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Meet the new Asana

blog.asana.com

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Re: Meet the new Asana

#31

Post by mortenjorck »

state wrote: post #17

I have used Asana for years always wanting to like it. It's almost what I want and it's nearly done right. I think this is it for me though. Don't think I can look at those serifs for very long. Overall the design just feels way overwrought and without any clear organizing idea. The margins are all over the place, there are lots of controls that are way too small. The page looks messy and difficult to focus on. To wh…

Yeah, I have some design issues with the fonts.

Typographically speaking, Amasis (the serif type now being used for headlines) is an odd choice for a pairing with Proxima Nova (what they are continuing to use for everything else). It looks a bit awkward at the size and weight they have it because it's actually a slab serif (check out https://www.myfonts.com/fonts/mti/amasis/) and the slabs turn into slightly chunky serifs on standard-DPI screens (though it does look a bit better on Retina). This, combined with a similar visual weight to the other text, contributes to the lack of contrast you describe.

What I'd advise is either bumping up the weight on Amasis to increase the contrast and disambiguate the slab serifs, or better yet, switching to a nicer overall serif type such as Hoefler & Co's Mercury Display (http://www.typography.com/fonts/mercury-display/overview/).

Re: Meet the new Asana

#32

Post by quotewall »

pspeter3 wrote: post #10
jhpaul wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I really like a lot of what you've done, though there's still some polish needed (I love that you do polish weeks). Asana has been fantastic to work with, and it really makes it possible to do my job. Thank you! One thing I'm sorry to see continue to go unfixed is the inability to copy and paste text out of MS Word or Outlook into asana without losing formatting and having the spaces removed between words. I've spoke…

When was the last time you've tried? We support some amount of formatting https://blog.asana.com/2014/06/rich-text/

But no Markdown support. :(

Re: Meet the new Asana

#33

Post by trhway »

lemevi wrote: post #29
pbreit wrote: post #24

Despite how crowded this category is, the options still all seem to be pretty rough. Does anyone really like their project management software?

I think the real problem is email. It's this antiquated technology that doesn't fit into the modern software as a service tools everyone uses to get things done. Email worked in the world of desktop apps but the snail mail paradigm email emulates is antithetical to the real-time fast paced team collaboration everyone is trying to achieve. Yet nothing manages to replace email, we depend on email above all else and wha…

>Email worked in the world of desktop apps

actually it worked well before that.

> the real-time fast paced team collaboration everyone is trying to achieve.

Resist. Just say no. No pasaran.

Re: Meet the new Asana

#34

Post by dreamdu5t »

> The new Asana is designed to give you a feeling of calm and focus (ahhh…). When you first start a project, it looks like a simple sheet of crisp, white paper. But as you work, elements animate and light up in delightful ways (oooh…). When you complete tasks and get results with your team, Asana celebrates with you—and sometimes a flying unicorn does too.

Does anyone else find this tone off-putting? I think it's the telling me (or insinuating) how I will feel part that bugs me. Like if I went into a store to buy a bottle of water and they insisted on telling me how refreshed I will feel after I drink it. It's over the top.

Re: Meet the new Asana

#35

Post by andhess »

I am a big fan of Trello for their simple column view. I've found it to be the most efficient way to understand the state of any of my projects with just a glance.

I've wanted to like Asana for a while, but I always get annoyed by the inability to visualize the lists. Seems like the status quo is unchanged.

Re: Meet the new Asana

#36

Post by aroman »

pbreit wrote: post #24

Despite how crowded this category is, the options still all seem to be pretty rough. Does anyone really like their project management software?

After trying dozens of personal productivity tools for web/mobile/desktop (and writing my own Asana clone[1]), about 2 years ago I settled on Trello. I use it every single day, many times a day. I find it's the perfect balance of flexibility and simplicity for me. Plus it's free.

Having said that, when I've tried using Trello with teams, I tend not to like it nearly as much.

I think the Hard Problem with team productivity tools is optimizing for both individual organization and organizing individuals. I've never found a tool that's good enough at both for me to be fully satisfied.

[1] https://github.com/aroman/keeba http://keeba.jbha.org/about

Re: Meet the new Asana

#37

Post by flavor8 »

pbreit wrote: post #24

Despite how crowded this category is, the options still all seem to be pretty rough. Does anyone really like their project management software?

> Does anyone really like their project management software?

I've been a JIRA user for 10 years+. Flirted with Redmine, Asana, Trello, Pivotal. Recently Atlassian pushed me over the edge, and I've started migrating my projects to YouTrack. Really impressed so far; been using it with one project for about 4 weeks. I haven't come across a "how do I..." yet that doesn't have an answer.

Re: Meet the new Asana

#38

Post by chuckcode »

I've gotten a lot of use and a lot of value out of Asana and much appreciate all the great work they have put into the product. I'm liking the new UI and love that they kept the celebration unicorn in the updated version (under myprofile settings->HACKS). For me Asana does a great job of making it easy to organize things, which I find possible but more hassle on other systems. The UI is quite nice for web based and it is easy to create, track and search for tasks. It is one of those tools that is reaching a complexity point that I'd like some additional demos on how people get the most use out of it.

I also appreciate that they have an iphone app as I can add things on the go or in meetings which is really important to avoid dropping tasks for me. My main wish is that they made it easier to create tasks in the iphone version as currently there is a lot of separate (mostly empty) screens to create, assign, and add a date for a single new task on the iphone version.

Re: Meet the new Asana

#39

Post by lemiffe »

Moved to Wunderlist a year ago after years of using Asana (and previously Do), now I'm wondering if it was the right choice. They really put effort into simplifying the experience.

Re: Meet the new Asana

#40

Post by chuckcode »

dreamdu5t wrote: post #34

> The new Asana is designed to give you a feeling of calm and focus (ahhh…). When you first start a project, it looks like a simple sheet of crisp, white paper. But as you work, elements animate and light up in delightful ways (oooh…). When you complete tasks and get results with your team, Asana celebrates with you—and sometimes a flying unicorn does too. Does anyone else find this tone off-putting? I think it's the…

If you don't like that tone, definitely don't watch the video as it has zero details and is all jargon about "teams working smarter" without so much as a screenshot or product details.

I can see how the whimsical tone might not be for everybody but personally I don't mind the tone so much. I read it more as them conveying what they were trying to accomplish with their design choices.

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