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JillAc
Level 10
January 31, 2018
Question

ProofHQ Best Practices

  • January 31, 2018
  • 15 replies
  • 2615 views
Hi We are new users and are struggling a bit with how to best use ProofHQ in the real world. We often have long brochures and catalogs with many people who are reviewers all over the world. The way we work is the designer uploads the proof but is not responsible for trafficking it around to all the people that have to approve it and make comments. The ProofHQ Workflows just don't work for us since the designer has no idea who needs to be reviewing it. Therefore, the Marketing Manager is designated as the Owner of the proof because it seems they get the most flexibility to manipulate the proof. (It's unclear the difference between Moderator and Owner). The designer sends the proof to the marketing manager. The marketing manager then sends it to all the people that need to review it. Problem #1: the designer sets up the designations for notifications and those can't be changed once they are done (I can't see how to do change them) even by the Owner/Marketing Manager. After all the comments have been made, it's up to the marketing manager to review everything and make decisions. These decisions need to be very clear to the designer, who shouldn't be spending time reading through dozens of comments and discussions. The way we decided to do it was that the very last comment in any discussion would be the final decision and the thread would be marked "resolved." Then, the designer can use the checkmark "done" to indicate they made the change or "needs follow up" if something isn't clear. I'm interested to know how other people resolve complex proofs that have many pages, many comments, and not too many options to indicate which comment is the one for the designer to look at. Any tips and tricks would be most appreciated! Jill Ackerman Lindblad Expeditions
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RobertCa
Level 2
March 15, 2018
Please don't get me started on Proof HQ, 3 years and same tool as we started with and not even close to other proofing tools. We have the premium package Proof HQ turned off, as its confusing to our users and admins, plus doesn't integrate with Workfront like it should. This is unfortunate as we purchased the premium package $$ with the hopes of having a better proofing tool as promoted. Not the case. But... I will stay positive. For our creative team, we have folders on the template, one folder Art Review and the other Final Art. The only responsibility for the designers is to design and upload the proof in the Art Review Folder, generate proof is turned off. The designer will send an update to the CSM (Creative Services Manager) the proof is ready and mark off first proof task. The CSM will review the proof to ensure the creative is aligned with the request and generate the proof, send to respected reviewers via WF documents. The CSM will monitor proof deadlines (outside the tool) as WF document doesn't have a feature like premium PHQ to set deadlines. Once the proof time has expired the CSM collects the feedback and communicates to the designers the changes. Designer will make the updates and drop new proof directly on top of the existing proof. This will allow the reviewer to see the side by side comparison of vs 1 and vs 2 in PHQ. We have a task entitled Creative Review just to make sure we don't miss deadlines and have a final proof task for the designers as well. Once approved, the designer will upload the Final Art into the folder ready for production. Plus the finals are archived for future reference. As you can see we went through a lot of trial and error to make a process work that should be provided by the software with the premium package add-on. What Workfront/Proof HQ doesn't understand is the proofing tool is visible to our SVP & VP for our creative reviews. They see the the issues first hand, same issues for 3 years now, and they hold the keys to the tool. They're also accustom to using our previous tool that is very intuitive and easy. The proofing tool should/can be very simple. I have been patient and worked as the delegator for my company and Workfront. It's time for a major change. Hope this helps. Robert Robert Campbell Tractor Supply Company
Richard_Carlson
Community Advisor
Richard_CarlsonCommunity Advisor
Community Advisor
March 16, 2018
Just curious - why are you having such long discussions in the proof markup tool? If such lengthy discussions are happening at this stage could it mean that the involved parties are not on the same page to begin with? How can you improve the process so that this discussion is not happening in the tiny "yellow pad" mark ups? I think that PHQ is meant to literally mark up proofs and provide specific concise instructions between reviewers and artists. Richard Carlson Behr Process Corporation
J
JillAcAuthor
Level 10
March 16, 2018
Hi Thanks for the feedback. The reason we have long discussions and need a collaborative tool like this is because we have people all over the world reviewing materials, and they all have opinions, so comment moderation is a big part of the manager’s process to clean up the proof for the designer. They are generally 32-60 page brochures, weekly. The idea that the manager generates the proof is a good one that I will explore with the team. There are deadlines within proofhq and notifications and late notices go out so I’m not understanding why this is a problem, it actually seems better to me than the notifications from workfront. (My other question thread here!). However I do see that you can’t see the deadlines in the proofing tool so we are relying on a paired task in workfront to manage the deadlines. Not sure how that will work. Sent from my iPhone
Richard_Carlson
Community Advisor
Richard_CarlsonCommunity Advisor
Community Advisor
March 16, 2018
Could a comprehensive creative brief help to get the artwork 'on point' and alleviate some of the back and forth? Richard Carlson Behr Process Corporation
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maggietalierco1
Level 3
March 16, 2018
Hi Robert! You can change the access level for SVP and VP to not able to see those folders if they are not shared. I might be able to help you with that. We modified our reviewers and they can see only the files that they are shared even they can see the folders. Once they click on it, there is no file in the folder. Maggie Talierco Olympus Corporation of The Americas
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