Trello for Designers (Organise Your Projects & Client Management)
Thinking about using Trello for web design projects or creating a system for your design business? I’m sharing why Trello is great for designers + how to get set up.
I’ve been using Trello to organise my website design business (and my life!) for 7+ years now, and I honestly don’t know how I ever coped without it!
Keeping everything in a ‘digital brain’ instead of trying to remember everything in my head, or organise my client work through a mixture of Google Docs and my inbox, means I feel so much more focused and ‘on top of things’.
In this blog post I’ll share with you why I think Trello is the perfect tool for designers to organise their business, projects and clients.
Table of Contents
What is Trello?
Trello is one of the most popular project management tools on the market, with its system using a ‘kanban’ board approach to organising tasks, where you can easily keep track of what stage you’re at within a project.
It has a great FREE plan, and is very simple to get set up and start using. It’s particularly good for visual people (like me!) to view and access their tasks and resources from anywhere (thanks to it being online-based).
There are SO many uses for Trello though - not just keep track of your ‘to-dos’. I’ll show you some awesome real-life use cases in a moment!
^ A very basic example of a ‘kanban’ board.
What is a Trello Workspace?
When you sign up for Trello, it will create a Workspace for you. I would suggest having one Workspace for your business, and maybe a separate one for ‘Personal’, if you plan to use it in a personal capacity.
Of course, if you have multiple businesses, you can create multiple Workspaces (one for each business). This just helps to keep things organised!
Within each Workspace, you can have different ‘Boards’ (up to 10 per Workspace, if you’re using the free Trello plan).
What are Trello boards?
A Board is a space for managing a particular area of your business or project. I have separate Boards set up for things like:
My daily task manager
An enquiry / lead tracker
(I’ll talk more about my Boards later on!).
On the paid plan of Trello, you can have unlimited Boards within a Workspace. I have SOOO many because I literally use Trello to organise EVERYTHING in my design business.
What are Trello lists & cards?
Within a Board, you can set up ‘Lists’, and within these you can add your ‘Cards’, which act like items or tasks. A List is just a way for you to organise your Cards, which you could do based on the stage the Card is at, eg.
To Do, Doing, Done (each of these would become a List, with Cards as tasks within each list)
Enquiry, Onboarding, Working On (each of these would become a List, with Cards as clients within each list)
OR there are lots of other ways you can organise your Cards, such as by type or collections.
^ When you click on a Card in Trello, it opens up and you’re then able to add lots of other information to it, such as:
A description
Team member(s) responsible
Colour coded labels (customisable to what you want to filter for)
Checklists for subtasks
Due dates
Attachments
and more.
What are Trello power-ups?
Power-ups are extra features and integrations you can add to your Trello Boards, and there are LOADS to choose from, from creating ‘repeating Cards’, adding stickers to Cards, or turning your Board into a calendar:
Many of these Power-ups are free (and you can add as many as you want to your Boards, even on the free Trello plan), and are just hidden in the ‘Power-ups’ section so that the Trello interface is kept clear and simple for those just wanting the basic features.
Just click the ‘Power-up’ button at the top to discover more! There are also ‘premium’ Power-ups made by third parties that act as ‘plugins’ that you can pay additionally for (these are typically for much more complex functionality).
Why is Trello good for designers?
Having some kind of digital project management tool is a total necessity for any designer! I couldn’t survive without having Trello as my digital brain because:
It’s hosted online so you can access it from anywhere (unlike my old paper planner!)
You can share access with anyone at any location (again, unlike a paper planner or organising things in your emails)
You can store loads of details & info inside Trello’s Cards
However there are lots of different project management tools on the market, and I’ve tried a fair few! But, I always find myself coming back to Trello to organise my design business, and these are the top reasons:
Trello Is quick to set up (the smallest learning curve)
Of most of the tools out there, Trello is definitely the quickest to get set up with and doesn’t require too much learning how to use it! In my courses I give you instant-install templates to use as well, to cut your set up time in half ✔️
Trello is simple & intuitive (= Easy to train your design clients + team!)
Because I use Trello to collaborate with my clients on their website design projects, it’s important to me that it’s simple enough for them to easily use it too! Many of them tend to be self-professed ‘technophobes’ so this really is key.
Trello’s free plan has the best features (including automations)
Of all the other tools like Asana, Notion etc, Trello definitely has the best free plan, because of the unlimited Power-ups AND the fact you can set up automations on the free plan too.
Trello makes automation easy to save you time
In comparison to other tools I’ve tried, Trello’s automations are an incredibly simple and powerful way to streamline your Boards, projects and workflows to save you time! I teach how to set these up in my Organised Designer’s Hub course.
Customise Trello to your own client process
If you use a CRM tool already (eg. like Dubsado), you can easily integrate this with Trello, OR I personally prefer using Trello as a CRM tool and creating client portals in it too (because these can be much more customisable!).
Trello has one of the best mobile app experiences
Trello’s mobile app makes it easy to use while you’re on the go and it’s one of the best! (eg. I really do like Notion but the app is NOT particularly user friendly!).
For more info, read my in-depth ‘which project management tool is best for you’ post with some more thoughts and comparisons with other tools!
Can Trello be used as a CRM?
Yes! You can easily use Trello as a CRM (client relationship management) tool, by using automations and different Lists to keep track of the different stages your enquiries and clients are at. Below is a very basic / simplistic example:
You can easily store client information in here securely, along with assets relating to their projects, and even create client portals in Trello too so you can collaborate on work together.
Can Trello sync with Google Calendar?
Yes! Not only can you add the Calendar Power-up to your Trello board to view all of your dated Cards in a calendar view, you can also get an iCalendar link to add this to your own digital calendar (eg. Google calendar, iCal etc.).
There’s also an even more in-depth two-way sync option you can use to uplevel your calendar connection, which I teach inside The Organised Designer’s Hub course!
Can you collaborate on Trello? (eg. with team, clients, contractors)
Yes! You can easily share your Trello boards with team members, your clients, or any contractors you’re outsourcing to and want to collaborate with.
You can choose what permission you’d like to give these users, and once they’re added to the Board, you can assign specific Cards/tasks to them, and they can leave comments on Cards too.
Organise your business with Trello
Below are just some of the ways I use Trello to organise my design business:
Client & lead tracking
Hosting client portals & managing projects
Goal setting, planning & task management
Planning & outlining my content calendar
Developing new products & courses
and much more!
Get my exact trello templates I use for all the above and more in my course:
The Organised Designer’s Hub
✔ Get all your business information organised into a hub for quick & easy access
✔️ Set and smash annual & quarterly business goals with the 2024 planner
✔ Discover my ULTIMATE task management system that has made me the most effective I’ve ever been in my life
✔ Streamline and automate your client process, from enquiry to the project experience
✔️ Learn my SECRET WEAPON for keeping myself inspired & motivated!
^ Get all of this and more set up within just 2 hours of joining the course…
