Behance Is Project Management For Hipsters
If you see a freelance designer shopping for a new messenger bag in Urban Outfitters, you’ve just spotted a Behance user. The Behance brand, which arrived in early 2006, includes everything from a magazine to an online portfolio tool to tangible products that belong in Inspector Gadget’s home office.
Here’s a look at some of their offerings:
· Behance Creative Network: Display your work – or check out and comment on others’ album covers and TV spots – in this slick portfolio platform. Right now you need to request an invitation to join up, so be patient, lucky or just plain good at what you do. The Network is clean and populated with top-notch design.
· Action Method: This new project organization tool allows professionals to collaborate and communicate (via virtual notes called “nags.”) Flexible functionality is highlighted by a feature called “backburners,” which allows users to store random brilliant ideas for later so you don’t derail your momentum when working on deadline. There is even an iPhone app. Try it out for free.
· Think Tank / Outfitter products: Behance has an in-house team dedicated to making the lives of creative professionals easier and more fulfilling via widgets, supplies and resources. Think Sharper Image meets Ned Flanders’ Leftorium.
Behance might be the best solution for your creative project management, but you might not get that from their pitch. The website’s copy and calls to action are a bit on the ambiguous side. For example, the Action Method’s splash page brands itself as “An intuitive approach for productivity in a creative world.” That could mean anything. Or nothing. Granted, this is a new application, but Behance would be well served to add a variety of case studies to draw in users to the specific potential of their products and services.
The New York-based Behance attracts about 100K monthly unique visitors, and even boasts an in-house creative advisory team available to consult with businesses or visit colleges and engage the creative professionals of tomorrow.
