- [Voiceover] I work with ad agencies, design firms,
and in-house art departments all the time,
and when I'm provided with design assets
I get to see how other creatives organize and construct
their vector artwork.
I've observed the good, the bad, and the ugly
when it comes to vector-based logo files.
So in this movie I wanna reinforce the importance
of using grouping and isolation mode
to make your logo designs easy to manage and to use.
So here's an example of one logo iteration,
they ultimately went with a different design direction
for the final logo which came out great but,
I like this motif but when I create a logo design
I group it in such a way so when I present
the final logo art to the client
and it's provided to a vendor to either run out
t shirts, or banners, or signage,
I set it up in such a way so it's easy for them
to use the logo and it's not gonna cause
production problems or hassles of use
or they move something and it ruins the design altogether.
And what I mean by that is you can click on this logo,
and I can move this around anywhere as showing here
and if I click into this, if I select it
and double click into it,
you can see up here we have a grouped logo
and now I'm in to the first group,
or the isolation mode for this logo,
and when I'm in the isolation mode,
I can select just the brand mark,
and you can see that this is also
grouped as its own element.
I have the type here grouped as its own element,
and then down below I have the subtext here
grouped as its own element.
So if I wanted to move these flames for some reason,
I'd have to double click into this secondary group
and you can see we've gone into a second category
of isolation mode, all of this is not available
to me now, the logo type and the subtext,
but now I have ability to select just the drop
with the character in it or the flames on each side.
So this is how I'll set up a file
and this way if a client uses this,
they could copy and paste this
to a new app and everything's in the location it should be.
Nothing moves, nothing gets tweaked or forgotten,
and that's important.
It's a simple process but you have to get in the habit
of doing this or you're gonna cause problems
for other people when they go to use your logo files.
So let's take a look at the exact same logo
but in this case, if I provide the logo
to a client and I'm not using groups
and therefore doesn't set up anything for isolation mode
then I'm gonna cause problems,
unless they're paying attention and they select like this,
this is good, and they can move it if they
select it like this.
But as soon as it's deselected they can't just simply
grab a shape and start moving it because
it'll start pulling apart and they'll go,
well no I don't want that.
And if they move this drop part, you know,
these inner parts aren't part of it
because it wasn't set up that way.
It wasn't organized in such a way.
If they grab the type, you know,
nothing is set up as compound paths,
all these are separate pieces,
they might be able to pull this away
which is a compound path, but the bullets
in between them are left behind.
So it makes the usage of the file really hard.
What you wanna do is set it up in such a way
that none of this happens and it works
as a unified whole.
Let's take a look at another design.
When I present concepts to a client,
I don't build out the final artwork all the time,
I try to get it visually what I want it to look like
on the final without committing to certain types
of building methods.
So on this one, this is one secondary branding graphic
for this company and it's a more horizontal based one
they can use to create stickers for example.
Now I wanted to show them this idea
but I didn't wanna edit this artwork,
so you can see how it's running through
the wrench of this character,
that's because this is grouped to look like
it's supposed to, but if I double click
into this isolation mode here, you can see
I have a white shape that's behind the wrench
right here and this white shape is just
overlapping this badge graphic I created
to give the illusion that it's overlapping
without destroying the original art.
So when I comp something up, I'll comp it up like this
but let's take a look at the key line view here.
You can see how it runs through
where the wrench is, you know, in the key line view,
but when I set up the final art if I go
to key line view you can see it just cuts in to
that shape.
So it's the same exact visual aesthetic as the comp,
it's just set up for production ready art
which is important.
So once again, this is all set up using groups,
so I have it grouped so if I click in to the isolation mode
I have the character grouped, I have the backgrounds
on its own, I have the type group.
So I wanna go into the character and now
that I'm into the character nothing else is available.
So I use grouping to form that isolation mode
to control and manage this mark.
And I do that on every logo iteration
I provide to a client.
Now once again, when I'm comping up a design
I may know right up front that eventually
I wanna use the context of this logo in this case
a custom typography for Deluxe,
I wanna use it in other contexts
where it's not nested with this spade shape
that's part of their primary brand.
So in my comp I set it up like this where you can
see these shapes overlap each other.
The outline of the deluxe and everything
but visually it looks right, but production-wise
it's not ideal to deliver the final art
in this manner, although I've seen a lotta logo files
kinda set up like this.
And they do use grouping but the problem with that is
as soon as something comes ungrouped
it could very easily kinda mess up the design.
So I would embed this altogether into
its own shape and form for this iteration of the logo mark.
So what you end up with is artwork that is precise
and everything locks into place.
So it's just a creative habit to get into to work this way
but the more you do it the easier it's gonna become.
It's gonna facilitate usage of the marks,
so this shows and example of their primary brand
printed on the front of a growler and then
using an iteration of that logo type
on the back of the growler that's unnested,
doesn't have any of the other information around it,
just focuses on that type alone.
So that's the flexibility of managing
your logo assets this way.
If you don't organize and manage your art well,
now is the time to make this a new creative habit.
It ensures others will have less chance
of messing up your design when they go to use it.
Digital methods give us precision and the ability
to really button up a design and manage it well.
So take advantage of these features.