The Design Phase and the Design / Install Tabs
Turn on the design phase for an event and split each sign into its design half and its install half.
Most signage work has two halves that get muddled together: getting the design agreed, and getting the thing on the wall. The design phase separates them. Turn it on for an event and every sign that enters design gains Design | Install tabs, so the artwork conversation stops cluttering the install job and vice versa.
Availability
The design phase is part of the customer portal, available on the Business and Enterprise plans. It is a per-event setting and is off by default.
Turning it on
- Open the event and go to the Settings tab.
- In Event Details, find Design phase.
- Tick the box and save.
The help text reads "Adds a Design tab to Signs and lets customer users request signs and review artwork."
Turning the design phase off again is always allowed and never cascades. Existing requests, design history, artwork and comments are left exactly as they are — they simply stop being shown.
What changes when it is on
- Signs list gains a Design column showing each sign's design status, and a design-status filter.
- Sign detail gains a Start design button in the Actions card for signs that have not entered design yet.
- Signs that have entered design get the Design | Install tabs.
- Customer users on the event get a Request a sign button and the artwork review step.
Getting a sign into the design phase
Either you press Start design on an existing sign, or a customer raises a request — a requested sign enters design at status Requested. Signs that never enter the design phase show no tabs at all and behave exactly as they always have.
What lives on each tab
| Tab | What is on it |
|---|---|
| Design | The Design card (current status and the buttons that move it on) and the Request card (the brief the customer submitted, plus their location photos, with Edit request). |
| Install | Special instructions, Change Status, Review Sign, rejection notes, Assigned Contractors, install Photos, the QR Code and the install reference guide. |
| Both | Sign details, the map preview, description, artwork and faces, Customers, comments, reference documents, edit history, status history and the Actions card. |
Artwork sits on both tabs deliberately — it is the hand-off point between the two halves.
The page opens on Design while there is still design work to do, and on Install once the sign is ready for or sent to print. That means the tab you land on is usually the one you wanted.
Install photos live in the Install tab's Photos card. The photo the customer attached to their request is a location photo and lives inside the Design tab's Request card instead.