2023 Best Visual Asset Management Software
What is a visual asset?
A visual asset refers to any visual element or resource that is used to enhance and support the communication of information. These assets can take various forms and are employed in a wide range of fields, including design, marketing, advertising, education, and more. Visual assets are used to convey messages, evoke emotions, and make information more engaging and accessible.
Common types of visual assets include
Images and Photographs: Pictures and photographs are frequently used to convey information, tell a story, or evoke emotions for the use of ads, events and the likes.
Graphics and Info-graphics: Visual representations of data, charts, graphs, and diagrams that make complex information easier to understand.
Game art designs: Figures, outfits, 3D models, game scenes, and equipment like weapons, bottles, decorations, etc.
Icons: Simplified graphical representations that convey specific meanings or actions. Icons are often used for navigation or to represent features in user interfaces.
Videos and Animations: Moving images that can be used for storytelling, demonstrations, or conveying dynamic information.
Logos and Branding Elements: Visual elements that represent a brand, including logos, color schemes, and other design elements that contribute to brand identity.
Presentations and Slides: Visual aids created for presentations, often using slides to support spoken content.
User Interface (UI) Elements: Elements in software or digital interfaces, including buttons, menus, and icons, that help users interact with a system.
Social Media Graphics: Visual content created for sharing on social media platforms to engage and attract attention.
Visual assets vs digital assets
"Visual assets" and "digital assets" are related concepts, but they are not exactly synonymous. Let's clarify the distinctions between the two:
Visual Assets specifically refer to any visual elements used in communication, design, or representation of information.
The likes of images, photographs, graphics, icons, videos, animations, logos, branding elements, presentations, slides, user interface (UI) elements, and social media graphics, are typically visual assets.
Digital Assets are a broader category that encompasses all types of content, not just visual elements, that exist in a digital format. These assets can include text, audio, video, and more.
Apart from visual assets (as mentioned above), the likes of text documents, audio files, video files, presentations, spreadsheets, PDFs, e-books, software, code, and any other content stored in a digital form are generally categorized as digital assets.
Overall, all visual assets are digital assets because they exist in a digital format. The term "digital assets" is a broader umbrella that includes a wide range of digital content beyond just visuals.
What is visual asset management software
Visual Asset Management (VAM) software, also known as Digital Asset Management (DAM) software, is a type of system designed to organize, store, retrieve, and manage digital assets, with a specific emphasis on visual content. These assets can include images, videos, graphics, logos, presentations, and other visual elements that are used for various purposes, such as marketing, branding, design, and communication.
Key features of VAM software to consider
Asset Organization: The ability to categorize and organize visual assets in a systematic manner, often using metadata, tags, or folders.
Search and Retrieval: Efficient search functionalities that allow users to quickly find and retrieve specific visual assets based on keywords, tags, or other criteria.
Version Control: Managing different versions of visual assets to keep track of changes and updates, ensuring that the most current version is used.
Collaboration Tools: Features that facilitate collaboration among team members, enabling them to work on visual assets collaboratively and share feedback.
Access Control: Setting permissions and access levels to control who can view, edit, or download specific visual assets.
Integration with Other Tools: Seamless integration with other software and tools, such as design software, content management systems (CMS), or marketing platforms.
Preview and Editing: The ability to preview visual assets within the software and, in some cases, perform basic editing tasks without needing to use external tools.
Analytics and Reporting: Tracking usage and performance metrics to gain insights into how visual assets are being utilized.
By providing a centralized and organized repository for visual assets, Visual Asset Management software helps streamline workflows, enhance collaboration, and help ensure consistency in the use of visual elements across channels. It is particularly valuable for organizations that deal with a large volume of visual content and need an efficient way to reuse, iterate, manage, distribute, and track their assets.
What challenges does visual asset management system address
Visual Asset Management (VAM) system solves several challenges that teams face when dealing with a large volume of visual content, no matter in a messy state or in a well-organized manner. Common challenges include but not limited to:
1. Disorganization and Accessibility: Without a centralized system, visual assets may be scattered across different folders, drives, or cloud services, leading to difficulty in finding and accessing the right files when needed. VAM organizes assets in a systematic manner, making them easily accessible.
2. Version Control: Managing different versions of visual assets can be challenging. VAM helps maintain version control, ensuring that users access the most up-to-date versions of images, graphics, videos, etc.
3. Collaboration Issues: In a collaborative environment, multiple team members may need to work on or review visual assets. VAM provides collaborative features, such as real-time editing, commenting, and version history, facilitating smooth teamwork.
4. Inefficient Workflow: Without a dedicated system, the workflow for creating, approving, and distributing visual assets can be inefficient. VAM streamlines these processes, making it easier to move assets through various stages of development.
5. Inconsistent Branding: Ensuring consistent use of branding elements, such as logos, colors, and graphics, across different channels is crucial. VAM helps maintain brand consistency by providing a centralized repository for approved brand assets.
6. Legal and Compliance Concerns: Managing licenses, usage rights, and compliance with copyright laws can be complex when dealing with visual assets. VAM often includes features for tracking usage rights and ensuring compliance with legal requirements.
7. Wasted Time Searching: Employees may spend significant time searching for the right visual assets, leading to decreased productivity. VAM includes robust search functionalities, allowing users to quickly find the assets they need.
8. Security and Access Control: Protecting sensitive visual assets and controlling who has access to them is essential. VAM provides access controls and permissions, helping organizations secure their visual content.
9. Duplication of Effort: In the absence of a centralized system, teams may duplicate efforts by recreating visual assets that already exist within the organization. VAM reduces duplication by making existing assets easily discoverable.
10. Lack of Insights: Without analytics, organizations may lack insights into how visual assets are used and their impact. A good VAM should include analytics and reporting features to provide valuable usage metrics.
Implementing Visual Asset Management software can address these challenges and contribute to a more efficient, organized, and collaborative process for handling visual content within an organization.
What are the main benefits of using a visual asset management software
Visual Asset Management (VAM) software offers a range of benefits for organizations that regularly deal with visual content. Here are some key advantages:
1. Efficient Organization: VAM systems provide a centralized repository for visual assets, making it easy to organize and categorize content. This ensures that assets are structured in a way that aligns with the organization's needs.
2. Improved Accessibility: Users can quickly search for and retrieve the visual assets they need, reducing the time spent searching through various folders or drives. This improves overall accessibility and productivity.
Multi-dimensioning search, AI tagging, search by image
3. Version Control: VAM helps manage different versions of visual assets, preventing confusion and ensuring that users always access the latest versions. This is crucial for maintaining consistency and avoiding errors.
4. Collaboration Enhancement: VAM facilitates collaboration by allowing team members to work on visual assets simultaneously, providing real-time editing capabilities, commenting features, and version tracking. This streamlines teamwork and communication.
5. Brand Consistency: Organizations can maintain consistent branding by storing approved brand assets in the VAM system. This helps ensure that all team members use the correct logos, colors, and graphics, promoting a cohesive brand image.
6. Streamlined Workflow: VAM systems streamline the workflow associated with creating, approving, and distributing visual assets. This can lead to faster turnaround times and more efficient processes.
7. Security and Access Control: VAM software often includes robust security features, allowing organizations to control access to sensitive visual assets. This helps protect against unauthorized use or distribution of proprietary content.
Share your visual assets with security
8. Cost Savings: By reducing the time spent searching for assets, avoiding duplication of effort, and improving overall efficiency, VAM can contribute to cost savings for organizations.
9. Legal Compliance: VAM systems often include tools to track usage rights, licenses, and copyright information associated with visual assets. This helps organizations stay compliant with legal requirements and avoid potential legal issues.
10. Analytics and Reporting: Many VAM solutions offer analytics and reporting features, providing insights into how visual assets are being used. This data can inform decision-making, content strategy, and optimization efforts.
11. Reduction of Duplication: VAM reduces the likelihood of duplicated efforts by making existing assets easily discoverable. This ensures that teams are aware of and can reuse assets that already exist within the organization.
12. Remote Access: With the increasing prevalence of remote work, VAM systems often provide the flexibility for users to access visual assets from anywhere, fostering collaboration among distributed teams.
Overall, Visual Asset Management software contributes to a more organized, collaborative, and efficient approach to handling visual content, benefiting organizations across various industries.
Cases: teams that benefit from a visual asset management solution
A Visual Asset Management (VAM) solution can benefit a variety of teams and departments within an organization, especially those that deal with visual content on a regular basis. The likes of game studios, marketing teams, eCommerce and brands, industrial designs, ads agencies, architecture designs, etc.
Visual Asset Management for Marketing Teams
Marketing teams often create and use a large volume of visual assets for campaigns, advertisements, and promotional materials. A VAM solution helps them organize, share, and maintain brand consistency across different channels.
That being said, a professional VAM system can first help establish a specialized marketing asset inventory with intelligent tag management, material reuse, and robust scalability capabilities.
Visual Asset Management for 3D design
On top of that, for ads distribution, the qualified VAM software can also facilitate peer-to-peer marketing data synchronization and updating for channel testing and monitoring across varied ads platforms.
With implementation of version control, a VAM solution can efficiently streamline A/B testing and optimization ads design processes, ensuring effective advertising strategies as well as optimizations.
Visual Asset Management for Design Teams
Design teams, the likes of game art design teams, industrial design teams, architecture design teams, ads design teams, rely heavily on visual assets such as graphics, illustrations, and templates. VAM streamlines collaboration, version control, and access to design elements, improving overall workflow efficiency.
Visual Asset Management for Content Creation Teams
Teams responsible for creating content, whether it's for blogs, social media, or other platforms, can benefit from a VAM solution to manage images, videos, overall post and other visual assets associated with their content.
Visual Asset Management for Product Development Teams
Teams involved in product development often create and manage visual assets such as product images, packaging designs, and marketing materials. A VAM solution helps organize and share these assets across the organization.
Visual Asset Management for Sales Teams
Sales teams can use visual assets, such as product images, demo videos and presentation materials, to enhance their presentations and communication with clients. A VAM solution ensures that the latest & most relevant visual content is readily available.
Visual Asset Management for Brand Management Teams
Teams responsible for brand management can use a VAM solution to enforce brand consistency by storing and distributing approved brand assets, including logos, colors, and marketing collateral to the correct channels.
Visual Asset Management for E-commerce Teams
E-commerce teams dealing with product images of a million faces, banners of different versions, and other visual elements including icons, logos, ads taglines, on online platforms can benefit from the efficient organization and quick retrieval of visual assets provided by a VAM solution.
Visual Asset Management for Human Resources Teams
HR teams may use visual assets for employee onboarding materials, training documents, and internal communication. A VAM solution helps manage and distribute these assets efficiently.
Visual Asset Management for Event Management Teams
Teams organizing expositions, exhibitions, meeting, forums and all the other forms of events often use visual assets for promotional materials, signage, and presentations. A VAM solution aids in the organization and accessibility of these assets throughout the event planning process.
Visual Asset Management for Training & Development
Teams responsible for creating training materials, e-learning content, and presentations can benefit from a VAM solution to manage and share visual assets effectively.
Visual Asset Management for PR and Communications
PR and communications teams regularly use visual assets for press releases, media kits, and other communication materials. A VAM solution helps them manage and distribute these assets to the media and other stakeholders.
In essence, any team or department that relies on visual content for communication, marketing, or day-to-day operations can benefit from a Visual Asset Management solution to streamline workflows, enhance collaboration, and ensure efficient use of visual assets.
Visual Asset Management Solutions
“We aim to streamline assets management, usage workflows and collaboration.”
Understanding the impact of visual asset management might appear elusive until you witness it in practice.
Brewed for serving global top AAA game development teams, Blueberry DAM always put visualization for effective preview, search, collaboration and the overall work management to the first place.
From creating a structured asset library to a smartly curated inventory, Blueberry DAM caters to the need of teams beyond game development. All designers and marketers can benefit from using Blueberry DAM to easily preview, search, review, manage visual documentations and 3D/2D graphics within a team or with outsourcing. We’d like to help dream-pursuing marketing teams, brands, e-commerce companies, even medical design team, education materials and filming industry to fully leverage the value of their visual asset, maximizing the use of all data.