Clean your PSD's
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- bulletfactory0
I find myself going back and renaming layers and dumping unused layers if I need pass it off. Face it, the developer doesn't want to wade through a bunch of shit. If your PSD is a total mess, you risk the final product not coming out right, because it may not be clear to the developer.
- Deleting and naming layers is not the same thing...modernstyle
- i am aware; general cleanup is what i was referring to.bulletfactory
- Boz0
^ not sure what needs to be clear and how can a PSD influence the look of the final product? You can already see the design. THere's nothing confusing about that. The PSD is there to provide you with individual elements as a separate objects.
I'm not saying you should give away dirty PSDs because deliverables should be clean.. I don't like doing that but sometimes you just don't have a choice because everyone is in a hurry and they say never mind.
But the bottom line is that one should know how to use Photoshop. Looking at layers for example is a very RARE thing for me. CMD+Click or right click and pick the layers below your mouse is how I work and makes naming layers and things much less of a problem.
Making clean PSDs for production is really a courtesy and professional thing in the end but certainly not a requirement.
- I've seen developers forget to turn off certain layers because they were subtle, and not groupedbulletfactory
- may as well just send all flattened deliverable to the developers yourself.bulletfactory
- Might as well not send me a PSD like that. I'd send it back.CyBrainX
- animatedgif0
^
Learn to do your job properly- lol.. stfuBoz
- if you're using CMD+click and not looking at layers, you're playing with bullshit simple documents.antagonista
- kona0
like a boss. yes, it's a small bit of extra time up front but my developers all love me for it. it makes their job so much easier, and faster.
- the header is usually up in global but i had pieces of the hero layer over the header, and it was easier to dump it below.kona
- I agree, it only takes an hour to clean up a really messy PSD, probably less, and that is worth itmonospaced
- i don't clean them up. i do this on the fly a majority of the time if i can. if i'm working fast it's all ad-hock, but usually i do this while i work.kona
- so if it takes that little then what's the problem? And those who take the files can always charge for that time?Boz
- it's MUCH easier for the creator to make it clean than someone seeing it for the first timemonospaced
- and yes, doing this as you work is preferable, but as Boz pointed out, not always the fastest solutionmonospaced
- kona0
layer 125 copy copy
layer 26
layer 56 copy
layer 45 copy copyright click doesn't mean a thing when those four layers are all over top one another in the same area, and by name you can't distinguish between the 4 of them. so you spend the time searching for what layer it is, when a simple right click and you see
right arrow
main background box
button - main cta
vertical slider
you know immediately what layer you need.
- modernstyle0
Focus on deliver good work instead of focusing on bullshit like naming layers. That's why Photoshop got features like Auto-select. It takes more time for a designer naming layers for the lazy developer, than it should take for a developer to find the "right" layer. When I started in the business we couldn't even name the layers :P
- exactly!!!Boz
- some of us can do bothkona
- but I bet you don't do it like that right away. you do it when you are about to give the file to the devs.. correct?Boz
- nope. i do it right away. because... what if i'm sick? someone else can jump in and immediately know where everything is at.kona
- everything is at. it's efficiency all over. and i bet over the course of a design i maybe spend 15 minutes naming. it literally takeskona
- what, 2 seconds to name a layer?!kona
- but how do you know what layers will be in what groups.. when I design I don't necessarily know where things will end up? Sounds fishy :)Boz
- will end up? Sounds fishy :)Boz
- so pathetic watching people try to justify their incompetenceanimatedgif
- Sounds like some of these slobs haven't even used the program for more than a week.CyBrainX
- Boz0
As I said, if it's that small of an issue with time then it's not a biggie. Especially since a developer or another design can always charge for that time cleaning up the file.
Oh I get it, you just want to do the "fun" stuff and charge money as easy as possible right?
I can't tell you how many times I've gotten source code from developers that looks like SHIT! I had to go through mess left and right.
If you thought naming a few layers is a problem, wait till you pick up a complex website or an app from someone. And you can't even fucking charge for that because you will lose 2 days just figuring out what this previous idiot was doing.
So yeah, much ado about nothing. So you have a few layers ungrouped and need naming, bit deal. Take an hour and name them yourself and then charge that extra hour to the client.
I am not disagreeing that PSDs should be nice and clean and neat like Kona's. I do that most of the time but sometimes I am involved at the very early stages of the designa nd I don't really think about production and cleaning PSDs that that time. I have to think about functionality and design of site or an app or whatever.. By the time it gets to the developer I would have already cleaned it, but in some cases the client/agency is asking for files immediately after the first round of designs and they ask for it immediately where you don't have time to fix it but have to send it as it is.
- Everything can always be done better and nicer no matter what. A great designer/developer should be able to get into someone else work easily. Code and Photoshop layers is also a BIG different and I don't think you can compare that reallymodernstyle
- fyi, not every comment in this thread is about you, Boz, so don't get so damn defensivemonospaced
- yes it is about me because Kevin is working on my file.Boz
- and I'm not defensive, just talking about in general. It's not a huge deal either way. It's not like you'll spend days dealing with it.Boz
- ok ok ok, just relaxmonospaced
- Boz = douchelord.antagonista
- kona0
all those computers and you still can't clean your psds
:)
- Boz0
@modernstyle
PSD and code are different beasts though.. Code can span across multiple files, different classes, functions and methods called from another file and if developer is not good and you don't have comments on the code it becomes a nightmare because the whole structure of the code logic stays in the original developer's head and it takes a new developer 2 days to go through the code to realize what this other guy was thinking.
- bulletfactory0
^ just look at it as job security :)
- my point is.. naming and grouping layers in a single file is nothing to write home about.Boz
- and it's ironic that in most cases it's coming from the people who give away code like I described. Hypocrisy at best.Boz
- totally agreebulletfactory
- rookie talkantagonista
- Boz0
In the end..I'm saying... I don't have issues with people giving me a messy PSD because I don't even pay attention much to those layers. I CMD+click things, I access text objects by directly clicking them with Text Tool and Photoshop automatically selected that layer..
If i need to organize it for myself i will quickly group them together.. I don't need to name every layer but I will sometimes group them and then name groups etc..
As I said, never had a problem with that and I got files as much as I send out..especially when you work with movie stuff, studios, agencies etc.. I get all kinds of PSDs..
It was never a problem.
- The text tool is the only one that grabs the right layer accurately. I'm betting you've been around long enough to know that.CyBrainX
- mekk0
ask for assets.
- animatedgif0
So fucking funny watching people make pathetic excuses for their incompetence in this area.
Can't help but lol at some of this.
- so much you had to write it twice.. Learn to do something you little shit before you comment on something or someone.Boz
- someoneBoz
- Boz, our resident defensive 12 yr old.antagonista
- Boz0
You know what's funny animatedgif.. incompetent losers who don't know how to do really anything, who have to create new accounts to troll threads because their real identity is pathetic and worthless. LOL
But, since you are using a mac to surf a forum, that makes you totally an expert, LOL... idiot.
- ugh, it's when you cross the line and make pointless comments like this that it gets weird, manmonospaced
- it's not pointless.. I can't stand worthless pieces of shit making insulting digs at me when they are useless and ignorant.Boz
- Boz = tool of the ages. Mono, no clue how you even converse with this assclown.antagonista
- spot130
- That's Boz licking the nutsack of the latest droid.antagonista
- animatedgif0
Sorry Boz, couldn't find touchedanerve.gif so I had to make one for you
- did you make that in Fireworks? lolspot13
- I did actuallyanimatedgif
- Didn't name the layers thoughanimatedgif
- CyBrainX0
The argument that you're saving time by leaving a trail of shit is invalid. You're not the only one working on that file. Even if you are, you cannot escape the fact that you won't find a layer easily by right-clicking. And if you rasterize a logo or anything else intentionally, then I will stab you with the pen tool.
- ouch. I'd rather blunt trauma with the eraser tool.antagonista
- PonyBoy0
I'd just like to say that these are the CLEANEST PSDs I've EVER received...
... carry on.
- I'm sorry you've had all crappy PSDs in your life.antagonista