In the GoProof online proofing software cloud, we are constantly striving to innovate new ways to improve the experience for collaborators.
Proofing creative work is a global journey driven by design and augmented by collaboration.
It’s critical to make it as easy and convenient as possible for collaborators to engage, express themselves and share their emotional opinion on proofs - or opportunities for absolute greatness can be missed.
Often by a hair’s breadth.
You’ll never know how close you were to achieving something legendary.
The utopia for us is leaving collaborators feeling like they haven’t even made an effort to give feedback on a proof and yet their true feelings have been totally conveyed.
As we push this MO, we’ve spoken to clients whose collaborators feel way more comfortable using stripped back, basic proofing functionality to get their feedback across.
We jumped on it right away and created Simple Proofing Mode (SPM), an option designed to help those collaborators who respond better to a super-easy process.
HOW TO ENABLE SIMPLE PROOFING MODE
Proof senders - the Publisher users in GoProof - choose when or who to use SPM for.
Firstly it can be set against a client, which means all proofs in all projects for that particular client are always shared in SPM.
The second option is to set it at proof version level, meaning the current version of that specific proof will be using SPM. All other client proof activity will stay as per the client setting, which is normal as standard.
It’s done in the Send for Proof wizard when you send a proof out for review.
On the invite collaborators screen you reach in both the intake file uploader and the GoProof extension for Adobe Creative Cloud, the option under SIMPLE PROOFING is to enable simple proofing mode for collaborators.
Just check this box and it’s all set. For that review only, simple proofing mode is on.
THE COLLABORATOR EXPERIENCE
So what’s different? How have we made it simpler for collaborators?
Well there are two main changes in functionality in the simplified online proofing process that make all the difference.
The first is the proofing tools. We’ve stripped it back to just one tool: the Pin.
Collaborators just drop the pin wherever they want and go straight into writing their comment without any distraction on deciding which should be the right one to use.
And second is the action to take once comments have been submitted.
We’ve simplified the ‘what do I do next?’ experience by presenting the choice of actions in the same Add Comment popup.
The popup allows the collaborator to write in their comment and add attachments if they want in the normal way.
The change is you’ll notice two new buttons called SAVE & ADD MORE and SAVE & FINISH. These buttons offer an initial choice of being done or wanting to make more comments.
On hitting SAVE & ADD MORE, the comment is added to the thread on the right-hand side and Pin-commenting mode is reactivated.
If the collaborator is done commenting, SAVE & FINISH reveals the options underneath to wrap up the review, depending on whether you’ve been given a Reviewer or Gatekeeper role.
Reviewers see FINISH as their primary button and Gatekeepers see either REQUEST CHANGES or SIGN OFF.
Both give a clear description on what the actions mean and the collaborator still has an option to add more comments if they suddenly think of something else.
Once that final action is clicked, everything’s committed. No further action is required and collaborators can carry on with their day.
These instructions are easier to follow and help collaborators - particularly first-time or very occasional ones - to get feedback successfully submitted with low-key effort and all in one interface.
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Thanks again to all our customers for your invaluable ideas in creating this new simple workflow.
We look forward to your feedback and listening to any suggestions you may have to keep making it better and better!
