5 votes

Organizing graphic design files

Posted by rip_rike
Tags: ask.advice, design.graphic, technology, file management, organization

hey there tildes—

the job i’ve had for the past year has included heavy graphic design. i’ve never really done graphic design before so i’ve just been winging it and learning as i go. as time has gone on and the projects have become more complicated, i wonder if there’s a standardized way of organizing complex (or complex to me at least) projects in Illustrator (or for me, Affinity Designer).

one example— i create labels with 3-9 slight variations to be printed and attached to physical items (jars, in my case). these variations of the same design are roughly 75% the same, with the 25% being the “flavor” and associated text/colors. i also have to export as a layered pdf for the printing company since we don’t have the necessary equipment in-house.

another example (more related to InDesign or in my case Affinity Publisher)— a product catalogue. there are something like 30 pages and it’s just a huge click-fest of layers and nested groups.

are there any graphic designers here that have any insight on best practices when organizing large files or even practical ways to split up files?

3 comments

  1. [3]
    rip_rike
    Link
    i don't know if this is helpful or not but here are some screenshots of one project for design of a products packaging

    i don't know if this is helpful or not but here are some screenshots of one project for design of a products packaging

    2 votes
    1. [2]
      xk3
      (edited )
      Link Parent
      This seems pretty standard. Layout and graphic design is pretty click-intensive. Not sure if there's a way to get around that 100%... However, if you find you're doing a lot of similar tasks there...

      This seems pretty standard. Layout and graphic design is pretty click-intensive. Not sure if there's a way to get around that 100%...

      However, if you find you're doing a lot of similar tasks there are two key things which might help:

      1. Shortcuts. You don't have to use the built-in ones if they are difficult to remember--you can usually remap them to something else. But I imagine something like learning Indesign's Go To Page shortcut (Command+J on Mac or Ctrl+J on Windows), or other navigation concepts will help you bring down the number of clicks that you need to do.

      2. Automation; eg. InDesign's Data Merge to template out different types of projects (the product catalogue sounds like a great candidate for this), Photoshop Actions, etc. There are usually ways to macro out repetitive tasks in Adobe programs.

      Non-destructive editing... I'm not too familiar with Affinity Publisher but maybe you could use filter / "Adjustment" layers to change colors... or once you have a design locked down and the colors are approved move that specific color/flavor to its own file.

      Maybe you could make the Art stuff its own file:

      1 vote
      1. rip_rike
        Link Parent
        automation/macros is a great idea — i’ll look into that! i did recently discover the data merge feature in Publisher/InDesign and it’s really great for data-heavy information like pricing,...

        automation/macros is a great idea — i’ll look into that!

        i did recently discover the data merge feature in Publisher/InDesign and it’s really great for data-heavy information like pricing, categories, etc.

        i haven’t considered having “art” as a separate project file but i think that might make the project feel a lot more organized.

        thank you for all of your tips!

        1 vote