How to get more from your design projects with 'editable design files'

Have you ever received editable design files from your designer at the end of a design project?

Editable design files or ‘working files’ as they’re sometimes called, are different to the ‘artwork’ or ‘production’ files your designer provides to you at the end of your project with them. They’re the actual design software files your designer has used to create your design project outcomes, and not every designer will provide them to you as standard.

As a designer who does include editable design files in their handover process, I wanted to shed some light on what they are exactly, how to store them effectively, and when and how to use them for best results.

Having a basic understanding of how these files work will allow you to make the most of the design projects you commission, and will help you to know when and how to repurpose your past design projects to save you time and money.

So without further ado, let's get started!

What are editable design files?

To answer this, let’s look at the two main types of files that you (as the ‘client’) may receive at the end of a freelance design project (excluding website design projects and some digital design projects) from your designer.

‘Artwork’ or ‘Production’ files

These are the final creative outcomes of your project, provided in a format that's ready to be used, produced or published. They’re designed to be used as is, rather than edited or adjusted in any further way, as they are considered the final version of the design.

‘Editable’ or ‘Working’ files

These are the design software files your designer has used to create your designs during your project together. They contain all of the creative elements that make up your final design outcome, as well as important settings and specifications that allow your project to be exported correctly for production or publication when the project is complete.

These files can be edited by anyone who has access to the appropriate software, but in their current state, are not suitable for production or publication without first undertaking an export process.

Why they're valuable for design clients

Editable design files serve an important purpose in that they allow a commissioned design to be repurposed in the future for similar use cases. As the client, they allow any design-savvy or technologically-proficient member of your team to make small adjustments to your commissioned design outcomes post-project in order to reuse them in new marketing contexts, without the need to involve the external freelance designer each time.

From a freelance designer's perspective, handing over editable design files to the client at the end of a project allows the designer to focus on producing new creative work for the client, which can often be a more effective use of their time. It's also a way to offer more value per project to the client, as each project has the potential for future reuse. Finally, it's a gesture of goodwill, and helps to form a positive working relationship between designer and client.

Fair usage expectations

If your freelance designer does provide editable design files as part of their handover process, it's important to be aware of the underlying expectation that you'll use them honestly and responsibly. Unfortunately, some businesses have been known to take advantage of their designer’s goodwill, performing major adjustments to editable files as they attempt to use them in a variety of inappropriate contexts – all in an effort to avoid paying for further design work.

This is a real shame, and having experienced it myself, I can say that this behaviour greatly reduces the quality of design outcomes and has a negative impact on brand image, aside from being unethical and damaging to hard-working sole traders like me.

When to use editable design files

Fair usage of editable design files includes repurposing of past designs for similar use contexts that require minimal adjustment to the design as a whole. There are no hard and fast rules here, but you can use the following questions to help you decide whether or not it's suitable to repurpose your editable design files for a new use case:

1. Is the use case of your new campaign similar to that of the previous campaign?
2. Can you make adjustments to the text that closely match the length and style of the existing text?
3. Can you keep the majority of existing design elements where they are in the design?
4. Can you keep to the existing layout, whilst swapping in new text/elements in place of originals?

If in doubt, it never hurts to reach out to your designer and ask for their opinion.

What to expect from your designer

Every freelance designer has a different policy when it comes to providing editable design files to their clients, so it’s important to check with yours at the beginning of your project if this is a feature they offer. There are many factors that influence this decision for a creative professional; the desire to protect one’s hard work developing unique intellectual property – and to protect the misuse or abuse of this intellectual property – is paramount, as is the need to maintain one’s value as a service-provider.

In my case, after weighing up these considerations, I maintain the belief that the benefits of providing editable design files outweigh the potential downsides, and factor the value of editable design files into the quotes I provide. In saying this, I do feel responsible for providing an abundance of cautionary information in relation to their proper usage, as misuse can be incredibly harmful and damaging to a client’s brand image and awareness, as well as their marketing results, and I definitely want to help my clients avoid these pitfalls.

Accessing and storing editable design files

In most cases, a remote freelance designer will upload your editable design files to a Cloud storage service like Google Drive or Dropbox alongside your artwork/production files, and send you a private link you can use to access them from your devices.

Once you’ve gained access to your files, it’s important to download them promptly and store them safely on your internal systems, ideally renaming and organising them in such a way that in one, two or five years time, you’ll be able to locate the files and make any necessary adjustments without too much difficulty.

I also recommend that clients save a backup copy of each of their editable files, in case they are mistakenly overwritten during editing, accidentally erased or corrupted as a result of a virus.

Making adjustments to your editable design files

I'm planning to write a seperate article covering some of the basic editing processes clients can undertake on their design files, but for the purposes of this article, here are some general editing tips to review with your design-savvy team member before making any adjustments:

• Use professional design software to make your adjustments - I recommend the Affinity Creative Suite, which is an affordable and highly effective software for clients of all sizes.
• Take the time to familiarise yourself with the basic functions and tools of your design software, especially text editing tools, how to hide and show layers, and how to save and export your files.
• Take a ‘less is more’ approach to making adjustments to your designs. The less changes you make to the design, the more the original integrity of the design is maintained.
• Aim to replace headings and areas of text with an equivalent amount of new text where possible.

Summary

Unlike artwork or production files, the provision of editable design files from your freelance designer gives you access to edit and adjust your commissioned design outcomes freely, allowing you and your team to re-purpose them in highly similar future use contexts. By storing these files carefully for future use, and understanding what constitutes an appropriate use case (and thereby avoiding abuse of the designer’s goodwill), a responsible client can maximise the value of their commissioned design outcomes over the long-term, and maintain a healthy working relationship with their designer while they’re at it.

At Healthy Designs, I believe in providing these kinds of files to my clients after every applicable project, and if you think these kinds of files might be of benefit to your business or organisation, why not give my service a try for your next creative project?