Graphics Reference
In-Depth Information
archiving strategies in the next section) as well. Use a camera to shoot the piece for
identification, add text (including where you've stored it if you're absent-minded!),
and print the page.
Document now: the further you are from creating the artwork, the more you
won't remember. It's most efficient to do this all at once—scanning batched photos,
or hiring someone to shoot your work—but it's better to do this work in smaller
clumps than to be caught empty-handed.
Keeping traditional materials in good order is painless compared with organiz-
ing computer files. They are hard to recognize, harder to find than a buried piece of
paper on a messy desk, and all too easy to delete. Even if you start naming and filing
every project starting today, reorganizing all your previous projects is exquisite tor-
ture. Fortunately, there are useful strategies that can at least deaden the pain. Most
of them work best if you combine them with an archive made with database or
catalog software.
To organize your files, you'll have to master six disciplines:
• Group
• Na
e
• Show
• eed
• Catalog
• Back up
Group
The first step is to keep your working files in order. Everyone is occasionally
guilty of hurriedly saving a file on the desktop. But if your desktop becomes the
home for all your files and folders, you'll waste valuable time hunting for work when
you need it, and even more time trying to clean up between projects. Here are some
grouping guidelines:
I would hope that my project hard
drive could be easily navigable by a
stranger, typically starting broad
(like “Columbia”), then being divis-
ible by course, followed by category
(“diagram,” “3D models,” “render-
ings,” etc.), then lastly organized
by date.
•
Use folders.
Create a separate folder for
each client or project series. Each time you
start a new project, create a new folder inside
the client's folder. Put new files in the
appropriate folders when you save them the
first time.
—John Locke
