In a studio environment when working with many designers and operators it can be very difficult to maintain a recognised workflow for images that have been modified for various print media.
Personally, adding certain abbreviations to the end of an image filename can save much time, confusion and headaches.
For example; a professional photographer supplied high resolution RGB 300dpi image for a new advertisement campaign. Obviously the image will need to be optimised for various scenarios including press, magazine and large format printing. However before preparation for these formats the client has as requested some Photoshop work to enhance the image.
Firstly, the original image must be archived to an ImageServer in its original format. Secondly, Photoshop enhancements are applied and saved as a duplicate copy.
Lastly, various preparations for the desired output scenario are applied and again re-saved as another duplicate.
Applying simple abbreviations to the end of the original filename, images will be easily identifiable to all operators within the studio. The final filename may look something like: originalimage_psd_cmyk_gcr_usm_sm.tif which would explain the various processes that the image has been through – saving time and frustration.
A general list of abbreviations may include the following:
_cmyk (converted to CMYK)
_gcr (grey component removal applied)
_usm (unsharp mask applied)
_adj (Photoshop work has been done)
_sm (image have been resized smaller)
_lge (image has been resized larger)
This approach will benefit the next operator to easily identify weather a retrieved image will be suitable for another medium.