Koldheim · Tourmaline

Artwork Approvals

Creative

Every version, signed off by the client who saw it.

Know which file the client approved, and when.

Every upload is the next version. An art director signs it off, the client approves it or asks for changes through an emailed link, and the approval is pinned to the exact file they saw. Then it goes to the printer, or to the client as files.

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The problem

“The client said yes to something in an email thread with four versions in it, and when the print run is wrong nobody can show which file they approved.”

What it runs

What happens, in order

Every one of these is a step the service takes itself. Nothing in this list is somebody remembering to do it.

8 steps

The account manager writes the brief: client, artist, due date, and whether it is printed or delivered as files. The artist is told.
The artist uploads the artwork. Every upload is the next version, numbered by the job; nothing earlier is replaced.
An art director signs it off before the client sees it. Never the artist, and never whoever raised the job. Changes go back to the artist.
The account manager sends it. The client gets an emailed link that shows that version only, and approves it or asks for changes. A newer version’s link replaces the old one.
An approval is pinned to the exact file the client saw. An unanswered link expires and the account manager is asked to send it again.
The supplier is emailed a link that opens only the approved file, with what to make.
The production manager records the proof, production and dispatch. Where you say so, the client signs off the supplier’s proof first.
The client confirms the delivery or the final files through a link, and the job completes with who confirmed it and when.

It opens on these

In the studio
With the client
In production
Complete

Every figure opens what it counts and offers the next action. Nothing here is compiled at month end.

The supplier’s proof

The client can sign off the proof too

Some clients want to see the printer’s proof before anything is made. Whether they do is a workspace setting, and the account manager can change it for a single job.

Your workspace sets the default

Off unless you turn it on, under Manage, Settings, in the Agency panel. A workspace that never chose keeps the flow as it was.

The job carries the answer

When the client approves the artwork, the account manager sees the setting on the print form and can change it for this job either way.

Each proof is a new file

The client is sent a link to that proof only. After changes, the same file cannot be sent back: the supplier’s next proof is a new upload.

Approved means pinned

The approved proof is recorded on the job beside the approved artwork, with who approved it and when. Then production goes ahead.

Try the rule

Add a round of changes. Watch the version.

Every upload is the next version. The studio signs off before the client sees it, the client answers by link, and the job goes to print or to files. Turn on the proof sign-off to give the client a say on the supplier’s proof.

Its path

Version 3Version 3 approved, signed off by the art director, printed with no client proof sign-off

Versions uploaded: 3
Sent back by the studio: 1
Changes asked by the client: 1
Approved: Version 3

BriefThe account manager writes it: client, artist, due date, and printed. The artist is told.
The art director signs off in the studioAnyone holding art director, never the job's artist or whoever raised the job.
Version 1: back to the artistUploaded, then sent back from the studio sign-off with comments. The client never sees it.
Version 2: the client asks for changesSigned off by the art director, sent by the account manager. The client's link shows this version only; their comment goes back to the artist.
Version 3: the client approvesSigned off by the art director, sent, and approved through the client's link. Earlier links are superseded and show nothing.
PinnedThe job records version 3's exact file as the one approved. Nothing earlier is replaced; every version stays on the job.
PrintThe account manager confirms it, and whether the client signs off the proof: no for this job.
To the supplierEmailed a link that opens only the approved file, with what to make. Production is told.
Proof receivedThe production manager records the supplier's proof and that it matches.
Client proof sign-offOff for this job, so production goes ahead.
Produced and dispatchedRecorded by the production manager, with tracking.
The client confirms deliveryThrough a link. The job completes with who confirmed and when.

Who sets what

Yours to change, and ours

Most vendors are vague about this line. Yours is everything about how your organisation works. Ours is the shape of the process itself.

Your administrators change these

Your clients and production suppliers
Who holds account manager, artist, art director and production manager
Whether clients sign off the supplier’s proof, as a workspace setting
How long each link lasts: seven days for an approval unless you change it

Authored with the service

That every upload is a new version and a new file
That only the client’s link can answer for the client

A change here is a draft, checked and published. Work already under way stays on the version it started on.

Where it stops

The part most pages leave out

A service that only ever says yes is not evidence. This is the place it deliberately refuses, and the suite that proves it still does.

Refuses, on purpose

Nobody answers for the client

The client’s step moves on only through the client’s own link. No member of your workspace can approve for them, a used link cannot decide twice, and a file once uploaded is never altered, so what was approved stays approved.

Proof

Every claim here runs on each build

Not a policy, a suite. This one is npm run artwork, and it fails the build rather than a report nobody reads.

Book a demo How your data is kept

Questions

What people ask first

6 answers

Does the client need an account?

No. Clients and suppliers take no seat. Each one gets an emailed link that does one thing, for one version, for a limited time.

What if the client forwards the email?

Anyone with the link can answer it, and the page says so. The answer is recorded against the address it was sent to. To ask someone else, the account manager sends it to them instead.

What if our art director is also the artist?

They cannot sign off their own artwork. When nobody else holds the role, your workspace’s administrators are asked instead, and the approval says why.

Which files can the artist upload?

PDF, PNG, JPEG, WebP, TIFF, PSD, EPS and ZIP. The kind is read from the file itself, not from its name. SVG and HTML are never accepted.

Does it work with Media Bookings?

Yes. With both, the material for a media booking can be an approved artwork version, sent to the media owner byte for byte. The two share one client list.

Can it tell our other systems?

When a file goes to the supplier, and when a job is delivered, a signed event reaches your own webhooks.

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