Staying organized
Wednesday, 25 July 2007 @ 8:02Hey artists and designers- let’s talk about organization. What are some of your methods or tricks in staying on top of things.
Specifically, how do you keep your email inbox clean? Do you divide into subfolders? Recently I’ve decided to delete at least 12 old emails daily in order to not have to spend a huge amount of time every to often cleaning it out.
What about saving files? When I am working on a project in the digital realm I find that after I am done I have a ton of files of different stages of the image, different file types, etc. What’s a better way?
What about the organization of files on your computer? Files seem to be all over the place on mine.
How about keeping track of clients, potential clients, projects, unpaid projects and so on?
Let’s hear your solutions…
Wow, only twelve emails? That wouldn’t make a dent in the average of 100 emails that I receive each day. I handle email much differently than most do though. I do not keep any email longer than 30 days (automatically purged from my Trash) and new emails are dealt with immediately or within a few hours. Very rarely does a message linger in my Inbox for longer than twenty-four hours. Thus, I have no folders for organization. I personally don’t understand how people can function with all of the clutter of years worth of emails still in their client, let along in their Inbox. How do you know what’s new and what needs your attention? I file important things that people send me away as files.
In regards to saving files, I have a very organized system that I have implemented for file storage and access. I have a separate directory for each project inside of which I place files into the following sub-structure: assets, comps, final, proofs, requirements, and source. I also have a web server running on the file server so that I can send URLs to clients for comps and proofs, avoiding the need to email attachments around.
“Requirements” is where I put all of the creative briefs, requirement documents, and copy that I receive from the client. Assets such as photography, illustrations, and other graphics are saved in “assets.” The source files (my Photoshop, Illustrator, or InDesign files) are in “source,” named with the convention “projectname(source_1).psd” with the number incremented for each version. Comps are saved into “comps,” with each revision saved as a separate file and named with the convention “projectname(comp_1).pdf”. Proofs are saved in “proofs” named as “projectname(proof_1).pdf”. And, finally, the final artwork is saved in “final” named according to it’s color and optimization, like “projectname(4c_press).pdf” or “projectname(2c_screen).pdf”.
In regards to how I organize the master project directories, I name them a numerical name that is automatically generated by a project management system. My personal favorite is Tasks Pro, but I have also run effective systems using @task. This allows me to have a sortable and searchable archive of projects and clients that I can look back through and keeps the files organized in a consistent manner. This is especially beneficial when you are working with a team larger than just yourself. There is never any question as to where the files should be saved or where to find something from the past. I have even created an Automator workflow that appears in Finder’s contextual menu (right-click menu) that prompts for the project ID and then automatically creates the project directory and the six subdirectories described above.
For tracking clients and invoices, I am actually surprised that I have not implemented an application-based system for tracking this yet, as there are many—even ones that will automatically generate invoices for you. I guess I am too much of a control freak, wanting my invoices to be pretty and considering the time that I spend to type each one manually in InDesign worth it. I current keep track of all invoices, projects, clients, quotes, agreements, etc in plain text files, with unique IDs for each, group in directories for each year.
Wow. It sounds like organization is onw of your strongpoints. Not mine. I’ll have to make a copy of your post and spend, perhaps, an entire day implementing everything, which would save me tons of time in the future.
As for the “12 emails”, I don’t receive 100 emails a day, (not real ones, anyway) but this was referring to 12 OLD emails. I delete plenty more newer ones I have already responded to.
Thanks for your response- this should really help me.
I generally get about 50-100 work-related emails a day, then who knows how many personal emails on a variety of other accounts.
I am like Wade and try to deal with them as soon as I can. I generally flag things according by type, and delete the rest. My mailbox in Outlook is grouped by flags. That helps me keep track of deliverables for events.
Generally I just delete things when I am done. Then leave everything in my deleted folder for about 6 months, just in case I need to pull an old email. I can’t tell you how many times having those deleted emails has saved my bacon. :)
I’m pretty well organized, all of my files go into a client fold (headed by a three digit short code: UGA - Utah Graphic Artists) then organized by date, client code and project (07-07 uga response_topics). Inside that folder are three more folders: Admin (all those signoffs, requirements, client provided copy, etc); Draft (all that crazy stuff you don’t want to organize) and then Final - finished piece with printer files.
My emails are about the same – client folder with short code, then date and project name. Anything in the inbox gets dealt with quickly – it’s either filed, acted upon or trashed. I keep my inbox completely cleaned out. (I have a separate folder of HOT! items that aren’t in the inbox but can’t be filed or trashed yet).
When a project is complete I archive the emails and throw them in the job admin folder. I’ve learned to never throw away a client email – archive them, they are small. Then, if you ever need it you have a CYA file (cover your ass…ets).
I use Mantis (a php based bug tracker) to keep track of open projects, again pretty same naming convention (see a theme?) client with short code, project name, status.
It sounds like a lot of work, but I’m the creative director at a credit card company and we have a lot of clients and a lot of projects (I’ve had up to 120+ open projects on the bug tracker at a time). Once the system was in place and I convinced my employees to follow at least the job archiving system (you’re email is your own deal unless you loose something critical or miss a job because you’re inbox is a mess) it’s much quicker in the long run.