COLO gives small design studios a single workspace for scoping projects, running them through stage-gated delivery, getting client approvals at each gate, and invoicing per milestone — without spreading work across Trello, a separate proposal tool, Dropbox, and a billing app.
TL;DR
Small design studios use COLO to scope projects, run them through stage-gated delivery and invoice per milestone. Project workspaces carry stage gates so a client approval is captured rather than remembered from a call, proposals scope phases and deliverables, and milestone invoicing keeps the balance from waiting on a slow round-three feedback cycle.
Who this is for
You are a two-to-ten-person design studio shipping brand identity, packaging, editorial, and digital work. Projects are quoted as a fixed fee with phased delivery (discovery, concept, refinement, hand-off), and the studio runs three to eight active projects at a time across the team.
The friction tends to be the same shape:
- Gate approvals are informal. The client said "I love direction two" on a call; nobody captured that as the approval; two weeks later the client wonders why direction one isn't being explored anymore.
- Files and feedback live in different tools. Working files in Dropbox, the project board in Trello, feedback in email and Slack, the contract in a PDF on someone's desktop.
- Cash flow is uneven. The 50% deposit landed in March; the 50% balance is supposed to land at hand-off, which keeps slipping because the client is slow on round-three feedback.
Three features design studios use every week
Project workspaces with stage gates
Run each project with milestones (discovery, concept, refinement, hand-off), and require explicit client approval at each gate before the next stage opens. With COLO's project system, you can implement your project plan by assigning tasks, allocating resources, and coordinating activities. Track project performance against the plan, provide regular updates on progress and milestones, and communicate any changes. The approval is timestamped against the milestone, so "we approved that" is a fact, not a memory.
Proposals that scope phases and deliverables
Send a branded proposal that lists the phases, deliverables per phase, revision rounds per phase, the timeline, and the fee schedule. Win more clients with branded proposals and a modern way to collaborate. The client signs once and the scope is on file; the proposal becomes the project plan in the workspace.
Invoicing tied to milestones, not vibes
Issue the deposit invoice on signing, milestone invoices at each gate, and a final invoice at hand-off. Integrating invoice functionality into our application streamlines the billing process, enhances accuracy, improves cash flow management, and provides a better overall experience for both businesses and clients. Cash flow becomes predictable because invoices fire when a gate closes, not whenever someone remembers.
For more, see project management and proposals.
A typical project in COLO for a design studio
- Enquiry — a referral lands; the lead becomes a client record with the brief and budget range attached.
- Onboarding — you send a branded proposal with phases, fee, fee schedule, and timeline; the client signs and pays the deposit; the project workspace opens with milestones and gate approvals pre-loaded.
- Delivery — discovery, concept, refinement, and hand-off run as milestones; the client comments and approves at each gate; the team works against the next gate without ambiguity.
- Payment — the deposit invoice fires on signing, milestone invoices at each gate, the final at hand-off; all paid from the same portal; the finance dashboard shows revenue and margin per project.
How design studios use COLO today
Monday morning, the studio lead opens the workspace to a board of five active projects — a brand identity at the concept gate, two packaging systems in refinement, an editorial system at discovery, and a digital product mid-hand-off. The team sees workload across projects; the senior designer sees the per-project budget burning down visibly as her hours log. The client portal, branded on the studio's custom domain on the Grow plan, shows each client only their own project — no cross-leak, no awkward visibility.
Through the week, the brand identity at the concept gate gets its first round of feedback — the client's comments live inline against the actual board they are looking at, not as a paragraph in a separate Slack thread. The audit trail does the work of "we approved direction two on Wednesday" when, two weeks later, the conversation comes round again. Round-three feedback on the packaging system triggers a small change-order conversation — the original contract names two refinement rounds, so the additional round invoices as a separate change-order against the same project.
By month-end the milestone invoices for the three closed gates have fired; the finance dashboard shows revenue per project and effective margin (fee earned minus designer hours). The studio renewal conversations next quarter start with data, not the headline package price. The brand identity ships in week six; the hand-off pack lands against the hand-off milestone; the final invoice fires; the project closes with all source files archived against the client record for future asset requests.
What it costs vs your current stack
Most small studios carry a four-tool stack — a project tool, a proposal-and-contracts tool, a file-sharing tool, and a separate billing app. The monthly bill comes to roughly $130–200 before the first project of the month is invoiced. COLO replaces the four with one workspace.
| Tool | Plan | Cost/month |
|---|---|---|
| Current 4-tool stack | Trello + HoneyBook + Dropbox + QuickBooks | ~$150 |
| COLO Solo | Free | $0 |
| COLO Pro | Per user/mo | $18 |
| COLO Grow | Per user/mo | $24 |
You swap a $150/month stack for one tool that already does this work. Pro covers up to 5 designers; Grow covers up to 10 designers and adds the white-label client portal on the studio's custom domain.
FAQ
Q: Can we require client approval at each gate before moving on?
Yes — gate approvals are explicit in the workspace, timestamped against the milestone, and visible to both the studio and the client.
Q: Can a project have multiple designers with task ownership?
Yes — assign tasks per designer, see workload across the studio, and capture comments and decisions against the task so the audit trail is intact when the project is handed between designers.
Q: Can the client portal carry our studio's brand and domain?
Yes — the Grow plan includes a white-label client portal on your custom domain. See our pricing for plan details.
Q: How do we handle change orders mid-project?
Issue a separate change-order proposal against the same project. The client signs and pays for the extra scope; the original project keeps its agreed phases and budget.
Q: How does COLO compare with running Dubsado or HoneyBook plus a separate project tool?
For most design studios, the all-in-one collapses the booking-and-billing tool plus the project tool into one workspace. See the Dubsado comparison for a factual comparison and our post on best workflow systems for growing businesses.
Q: Can we share a working file from Figma or InDesign inside a COLO task?
Yes. Drop the Figma or Sharepoint URL onto the relevant task; comments and approvals happen in COLO; the live editing stays in your specialist tool; the trail is intact.
Q: How do we run a sub-contractor designer on one project without giving them access to others?
Invite the sub-contractor as a workspace user with access only to the projects they are staffed on; they never see the rest of the client book.
Q: Can we track per-designer hours and effective rate per project?
Yes. Time entries log against tasks; the finance view shows hours-per-project per designer and effective rate per project — useful for the next quote conversation.
Q: Can we run brand-identity work and ongoing retainers in the same workspace?
Yes. One-off identity projects use milestone billing; retainer clients use a recurring monthly invoice; the workspace handles both shapes without forcing one structure on every client.
Q: How do we invoice in the client's currency for international brand work?
Each client record holds the invoicing currency; the milestone or recurring invoice issues in that currency; the finance dashboard converts to the studio's reporting currency on the day the payment cleared.
Pricing
See our pricing for Pro (up to 5 designers) and Grow (up to 10 designers, white-label, custom domain) plans. Solo is free forever for the founder before the team grows.