Visual Collaboration for Creative Teams: Real-Time or Asynchronous?

Source: Canva Collection

Efficient visual collaboration is the key to ensuring better creative workflow and alignment, whether you are an animator, a designer or a video editor. Being able to communicate visually during feedback loops can help prevent potential issues and miscommunication. So, the question of synchronous and asynchronous collaboration comes in.

Should visual feedback be done at the same time or separately?

Table of Contents

What Does Visual Collaboration Mean?

Differences Between Real-Time and Asynchronous Collaboration

How Real-Time Visual Collaboration Works

How Asynchronous Visual Collaboration Works

Designing a Hybrid Visual Collaboration Workflow for Creatives

Tools that Support Real-Time and Asynchronous Collaboration

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Author Bio

 

What Does Visual Collaboration Mean?

Visual collaboration is when visual mediums like whiteboards or canvases are used to help either brainstorm or cooperate on a visual work. Thus, real-time collaboration is working together at the same time on a task or project with instant updates visible to everyone. Meanwhile, asynchronous collaboration is working together on a project at different times.

Differences Between Real-Time and Asynchronous Collaboration

Source: Canva Collection

Real-time collaboration is like a whiteboard where everyone has their own marker to write on the spot. Then, async collaboration would be a task on the whiteboard, inviting teams to update it on their time within a set time limit.

Depending on the type of visual collaboration you would like to conduct with your team, each of these collaboration types is suited for different situations.

	Real-Time	Asynchronous
What It Does	Simultaneous interaction, like video calls and live chats	Independent work with delayed responses, like boards and thread comments
Suited For	Brainstorming, urgent problem-solving, and critical alignment	Documentation, updates, and work across time zones
Pros	Clarification, immediate feedback, quick decisions	Flexibility, clear documentation, thoughtful responses, autonomy
Cons	Scheduling conflicts, time zone barriers, and meeting fatigue	Delayed feedback, potential miscommunication

Hence, one does not mean it’s better than the other. With the type of creative workflow that you implement with your time, each of these visual collaboration styles can be used according to what tasks you’re trying to solve.

How Real-Time Visual Collaboration Works

Traditionally, this was the only way to get any form of collaboration. However, with digital tools specifically designed for creative teams, real-time collaboration can now occur without the team being physically together.

Real-time collaboration works by using available tools that allow instant synchronisation anywhere you are, even when you work in a remote team. Cloud access and integrated tools make co-creation and communication seamless.

However, when teams are in different time zones and have different priority schedules, trying to find an agreed time to collaborate in real time can be a challenge.

How Asynchronous Visual Collaboration Works

While it may seem like a new term in the scene, the async form of communication and collaboration is also common, such as emails to shared online documents.

This type of visual collaboration is suited for non-emergency tasks and for schedules that don’t sync up with the rest of the team. When teams are required to collaborate, responses will be more thought-out. As with async collaboration, teams do not have to rush and are less likely to disturb deep focus tasks during the day.

For example, an animated work that requires visual feedback with a team working in a different time zone. Instead of asking for live feedback in a video call, animators will upload their work to be reviewed, and the team can take their time to comment on it.

However, asynchronous collaboration might cause delays if there are no clear deadlines for when the feedback is required or if changes and updates are needed immediately, but remote teams might be away.

Our TESSR Review module eases async collaboration processes without needing to switch or requiring both parties to be available at the same time when giving feedback. And all the assigned feedback is compiled and can be accessed & tracked anytime.

Designing a Hybrid Visual Collaboration Workflow for Creative Teams

Source: Canva Collection

Combining both synchronous and asynchronous collaboration is a better practice than choosing one over the other. This can be done by implementing a creative collaboration workflow that allows flexibility in both directions.

For example, hybrid collaboration is executed when teams work in different time zones or have different tasks that don’t allow them to take part in real-time collaboration. The ones that are available to do so would document and record the meeting to be referred to when the other teams are available to do so. Successfully creating a harmony for both real-time and async collaboration.

Thus, when creating hybrid creative workflows that might work for both in-person and remote teams, there are a few things that can make it possible.

1. Communicate Working Hours: Finding an overlap of teams' working hours or establishing when teams are available is an essential step in knowing when real-time or async collaboration is possible. Knowing when everyone is available makes scheduling easier.

2. Establish What Can Be Asynchronous: Tasks or work that don’t require instant updates can be listed down and separated from meetings. Instead, with pings or reminders to execute the task before the deadline.

Tools that Support Real-Time and Async Collaboration

Project management tools are a go-to to find collaborative tools that work both ways. For example:

TESSR

The Review module of this project management for creatives allows for both live and async collaboration. Teams can update instantly or on their own time to add feedback or suggestions, especially being able to add contextual comments on the visual work itself. TESSR makes it possible for creatives to highlight in detail, like marking exact frames, drawing on the frame and even recording voice notes.

Trello

This visually friendly project management tool is also suited for creative teams. With integrated tools like Canva and Figma, teams can keep track of their projects while utilising this feature. For example, Canva is a flexible online graphic design tool that allows instant updates and async feedback.

Notion

This flexible platform offers templates and integrations that allow both real-time and asynchronous collaboration. It supports all kinds, depending on how creative teams customise their Notion for their projects.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

How does the creative collaboration process work?

It’s individuals working in a team or larger in a shared workflow or process. It requires transparent communication, task alignment and resource sharing to be able to collaborate effectively.

How can working on a file in real time be more beneficial than asynchronous collaboration?

Working on a file in real time provides an opportunity to see the edits and changes as they happen. Visuals surpass verbal explanations when it comes to the complex nature of describing a file, so real-time visual collaboration prevents miscommunication or misinterpretation from happening.

Author Bio

With a background in Arts English, Adilla has been a casual writer for various hobbies, including parodies of animated shows and plots for board games like Dungeons & Dragons. She loves to read anything and everything, from fantasy stories to articles on tips and tricks. Currently, Adilla resides in Malaysia and is a creative writer at TESSR. One day, she is eager to publish her book. To know more about her, check out her LinkedIn.