We’re highly process-driven at Q&A. Our files follow very specific naming conventions, project folders on our server are organized identically for each job. And inspired by NASA, we have lots of checklists: a moving to first art checklist, release checklist, and proofing checklists.
Over the years, we’ve had some resistance from new hires in our office. We’ve heard the complaints, “I can’t be creative if I have to follow any rules!” But soon, most everyone grows an appreciation of our systems and insistence on organization. Clients, printers, and vendors alike have sent us notes marveling how thoroughly organized our files often are. It has reduced mistakes and headaches and has made archiving and searching for files infinitely more efficient.
By the wrap of our projects, we know our files are pretty darn clean and no one has to hunt around for the links. We have very few wrinkles to iron out.
There was a time in graphic design when you had multiple people working on your piece with you. You had a typesetter, an illustrator and/or photographer, the printer—not to mention other creatives who might review your work.
With the exception of a typesetter, you could argue that we still have most of that process intact. But for many designers, you’re doing the bulk of this work yourself. If the work is digital, you’re most likely adding in the additional step of development. Yes, there are platforms to write the code while you design, but you are still taking on additional tasks.
And for print projects, many use online printers that send a PDF for inspection. There’s no press operator who has the experience of bringing out the best in your design, offering suggestions to “make it pop,” and catching that typo you missed in paragraph 3, line 4.
Q&A’s “Release Art” Checklist
Inspired by NASA test pilots, our catch-all release checklist has expanded, contracted, and splintered off other checklists. We use it as our master list for final creative work leaving our hands and going to a client, developer, or printer. It allows four members of the project team to focus solely on quality control. Depending on the role, some checks overlap while others are specific to a team member’s role on the project.
Before the pandemic, we utilized hard copies that physically routed the office—with one final checklist showing everyone had signed off. Since then, we’ve incorporated it into our project management platform (we use Basecamp) as a series of to-dos that are copied into each project at the start.
Yes, our project release checklist is pretty darn heavy on the print side of things. We come from a print background and continue to work on a lot of print projects. We’ve also found that many of the same checks for print, hold true for digital in the end. Is the logo correct? Are brand colors in use? Is everything spelled correctly? Plus, digital specs and technology change so rapidly, our digital release checklists were growing too long to be a feasible final check. So this one has stuck as our final. If a line item doesn’t apply to a particular project, we just skip it.
Having checklists doesn’t mean you’ll never have anything fall through the cracks. What it does is cultivate a mindset and take away the burden of having to remember every detail. A checklisting system creates a headspace purely for quality control, rather than relying on those checks while actively working on a project and mentally juggling many other factors.
Want to incorporate a checklist into your workflow? > Download our project release checklist and use it as a starter to build your own. Good luck!
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