5 project management tools for animation projects

More and more businesses are commissioning design agencies to create animations to market their products and services. Animated videos help to promote a company's product or service in an exciting, entertaining and sensitive manner, so viewers are able to grasp it better and are more responsive towards the product or service they offter.

For proper and timely execution of animation projects, a high level of planning and organization is needed. However, traditional methods of project management like conducting physical meetings, discussing charts and graphs and so on are not always appropriate.

Web-based project management tools can be a better way to manage the orderly and scheduled execution of animation projects. Here's a list of five such tools that can help you deliver a variety of animated projects for clients on time and on budget. Note that none of them are specifically created for animation projects, but they all cope well with such a project's demands. For some general pointers, see our tips for project management.

01. ProofHub

This online collaboration and project management tool aims to help you with organized management and systematic execution of projects. These days more and more animators and other creatives are working remotely. But wherever team members are in the world, the software enables them to collaborate transparently and rapidly, discuss technical and creative issues with the project, and resolve them quickly.

Proofhub's Discussions feature can be quite helpful for nailing down exactly what kind of creative content the animated video will contain. Tasks can be properly assigned to team members who can execute them in an orderly manner. Meanwhile, the Proofing tool enables you to get fast and accurate review over each stage of the project from a client. The client can highlight any errors in the designs by writing text or drawing shapes in the design itself. Progress made over projects can be precisely tracked through Gantt charts.

02. ProofHQ

This online proofing tool can help speed up the review and approval of creative content. Businesses use this tool for simplifying their workflow and for rapid delivery of their marketing projects. Designers and animators are able to get speedy and accurate review over their creations from their clients.

Work can conveniently reviewed from any location or device, and commenting and markup tools enable transparent feedback over designs. So animated projects can be properly managed with less effort and costs and can be delivered on time.

03. Smartsheet

This project management tool is aimed at making collaboration among team members more efficient. Any kind of work, from a simple task list to complex processes, can be managed in a flexible manner. Being able to attaching files, set alerts and automate workflows all makes things more efficient, while Gantt charts help to visualize your projects and make them easier to understand and explain.

04. Zoho Projects

Zoho Projects is particularly popular with software developers, but that by no means rules it out for more creative projects. Tasks, documents and other project specific information can be effectively tracked. Communication and collaboration among team members gets significantly improved.

This tool benefits time tracking, reporting, calendar and Gantt charts besides other significant features. Potentially a very useful application for improved organization and collaboration over animation projects.

05. Wrike

This project management tool facilitates collaboration among team members, helping them become more efficient. Priorities can be set for tasks and these can be executed in a scheduled manner. Tasks can also be discussed via the software.

A time tracking feature enables team members to add time entries to their tasks. This application also allows creation of time reports for a group of tasks. Enhanced planning and organization can be done over projects. Updates can be monitored in real time.

Conclusion

These enterprising tools can all help animators and other creative people to improve their productivity. They help you to manage and execute your projects in an organized and systematic manner, so projects can be completed as scheduled and animators are able to deliver quality and timely results to their clients.

Words: Sharon Thomsom

Sharon Thomson is an author who likes to write on themes and issues related to project management software. She provides tips and suggestions for businesses, so they can better manage their projects and duly achieve their business objectives.