Hello All!
I have a folder on my computer called “Design Elements”. In there, I store any stock images, vectors (mainly from stock sites), ideas I come across the internet that catch my eye, fonts and basically anything related to design for projects.
It becomes a pain when I’m searching for a particular vector, and have to go in to 100s of folders to find what I’m looking for- since each vector that I download comes in its own folder. What’s the best way to store vectors so they’re easily visible? Do you take them out of their original folders and store them in 1 main folder?
I usually use Bridge to view these files which speeds up the search process. Once again, to go into a folder just to find it’s not what I’m looking for, then back out into the main folder, is a pain…
I’m not sure if there’s a right way to do this.
( I don’t really store vectors — when i need them i search the one i could use online or i just do it myself)
what about organizing them in separate folders with their own topics/themes?
e.g. “Vectors” -> “animals” - “flowers” - “buildings” etc.
“Fonts” -> “Grotesk” - “Serif” - “Egyptienne” etc.
in the end we all have different work flows and preferences.
I use Bridge as well to view my “design elements” I keep them in different folders:
• Clipart
• Fonts
• Ideas
etc.
And yes, when I download them, I take them out of their original folder, and rename it if necessary so it is easier to find when looking.
Hope this helps
When you download them, add descriptive tags into the keywords block in the File Info. Bridge can see those.
I don’t have a good way to do this, but it’s never been a real problem for me either.
I mostly just break things down into jobs, then everything associated with that job goes into that directory, which might be broken down into sub-directories that match up to various aspects of the job, like original photos, completed files, preliminary files, working files, files sent to the printer, etc. Even if I can’t remember details months down the road, I always remember which job I was working on when I did something.
I never create separate directories for combining files that are separate from the jobs in which I used them.
I’ll also give descriptive names to the files that match up with words I would likely type in when searching for them in the future. For example, octoberredo3.psd would be a very poor name and likely never found again. A better name might be muskrat-face-whiskers-pond-autumn-fall.psd.
I’ve found that the first thing that pops into my head is usually the best name since two or three years down the road when I’m searching for those things, those key words will likely be the first things I think of to search for.
I’ve never bothered with Bridge — perhaps I should.