The artwork is designed, the launch date is fast approaching, and you’ve already started your promotions. The final artwork has yet to be approved because your artwork approval process is slow and complex. Does this sound familiar? 

Many brands face hiccups in the approval process for artwork. Reliance on siloed tools and manual processes is one of the key reasons for approval delays. These traditional approaches cause them to spend less time and attention on creating and printing accurate and stunning artwork and more on chasing approvals, navigating complex revisions, and managing the endless back-and-forth. 

Read to learn why a rethink of the artwork approval process via modern artwork approval software is critical in today’s highly competitive and dynamic business landscape. 

The Bottlenecks Caused by Traditional Workflows

Many companies rely on traditional artwork management workflows despite increasing competition and rising customer expectations. This leads to several bottlenecks, including: 

• Siloed approvals at different places and times, and using various tools. 

• Limited visibility into the artwork lifecycle, with one team not knowing when or what changes the other team has made, or the latest feedback or artwork version. 

• Version control limitations that cause stakeholders to work on different versions of the same artwork and send the wrong artwork for printing. 

• Wasted time informing about requirements, implementing changes, and chasing approvals. 

• A high risk of errors due to manually monitoring, approving, and tracking changes without every team's buy-in or go-ahead.  ‍

What Teams Should Focus on

Good-quality, accurate, and compliant artwork can make or break any business. Instead of being bogged down by traditional tools and fragmented workflows, artwork management teams should ideally focus on: 

• Optimizing artwork quality to serve customer needs better, adhere to brand guidelines, and maintain a strong business reputation.

• Improving time-to-market from delays and thus remaining competitive and responsive to market requirements.

• Ensuring compliance so no costly mistakes or legal issues tarnish the brand’s reputation and lead to fines, rework, or product recall.

• Increasing collaboration and alignment between different teams' goals for seamless artwork creation and management workflows.

• Ensuring brand consistency, especially when multiple SKUs are at play, to ensure customers enjoy a similar experience across products and regions.

Revamping the Artwork Approval Process

If you want your teams to spend more time designing and launching artwork and less chasing approvals, you must completely rethink your artwork approval process. Traditional tools and siloed approaches no longer cut it; you need a modern and intelligent artwork management system that unifies assets, streamlines communications, and makes artwork approval a breeze. 

Here's what artwork approval software like ManageArtworks can help you achieve: 

Overcome the challenges of siloed tools with centralized asset management.

Approvals will be delayed when artwork copies and versions are stored in siloed tools. Imagine a situation where your artwork is centrally stored and efficiently managed on a single platform. ManageArtworks allows this by enabling easy access to the artwork, regardless of who is working on it or where it is in the approval lifecycle.

Stop digging through your inbox for legal updates. Enable real-time communication instead.

Do you have trouble retrieving an email or a chat thread with your design or legal team regarding any edits? It can become tricky when more than one person handles a piece of artwork. ManageArtworks streamlines artwork approvals through a centralized review and approval mechanism. This allows teams to be updated about all the latest changes, versions, and feedback. 

Going around in circles with manual checks and approvals? Enjoy intelligent AI-powered proofing. 

Managing multiple revisions and versions of artwork can become difficult as the business grows. With a robust artwork management tool, teams can relieve themselves from manual checks and approvals and, instead, enjoy AI-powered proofreading. AI can compare designed artwork against brand and compliance guidelines, point out gaps, and enable quick approvals from key stakeholders.

Is tracking artwork versions becoming too cumbersome? Improve audit trails for excellent transparency and accountability.

Investing in a modern artwork management tool can streamline and fortify existing audit trails. The stakeholders can readily track all alterations to packaging content, review the last version, and present an account of transparency and accountability for artwork approval.

Mastering Artwork Approval with ManageArtworks

In today's cutting-edge, consumer-driven marketplace, brands that use old-fashioned artwork approval workflows struggle to adapt to market requirements and stay compliant and consistent quickly. Moving from fragmented manual processes to an intelligent, unified artwork management system is not just a digital upgrade and a strategic necessity. 

Enabling proper communication, enforcing stringent version control, and leveraging AI-infused proofing reduces time to market and production errors, allowing teams to concentrate on leading, not chasing. This sets the direction for compelling, high-quality packaging that builds trust and fuels growth.

Looking to get started? Speak to our experts today!