Let’s say you have a new job as a designer at an agency, studio or corporation. Most likely you will be working with a team of other artists to create inspiring works of art and designs for the business. Are you ready for your first day of work? The evolving and creative graphic design business, known as Designz by Jamz has compiled these 10 Photoshop practices that will have you and your team, in step with your fellow creative co-workers in no time.
1. Utilize smart objects:
Smart objects are a clean way to add filters, transformations and text while allowing your team members to view the original.
2. Use layer colours:
Labelling your layers by colour can help your team distinguish between different kinds of objects on the canvas.
3. Share access to fonts:
Make sure that the font you want for a project is present before beginning work. Share access of the fonts to your team so they can work with them. If you are working with Apple Macs, Font Book is a great way to store your fonts — you can also create folders relative to the style of typeface or perhaps per client you work with — customise it as your business wishes.
4. Delete unused layers:
You have been working on a draft and are happy with the results. Remember to delete any layers you are not using before sending the file off to your team — this aids in efficiency in the design process.
5. Minimize file size:
As a designer, you know that Photoshop files can become tedious. Be smart about your file sizes and remember to remove any elements you are not using before sending the work off to your team or clients, as you do not want to send one email per file to each of your clients, every time!
6. Use folders to group elements:
Combine layers on your canvas that share a relationship into one folder — be sure to work systematically to stay organised.
7. Clean up your guides:
If you are using a lot of guides in your document, remove the unnecessary ones and leave relevant guides for your team to keep the document clean and easy on the eye.
8. Keep things changeable:
Remember to keep your layers editable. This means not rasterizing any element of the document until the team agrees to it.
9. Leave notes for direction:
Leave small notes on the document to help guide your team.
10. Name your layers:
Name the individual layers that make sense to other designers. Do not send team members duplicate layers. When you or another co-worker opens the file at a later date, the layer labels should be easily identifiable.
Visit the blog at the Designz by Jamz website for more creative tips and information on graphic design, branding, creative inspiration and much more!
