Audrey is my name and I’m a designer at White Space, a Rochester-based independent branding agency. We are focused on building, launching and developing brands. This is not a typical branding agency. We are a small, but powerful team that focuses on building relationships and connections. We have a decade of experience in building customized brand experiences that connect organizations with their people. I draw logos (many of them!) I create mood boards and patterns, explore color, typography, and test how each piece will fit together. It can then be expanded to other formats and environments such as websites, print collateral, magazines, and social media. To make a long story short, ActiveCollab helps me develop an organization’s voice, personality, and environment.
Each task for each member of the team
Project-centric email organizing
We tried another platform for project management, but it only offered certain features. We felt that we were paying for a part of the platform that wasn’t relevant to us and not getting enough. We created a project timeline and then assigned tasks to our team for a whole month. Without knowing the time it would take to complete each task, we couldn’t accurately space them out. It was sometimes impossible to know. There wasn’t a central place for reviews or comments within the platform. We were overwhelmed with emails containing information about progress, files, and tracking the time. It was difficult to track progress and we spent more time trying to figure out how to manage the project accurately than on the client. It felt cumbersome and frustrated. ActiveCollab has changed the way we work. Instead of assigning tasks that are unclear or get lost, we now have client buckets. Within each bucket are columns that organize the status of each project in different phases. We have, for example, a “Ideas” column and “Active,” “Client Review,” and “In Production.” We also have a “Ideas”, “Working,” and “Client Review” columns. For consistency, each client is laid out exactly the same. There are often many clients and many moving parts when you work in a creative agency. This has allowed us to move between clients and projects more fluidly, while keeping our team members up-to date. We’re also more able to create tasks quickly. Our jobs require a lot of flexibility and not letting anything slip. We have a better workflow and more transparency between our teams because we can move focus areas around and modify tasks quickly while still allowing everyone to be involved. We can assign tasks to ourselves, track our time and note down ideas for each project. It’s a great feeling to “check things off the list” and move tasks from “Active” to “Complete”. It’s the Type A of us all. I find the daily email a bonus feature. It serves as my reminder of what’s coming up. It’s almost like having an assistant. Imagine the chaos that can result when we work with multiple clients on multiple projects. It was becoming almost impossible to find the critical information you needed quickly. ActiveCollab allows you to comment, chat, tag and emote as well as upload files to a task you have created. It is amazing! This is our favorite feature and our team uses it every hour. It allows us to share ideas, edits, give feedback and encourage each other all in one place. It bonds us together as a team.
