Organize Creative Assets by Client, Campaign and Stage
The client asks for the banner you delivered in March. There are five files with almost the same name, two of them say FINAL, and the newest one was edited a week after delivery by someone trying something out.
The short answer
Client, then campaign, then stage — working, review, approved, delivered. The stage level is the one most structures omit and the one every question depends on, because what is asked of an asset is which version was signed off rather than where the file lives. A workflow uses the Read Details from File step to identify the client and campaign, the Rename step to name files date-first, and the Move step to file them by stage, so the current version is the newest rather than the one with the most emphatic filename.
Steps this uses
Before and after
What actually changes
As they arrive
- banner_final.png
- banner_final_v2.png
- banner_FINAL_revised.png
- banner (1).png
After the workflow
- Acme Corp/Spring 2026/Working/2026-03-02-banner-hero.png
- Acme Corp/Spring 2026/Review/2026-03-05-banner-hero.png
- Acme Corp/Spring 2026/Approved/2026-03-09-banner-hero.png
- Acme Corp/Spring 2026/Delivered/2026-03-11-banner-hero.png
One asset through four stages, where the approved version is identified by which folder it is in rather than by its filename.
Setting it up
Described once, then it runs
This is the sentence. Send it to the builder and the steps below appear on a canvas, wired and named, for you to change before anything runs.
When an asset arrives by upload, email or Slack, read the client and the campaign off it, rename it date-first, and file it under that client and campaign in Working, Review, Approved or Delivered.
Add the stage level
Working, review, approved, delivered. Most agency structures stop at campaign, which is why the approved version has to be identified by reading filenames and asking people who were there.
Date-first names, no version words
The Rename step writes the date. Version numbers in filenames are a manual counter that two people increment independently, and FINAL is not a version, it is an aspiration.
Catch what arrives in Slack and email
A revised asset is as likely to arrive as a Slack attachment as a proper upload. The Messaging and Email Attachment triggers pick those up so they land in the campaign rather than in a thread.
Copy into delivered, do not move
What was delivered has to stay exactly as delivered. Keeping a separate copy means later edits to the working file cannot quietly rewrite the record of what the client actually received.
FINAL is not a version number
Version words in filenames are a counter maintained by hand, by several people, without coordination. Two designers both produce a v3, somebody adds FINAL to distinguish theirs, and the next revision becomes FINAL_revised. The information the name is trying to carry — which one is current — is exactly the information it fails to carry. A date carries it correctly and nobody has to decide anything.
Delivered has to be a copy
The most expensive version-control failure in an agency is not losing a file, it is a working file being edited after delivery and later mistaken for what the client received. A delivered folder holding its own copy makes that impossible: the record of what went out is frozen, and the working file is free to keep moving. This matters most when a client questions something months later.
What it does not do
It organizes files and keeps stages distinct. It does not diff two images, tell you what changed between revisions, manage brand rights or usage terms, or run an approval workflow with sign-off. A DAM handles rights and a project tool handles approvals. This makes sure the file each of those refers to is the right one.
FAQ
Common questions
How should creative assets be organized in an agency?
Client, then campaign, then stage — working, review, approved, delivered — with files named date-first in ISO form. The stage level is what most structures leave out, and it is the one that answers the question actually asked: which version was signed off.
How do you avoid the Logo_final_v3_FINAL problem?
Take the version out of the filename and put the date in. A version word is a counter maintained by several people without coordination, so it stops being reliable the first time two of them edit in parallel. A date needs no coordination and sorts correctly on its own.
Should delivered assets be moved or copied?
Copied. What was delivered must stay exactly as delivered, and moving the working file means later edits silently rewrite the record of what the client received. A separate copy costs storage and prevents the most expensive version mistake an agency makes.
Does this replace a DAM?
No. A DAM holds the approved brand library with rights and usage rules. This organizes the working files around it — the drafts, the client sends, the Slack attachments — which is where the disorder usually is. The two answer different questions.
Which one was approved?
Answered by the folder it is in, not by counting the FINALs.
5 GB free · No credit card required