From working with wide range of projects, I have learned one thing: designers are lazy (sometimes myself included). Most often it comes from our desire to get a quick signoff and move on with the next project. While several posts could have been written on this, I offer here a few suggestions guaranteed to make things at least a little bit easier in the end:
Name your layers and folders....
From working with wide range of projects, I have learned one thing: designers are lazy (sometimes myself included). Most often it comes from our desire to get a quick signoff and move on with the next project. While several posts could have been written on this, I offer here a few suggestions guaranteed to make things at least a little bit easier in the end:
Name your layers and folders.
What the heck do “Layer 234” and “Block Right Copy 23” mean? Have you ever tried to work with someone else’s files and find that one layer within several hundreds of them?
Make sure you cover most case scenarios.
Nothing can be worse for integration developers to guess how something needs to look or interact. Design for the worst case scenario first and only then look at the best case scenario — you are always good at that!
One file to rule them all.
By using one Photoshop file and doing all work there, your edits will be easier and you will avoid the duplication of work. Layer Comps have been invented for a reason – use them!
Don’t use perfect images.
Are you using great looking images to hide the flaws of your design? Consider your job well done only when you can sell your stunning design to the client with any kind of image in it.
None of these suggestions require major effort, right? By turning them into habits you can simply later work and make friends down the project line! The world becomes such a better place!
Do you have any suggestions for those lazy designers?
About the author
Jānis Lanka, equal parts entrepreneur, designer, and coder, enjoys the hybrid perspective that comes with this multiple identity. Captivated by innovation, he is particularly drawn to fresh thinking in areas such as entrepreneurship, e-commerce, marketing, design and user-interface. Currently he is heading front-end department at Elastic Path Software.
Editor’s note
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