File Organization

[Bobbigirl]

Would anyone be willing to share how they organize their files (Documents, Supporting Images, Image Archive, etc.)? We are starting to revamp our Server to make room and be more efficient. It's kind of a jumble right now, so I'm just looking for ideas.

Just wondering if anyone would share what works best for them?

[SharkFinStudios]

I start with the company name and then I usually have a part number as the folder name or the job name/number. Inside of that folder are 2 folders - Original (which houses any original artwork provided to me) and an Artwork folder which houses my working files. Inside the Artwork file I keep an Images folder for ALL images and a Links folder for the files that are in the file itself. Heirarchy looks like this:

Company Name
>>Job XXXXX
>>>Original
>>>Artwork
>>>>Images
>>>>Links

Good luck in your set up. :)

[Virgo Nightingale]

Everything on our server is organized by client, then job #, and within the job folder is the main project file(s) and then a folder for images used in the layout, another for pdfs, another for original untouched images, and another for any other documents provided by the client. There is one folder on the server labeled "_ARCHIVE" for finished projects, arranged by what DVD they will eventually be burned onto (mostly by segment of the alphabet like A-C, D-G etc., though some clients have their own set of archived discs if we do enough work for them). The folders in the archive only have the main file(s) and a folder for used images and layered images; aside from the occasional special client-supplied font, everything else gets trashed. Once an archive folder reaches about 4 GB, we burn it onto disc and remove it from the server.

[(gra-ph!c-D'sig-nah)]

Burning and archiving old files and projects! Labeling and so on!

[PrintDriver]

You don't say what it is you are really trying to organize but it sounds more like Data Asset Management rather than riding herd on jobs.

If you are trying to do DAM, there are several server based options out there. I haven't really road tested any of them as I work on a more 'per-job' basis myself but since my marketing cohort in crime is thinking about trying something like maybe Cumulus to organize all the marketing layouts and image files, I've been looking around.

Anyone have some decent suggestions?

[urstwile]

When I first started working where I work, they didn't do anything on a server, it was all on Zip disks! :eek:

Over time, I was able to convince them, with the help of a former co-worker, that we really needed to get a server and a backup system.

Initially, the organization of the files on the server was all over the place, but now, generally, our files are organized like so:

Client Folder
>Job Number/Project Name Folder
Working layout files
>>Support folder containing the following four folders:
Original Images
PSD Files
Final Images
Assets (like Word docs for copy, etc.)

When it comes time to archive, which is my responsibility, I go by the date of projects. We archive everything to two sets of DAT tapes, one set for onsite, one set for offsite. In addition, we do a daily incremental backup to a 400 GB external hard drive, and swap that out every two weeks.

[balou]

When I first started working where I work, they didn't do anything on a server, it was all on Zip disks! :eek:

I just choked on my diet Coke. ;) Cripes. What were they thinking!

[urstwile]

Well, it was 10 years ago, and they hadn't hired me yet. ;)

[PrintDriver]

I'm not sure the OP was talking about job management.

Some companies have huge image/project template libraries that need to be kept sorted with keyword and all that (sorting is why the Great Goo invented interns:)).

[urstwile]

I dunno, PD, I'm pretty sure she was talking about file organization. I guess we'll see when and if she posts back.

Having had to do a similar thing back in the day when I first started my job, that's what I thought she meant.

[Bobbigirl]

Basic file organization - I was curious, so thank you for the feedback.
One other thing...

We have A LOT of images from our in-house photo studio, which we access constantly. We have 3 designers that all access the same photos, so if one is updated, it can be difficult for the other to know.

Sounds like we need better communication, but with super-tight deadlines (of course!) and having 100's of images/job (catalog) we overlap and use the same iamges quite often.

We keep all photos in one place on our server, kind of like our photo database. If we placed the images we were using in the job folder, we'd have another duplicate, so we don't do that.

We also use these images over and over again throughout the year, so we try to keep them in one place where we can all access the most recent image.

It's the time in between that screws us up -- from the time the item is brought to the photo studio to be shot to when we get the final image back from our colorhouse/printer (after printing).

Our images get the following pass-through: Photo taken, photo gets silo/shadow in photoshop, photo is saved to general photos folder, image pulled for job and added to a "current" folder, photo collected with job and sent out-of-house to printer, photo color-matched (out-of-house), final photo sent back and added to our "final" photos folder.

On top of that, we just started a new numbering system to clean up the file names alone, so we have MORE duplicates.

[PrintDriver]

If I revise an image, I add REV and a date to the file name. On occasion, I use the File>File Info to keep track of what was revised.
Yes, you'll have duplicates but do you really want your designers modifying the original copy of an image?

Sounds like you need two systems in place. One for job archiving and one for Data Management.

[Bobbigirl]

Well, we keep the original photo that was shot in the studio, so if anything were to happen, we can always revert back to that.

We have 2 main photoshop people. Pretty much all they do is take the original image, convert it to CMYK, silo, shadow, and save a duplicate lo res image for file placement. They do this with almost every image that is shot in our studio.

Sometimes in the middle of a job, we request them to change a logo, for example.