each task or milestone. This ensures that the right individuals have the authority to approve project deliverables, reducing delays and miscommunication.
Asana: Best for Scaling Creative Teams
Asana is a reliable free tool for project management used by several industries. Especially crucial to creative projects, it’s equipped with a proofing feature that allows team members to collaborate and provide feedback on creative assets. Additionally, Asana’s robust project management system enables project managers to effectively plan, track, and delegate tasks, to ensure that projects stay on schedule and within budget.
The portfolio view in Asana provides a bird’s-eye view of all ongoing projects, allowing project managers to easily prioritize and allocate resources. Furthermore, the workflow management feature ensures that processes are standardized and streamlined for efficiency and consistency.
Key Features
Proofing
Asana’s proofing feature allows stakeholders to provide specific and actionable feedback on images by automatically creating subtasks from annotations made on these creative assets. This feature not only saves time but also drives clarity about the changes that need to be made.
Design and Creative Production Templates
Asana’s extensive range of design and creative production templates provides a structured framework for organizing and executing various creative tasks, aiding teams in streamlining their workflow and maintaining satisfactory output quality.
Whether it is designing a new website, creating a marketing campaign, or producing visual content, Asana’s templates offer a comprehensive set of guidelines and milestones that guide teams throughout the entire creative process.
Design Integrations
Asana seamlessly integrates with various other tools that are essential in the creative process. One is Miro, a collaborative online whiteboard that allows teams to brainstorm and visualize their ideas. Another is Canva, a popular graphic design platform.
Furthermore, Asana’s integration with Google Drive and Dropbox allows creative teams to easily store and access their files and assets within their project tasks. Asana also integrates with Figma, a powerful design and prototyping tool. Asana’s integration with Adobe Creative Cloud also helps designers seamlessly import and export their Adobe files.
Forms for Task Creation
With Asana, users have the option to create forms where tasks can be added and relevant fields can be indicated. This feature allows team members to clearly define and prioritize their tasks, ensuring that resources are allocated properly and the project moves forward smoothly.
Custom Notifications for Approvers
Asana provides users with the ability to seamlessly add approvers and establish custom notifications for them. This feature is particularly useful in creative projects where multiple stakeholders are involved and approvals are required at various stages. By automating the process of adding approvers, Asana ensures that the right people are notified and engaged in the decision-making process. This not only saves time and effort but also eliminates the risk of miscommunication or delays in obtaining approvals.
Portfolios
Asana offers a comprehensive portfolio view that acts as a mission control center, through which users can monitor connected projects and collaborate seamlessly across teams. With Asana, team members get a helicopter view of all key initiatives, providing them with a clear understanding of the progress and status of each project. This holistic perspective enables you to identify potential roadblocks, allocate resources efficiently, and ensure smooth coordination between different teams.
In addition to its portfolio view, Asana streamlines reporting through custom dashboards. Users can create personalized dashboards that provide real-time updates on various project metrics and KPIs.
Streamlined Workflow Management
One of the greatest advantages of Asana is its ability to centralize all project-related processes in one place. With Asana, you can easily create and apply processes to multiple projects, ensuring consistency and efficiency throughout. This eliminates the need for manual tracking and enables teams to focus on the creative aspects of their work instead of getting bogged down by administrative tasks. It also allows teams to scale and pivot their processes and workflows quickly when the need arises.
Pros
AsCons
Why We Chose Asana
Asana is a standout tool for creative projects due to its reliability and user-friendly interface. Its feature that enables project managers to create, manage, and iterate processes helps them effectively manage large teams and complex projects, ultimately leading to improved productivity and successful project outcomes.
Notion: Best for Highly Versatile Teams
Notion, with its versatile format and integration capabilities, is another preferred tool for managing creative projects. Its flexible format allows users to customize their workspace to suit their specific needs. Whether it’s creating task lists, brainstorming ideas, or organizing project timelines, Notion provides the flexibility to adapt to different project requirements.
The option to embed files from third-party software, such as Miro and Figma, enhances Notion’s functionality. This integration enables users to seamlessly collaborate and gather feedback on visual designs and prototypes directly within their Notion workspace. With these features, Notion proves to be a valuable tool for creative professionals looking to streamline their project management process.
Read our review of Notion
Key Features
Customizable Page Structure
Notion’s customizable page structure allows users to organize and categorize information in a way that suits the needs and demands of the project.
Whether it’s creating a visual mood board, brainstorming ideas, or outlining project timelines, this feature provides the flexibility and versatility needed for creative project management. Notion also offers the ability to add various media types, such as images, videos, and documents.
Client Access
With Notion, you can easily add members, admins, guests, and groups to your workspace so they can view, comment on, or even edit specific pages. This feature is particularly beneficial for creative projects that require multiple individuals to work together and contribute their ideas and expertise.
Embed External Content
One of the key features that sets Notion apart is its ability to embed Figma files directly into project pages. This allows designers and creative teams to share and collaborate on design files within the context of their project without the need for separate file-sharing platforms.
Similarly, Notion supports embedding Abstract projects, which is particularly useful for teams working with version-controlled design files. Notion’s integration with Miro boards provides a visual and interactive space for brainstorming and ideation. Furthermore, Notion’s integration with GitHub enables developers to seamlessly connect their code repositories with their project management workflow.
Backlinking
Notion’s backlinking feature makes managing references and related projects or project items easy, enhancing overall organization and productivity. By creating links within Notion, users can connect different documents, notes, or even external resources and navigate between different aspects of a project with ease.
The option to create backlinks enables users to build a network of interconnected information, allowing for seamless access to relevant documents and references. This is especially useful in creative projects that involve extensive research or collaboration, as it ensures that all necessary information is readily available and easily accessible.
Pros & Cons
Pros
Cons
Why We Chose Notion
Notion is an exceptional tool for managing creative projects due to its versatility. It allows users to customize each page with a different format, making it ideal for accommodating projects with unique features. This flexibility enables creativity to flourish as users can tailor the layout, design, and organization of their project pages to best suit their needs. Whether it’s a design project, a content creation endeavor, or a collaborative effort, Notion provides the necessary tools to effectively manage and track progress. With the ability to integrate various media types, such as images, videos, and documents, Notion empowers users to create visually captivating and interactive project pages. Its adaptability makes it a valuable asset for individuals and teams involved in creative endeavors.
Our Best Pick: Hive
Hive offers a range of features specifically designed for managing creative projects. Its proofing and approvals management capabilities allow teams to easily collaborate on creative assets such as designs or videos and provide feedback and approval directly within the platform. The proofing process is exceptionally organized and intuitive so stakeholders can easily track the progress of each task and provide comments and suggestions. This streamlines the approval process and ensures that all feedback is consolidated in one place, eliminating the need for back-and-forth emails or meetings.
Another great feature of Hive is its Project Portfolio views. This gives project managers an overview of all ongoing projects, making it easy to track progress, allocate resources, and prioritize tasks. With the portfolio view, teams can quickly identify any bottlenecks or potential issues, make timely adjustments, and keep projects on track. This feature is especially beneficial for creative teams that work on multiple projects simultaneously and need a clear overview of their workload.
Project nesting is another standout feature of Hive. It helps users break down larger projects into smaller, more manageable tasks. This hierarchical structure enables teams to easily organize and track progress on both the project and task levels. Project nesting also allows for better resource allocation, as team members can be assigned to specific tasks within a project, ensuring that everyone knows their responsibilities and deadlines.
In addition to these key features, Hive also offers other helpful tools like Focus mode and Notes. Focus mode helps users minimize distractions by blocking out unnecessary notifications and providing a clean interface for focused work. Hive Notes allows users to jot down ideas, create to-do lists, and collaborate with others in real time. These features enhance productivity and collaboration within creative teams, making Hive a versatile tool for managing creative projects.
Featured Partners: Project Management Software
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Pricing Comparison
| Our Picks | Best For | Pricing Starts At |
|---|---|---|
 Visit ClickUp | Best for Managing the Full Creative Process | Free Forever plan available • $7/user/month |
 Visit monday | Best for Marketing Teams Ready to Move Away from Spreadsheets | Free Forever plan available • $9/user/month |
Visit Hive | Best for Proofing and Approver Management | Free Forever plan available • $12/user/month |
 Visit Asana | Best for Scaling Creative Teams | Free Forever plan available • $10.99/user/month |
Visit Notion | Best for Highly Versatile Teams | Free Forever plan available • $8/user/month |
