What is the worst thing you can do once you handoff your artwork to developers? Not having completed work. I have learned that developers do not like to guess. Reason is, they do not know what you are thinking, and they shouldn’t have to try and figure out your design.
But I am also not necessarily referring to missing pages within a website that you, the designer, honestly forgot about or just didn’t think about. I am also referring to the art files. If you give the developer an art file in which the layers and or groups are not organized, this just makes it a million times harder for them. Being organized within your files is very important. What I am going to do is give you tips that will help you become a developer’s dream designer. Another plus is, it will help you not pull your hair out late at night when you are skimming through your million of layers to fine the smallest design element.
Group Your Sections: Either create a separate page for each main section and all its subsections, or one massive psd with the whole site in its entirety, group them. For example, if I am working on a site with 4 main sections in the navigation, I will have each in a different psd. So make sure the developer knows what order they go in, I number them. Yes, I am sure that if they looked at the jpgs they probably can figure it out, but that takes time. Their work is already hard enough, make it as easy as 1, 2, 3….literally.
Clean up your files: For me being such a pack rat, cleaning up other people’s psds, is one of my favorite things to do. I know, strange, but I am the Monica Gellar of web file cleaning. So, as a designer, don’t be lazy. If you aren’t going to use a layer, don’t just turn it off… throw it away.
Communication is the key: Now, when the client has approved the design, and you have your files ready to go, help a developer out by creating some kind of document with thorough explanations. Have rollovers in your file? Write out where they are and what group they are in. Have a special way you want something to work? Take screen shots of examples, and or give links to examples. Basically, go through everything you can possibly think of. Doing this, you also should realize if you are missing anything.
When you think about these three steps, you really have to look at it as forming new and good habits. Trust me, the better your files and explanations, the more awesome your final piece will be.