Calling All Design Firms
Hello friends. Yes, it has been a while since I last posted here and valid and lame excuses for not doing so are plentiful. To begin, I am starting a spinoff company from MAYA Design (oh, and I just redesigned and implemented the site so have a look) where I was employed prior to a stint at a startup with friends. In my tenure with the aforementioned startup I worked on a number of exciting projects, all of which are doing well and are seeing increased momentum. One of which I mentioned here before.
But I digress. My reason for this post is not to fill you in on the details of my work life rather, it is to get insight from you about document management systems you use or have used. We at MAYA are looking for a document management solution and in my brief research have found it difficult to find one that doesn’t suffer from horrible interface complex, mega-corporate over featureness, or is great for project management and collaboration (like say, http://www.basecamphq.com) but suffers or is lacking entirely in the document management and versioning dimensions.
For some time we at MAYA have used SVN for document version control but run into the limitations of SVN as a document (meaning files other than code or text files) management solution. I am looking for something that has versioning functionality of SVN along with the project-centeredness and collaboration tools of a tool like Basecamp. Certainly others of you who work in the design domain with files large and small of varying types have looking into document management solutions and I was wondering where you settled and if the solution has served your needs effectively?
More on my current undertaking of the creation of a new company soon. I can tell you however, it is not Web based, or software based for that matter though it could and will involve both. Yay.
Crazy. I actually interviewed with MAYA two years ago, but I guess they didn’t want a Kansas City guy; I remember speaking to two of the principals for hours over the phone.
As far as document management goes, you may want to check out my company, Perceptive Software. They produce ImageNow, a fairly advanced document management solution.
Kevin
Hello Kevin, thanks for the heads up about ImageNow. I will have an in-depth look at it this evening. I am amazed by how difficult it is to find the right solution for this problem as I imagine so many firms are in the same boat. As for the interview process I hope things have worked out very well for you.
Jeremy
Definitely a relevant topic so I’ll be interested in hearing what you decide on.
You’ve probably checked into Adobe’s Version Cue already, I’ve used it a bit. It seems like it’s tailored to small design studios but would give you at least part of what your after.
Eric
No luck yet. I must admit I am quite surprised by the lack of simple and elegant solutions that do not require Windows or IE for the interface. Either design houses are home brewing their solution or, more likely they are using shared drives, no file versioning, and something like Basecamp for client interface.
Jeremy
Have you tried formatting your images to binary files, and using SVN? I would think that would work well…
God
Dare I suggest Microsoft SharePoint 2007? It’s got some killer document management tools and processes, though you’ll probably want to tweak the interface and some interactions. If not SharePoint, perhaps Clearspace from Jive Software?
Geof Harries
Are you W.D. Koempel’s son?
K.D. Koempel Smith
Hey man!! do you need beanstalkapp.com , Beanstalk is a hosted Subversion system, making it easy to setup, browse, and track Subversion. Beanstalk has built-in integration with your favorite tools such as Basecamp, FogBugz, Campfire and more.
Really god and cheap solution!!!
We use this at http://www.cuoma.com
Regards!
Santiago Martinez