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The Problem

Designity faced a common work challenge: tools and resources were scattered across multiple emails and platforms, causing confusion among clients and creative teams (“where’s that link again?”).

The company needed a central place where project stakeholders could get creative work done efficiently, especially because they run on a subscription model and guarantee project deadlines.

Natalie Neumann, Designity's COO, said that custom-built software and off-the-shelf project management tools like monday.com and Asana failed to meet the company's requirements due to a lack of flexibility and customization. The team was looking for a solution that:

• Looked professional and aligned with Designity’s brand identity
• Accommodated three key user groups: creative directors, creative team members, and clients
• Made it easy and quick for the team to implement and manage without developers
• Adapted to the company’s needs as it scaled (could be tested and built upon easily)

The Solution

The Designity team built three custom project management portals with Softr, Airtable, and Fillout that linked together for seamless collaboration:

• A brand portal, for clients to request projects, review timelines and deliverables, provide feedback, update account information, and access competitive insights.
• A creative director portal, for creative directors to manage projects and clients, build custom reports (e.g. 30-60-90 day reports), and access competitive insights.
• A creative team portal: For creatives to manage assigned projects and tasks, access a resource library and creative community, and submit deliverables.

Each portal includes features like shared project timelines (powered by Airtable and displayed via iFrame), whiteboards (from Miro), report builders and viewers and task approval workflows.

The apps were built using a variety of Softr building blocks, including Lists, Details, Charts, Forms, and a tabbed layout, plus advanced permissions to show only relevant projects to clients and creatives. The project took 9 weeks to complete, with a 6-week soft launch period to make adjustments.

“The ability to change quickly is great,” said Natalie. “You’re able to say, you don't like it like this — how about like that? And you change it right there and get live user feedback. If you have a custom-coded portal platform, that’s way harder.”

The Impact

Since launching in 2023, Designity’s project management system has transformed the company's operations and stakeholder experience. The three portals are used by 500+ users, with 108K Airtable records synced to power creative workflows.

The system has enabled the team to scale its operations without in-house development resources or additional admin staff. It streamlines 8+ workflows (and counting), including:

• Project requests: Clients can request creative projects using custom links and forms.
• Project timelines: Stakeholders can view project info and timelines, and creative directors can adjust timelines as needed.
• Creative approvals and deliverables: Clients can view and approve creative work (including Miro links) directly from the brand portal, and see project deliverables.
• Account management: Users can easily update personal and account information.
• Client reports: Creative directors can create custom reports for each client and share strategic insights.
• Creative community: Creatives can see profiles of other Designity creatives, including their skills, backgrounds, work completed at Designity and portfolios, fostering community and collaboration in a remote work environment.
• Self-serve information: Clients can view a detailed list of services that Designity offers and a portfolio, while creatives have access to client feedback and performance scores.
• Stakeholder onboarding and management: When a new user signs up, the Softr user is automatically created for portal access. Admins (like Natalie) can manage creative directors and creatives; for example, temporarily giving them access to client projects if they’re subbing in.

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Next up, Natalie and her team are working on streamlining the client onboarding process to make it even easier in the portal. She’s confident the Softr system can continue to help Designity scale to the next level, while continuing to ensure high-quality creative work is delivered on deadline.