Adobe Illustrator - Workflow question

Author

Workflow question

zano472@gmail.com

2006-05-25, 3:21 am

I assume all of you (all of us) are in the business of working with
artwork on a fairly consistent basis. What I'm wondering is how
people/companies are preflighting and organizing incoming art?

For example, my company works with an array of various incoming art.
Art comes in as raster, vector, pdf's, even Word documents. Sometimes
we send it back to the customer and ask for different art. Sometimes we
forward it to a certain department and ask if they can work with it.
Sometimes we send it out to be redrawn.

What I'm wondering is how the heck do we keep track of it all? Over the
years we have ended up with an on-the-fly system that is really no
system at all. Art comes in to customer service, it's attached to an
email and sent one of several departments, it's worked on in the
department and then attached to an email again and sent to the customer
for approval, etc...

How on Earth can we keep this better organized? Are there workflow
programs out there that could help with this? We end up with hundreds
of folders - all various customer names (most are repeat customers)
with art in there that has whatever file name they sent it in with,
with no real good way of finding it later.

I would assume there must be full "workflow" programs out there that
could allow a 30 person company to track and store artwork a little
better?

Thank you :)

Z

JohnLouisville

2006-05-25, 3:21 am

If you are using CS2 there is the Adobe Bridge. It's sort of a database
respository in which you can add identifying keywords to artwork.....
which you could then query to find the image(s) you are looking for.

jbl

2006-05-25, 6:17 am

On 24 May 2006 19:32:14 -0700, zano472@XXXXXXXXXX wrote:

>I assume all of you (all of us) are in the business of working with
>artwork on a fairly consistent basis. What I'm wondering is how
>people/companies are preflighting and organizing incoming art?
>
>For example, my company works with an array of various incoming art.
>Art comes in as raster, vector, pdf's, even Word documents. Sometimes
>we send it back to the customer and ask for different art. Sometimes we
>forward it to a certain department and ask if they can work with it.
>Sometimes we send it out to be redrawn.
>
>What I'm wondering is how the heck do we keep track of it all? Over the
>years we have ended up with an on-the-fly system that is really no
>system at all. Art comes in to customer service, it's attached to an
>email and sent one of several departments, it's worked on in the
>department and then attached to an email again and sent to the customer
>for approval, etc...
>
>How on Earth can we keep this better organized? Are there workflow
>programs out there that could help with this? We end up with hundreds
>of folders - all various customer names (most are repeat customers)
>with art in there that has whatever file name they sent it in with,
>with no real good way of finding it later.
>
>I would assume there must be full "workflow" programs out there that
>could allow a 30 person company to track and store artwork a little
>better?
>
>Thank you :)
>
>Z

I have not used nor can I recommend them but two that come to mind are
Microsoft Project and Adobe Live Cycle.

jbl

Papa Joe

2006-05-25, 6:18 pm

1. all artwork should be saved as .eps or .tif high res and stored on a
network server.

saved files under the client's name and use subfolders:

Mcdonalds Restaurant
/logos/ b&w/color
/images/ low-res emergency/ high- res
/word document

everyone should have the right to pick up files off the server from any
computer,
but only a few can upload them after checksom. use server settings.

2. Use portfolio or another program to search in this directory alone.

3. make sure all coordinator/ graphic designers are trained to add
files when they come in and not pass the buck onto someone else. It's
part of the job approach.

Good luck on #3.

On 2006-05-24 23:32:14 -0300, zano472@XXXXXXXXXX said:

> I assume all of you (all of us) are in the business of working with
> artwork on a fairly consistent basis. What I'm wondering is how
> people/companies are preflighting and organizing incoming art?
>
> For example, my company works with an array of various incoming art.
> Art comes in as raster, vector, pdf's, even Word documents. Sometimes
> we send it back to the customer and ask for different art. Sometimes we
> forward it to a certain department and ask if they can work with it.
> Sometimes we send it out to be redrawn.
>
> What I'm wondering is how the heck do we keep track of it all? Over the
> years we have ended up with an on-the-fly system that is really no
> system at all. Art comes in to customer service, it's attached to an
> email and sent one of several departments, it's worked on in the
> department and then attached to an email again and sent to the customer
> for approval, etc...
>
> How on Earth can we keep this better organized? Are there workflow
> programs out there that could help with this? We end up with hundreds
> of folders - all various customer names (most are repeat customers)
> with art in there that has whatever file name they sent it in with,
> with no real good way of finding it later.
>
> I would assume there must be full "workflow" programs out there that
> could allow a 30 person company to track and store artwork a little
> better?
>
> Thank you :)
>
> Z

--
Listen to Papa Joe

Robert

2006-05-25, 10:18 pm

True and you can always add a letter at the end of each file name when corrections has been done to the original.

You can also create a database with MS access or MS excel and enter all kinds of info on the file etc.

There is no limits the only limits is the user.

Theres is no such things as a dumb puter only dumb users.

Most of the time the problem is sitting 18 inches away from the screen.

All the best

Regards

R
"Papa Joe" <brown.joey@mac.com> wrote in message news:2006052513194916807-brownjoey@maccom...
1. all artwork should be saved as .eps or .tif high res and stored on a
network server.

saved files under the client's name and use subfolders:

Mcdonalds Restaurant
/logos/ b&w/color
/images/ low-res emergency/ high- res
/word document

everyone should have the right to pick up files off the server from any
computer,
but only a few can upload them after checksom. use server settings.

2. Use portfolio or another program to search in this directory alone.

3. make sure all coordinator/ graphic designers are trained to add
files when they come in and not pass the buck onto someone else. It's
part of the job approach.

Good luck on #3.

On 2006-05-24 23:32:14 -0300, zano472@XXXXXXXXXX said:

> I assume all of you (all of us) are in the business of working with
> artwork on a fairly consistent basis. What I'm wondering is how
> people/companies are preflighting and organizing incoming art?
>
> For example, my company works with an array of various incoming art.
> Art comes in as raster, vector, pdf's, even Word documents. Sometimes
> we send it back to the customer and ask for different art. Sometimes we
> forward it to a certain department and ask if they can work with it.
> Sometimes we send it out to be redrawn.
>
> What I'm wondering is how the heck do we keep track of it all? Over the
> years we have ended up with an on-the-fly system that is really no
> system at all. Art comes in to customer service, it's attached to an
> email and sent one of several departments, it's worked on in the
> department and then attached to an email again and sent to the customer
> for approval, etc...
>
> How on Earth can we keep this better organized? Are there workflow
> programs out there that could help with this? We end up with hundreds
> of folders - all various customer names (most are repeat customers)
> with art in there that has whatever file name they sent it in with,
> with no real good way of finding it later.
>
> I would assume there must be full "workflow" programs out there that
> could allow a 30 person company to track and store artwork a little
> better?
>
> Thank you :)
>
> Z

--
Listen to Papa Joe

Doug Winger

2006-05-25, 10:18 pm

In article <1148524334.734147.281950@j73g2000cwa.googlegroups.com>,
zano472@XXXXXXXXXX wrote:

> I assume all of you (all of us) are in the business of working with
> artwork on a fairly consistent basis. What I'm wondering is how
> people/companies are preflighting and organizing incoming art?
>

> I would assume there must be full "workflow" programs out there that
> could allow a 30 person company to track and store artwork a little
> better?

Nothing specific, but here's a few things you might keep in mind and
consider.

A workable method isn't that hard to come up with. Sit down with the
people in the trenches and kick around ideas until you have something
that's generally agreeable to all involved and reasonable enough to work
with your infrastructure. If it turns out to be necessary, invest in the
supporting software and/or hardware. Invest the effort in seeing if a
home-grown solution can be achieved. Those usually work a lot better
than an off the shelf solution, which isn't always the best fit for your
situation.

Something as simple as filing by client account in the various
"departments" might be enough, though with that many people you're
looking at something a little more centralized. Work ticket tracking can
avoid the necessity of a central file repository (And aid in scheduling)
though it's no panacea. Somewhere, there's got to be a central well of
information that all the involved can access.

It's a matter of finding a method that will work for most people and
doesn't impose a disagreeable amount of effort. Efforts should best be
directed at satisfying the clients and getting work done and not keeping
the paperwork filled out in triplicate, but there's got to be some time
spent in keeping track of things and keeping some degree of order.

Then- and this is the important part- enforce it. Make it standard
practice and part of the job description. Allow for later review of
effectiveness and for amendments that lead to improvement or turn out to
be needed to fix things- and always keep an eye out for better
solutions- but never allow any of that to happen on an ad hoc basis.
Things work a lot smoother when everyone knows what to expect.

- Doug