So there have been many attempts to make it easier to collaborate over projects. You’ve got apps that will put yellow stickies onto web pages (like Fleck) and lots of collaboration apps from the likes of Basecamp, Huddle, Sosius and Ximdesk.
There is Conceptshare, Octopz, Cozimo, and Thinkature but fe have concentrated on the single core use for many companies, which is just proofing artwork.
London-based ProofHQ, in private beta since January, launches today aiming at the UK and US markets specifically for this purpose. I tried out the app and it is pretty slick. The cool thing about the proofs, is that they can be embedded into any web page, so ProofHQ documents can can also be integrated into project management applications like Basecamp or Huddle.
It’s designed around the way people currently mark-up proofs because co-founder and CEO Mat Atkinson and his team have a background in this business. He was previously at Workflow Solutions – a specialist pre-press software company.
An uploader tool allows users to drag and drop files (up to 75 Mb) from their desktop to the site where ProofHQ creates a Flash-based proof. Comments made from reviewers – clients, co-workers etc – appear alongside one another. You could in theory use ProofHQ inside a traditional (web-based) enterprise application without having to re-tool.
The startup is looking to bring in revenues from tiered monthly and annual pricing plans based on the number of end users, number of proofs, and storage per month. But a free account is offered to those who just have five proofs per month.