Organising and documenting files and iterations is one of those things that you end up having to do as a designer. Depending on your company, it’s size and your team, finding a system that works for you if one isn’t already in place can be daunting.

Having a project file template, so that when you’re starting a project you can simply duplicate a standard template that already contains all of the relevant pages or slides is a game changer. A thumbnail template might also help. Consider including details on the project’s progress in the thumbnail template, so that you can see the most relevant information at a glance.

Keep similar iterations together if you can. This will help to add context from previous drafts to new designs and will make looking back easier. Working on a similar section in the one file might help to improve consistency.

A central repository that links out to everything else can be helpful. As you’re thinking about organising, not everything has to happen in the one place. When it comes to organizing your files, it is less about the tool itself and more about everyone in the team being on the same page. A shared understanding of where everything is and one person who makes the call as to where that place should be is the starting point for a more organized file management system.

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03.10 – Catch up

05.55 – How do we organise a company-wide system

13.52 – Individual file management

17.44 – Managing changes

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