Photoshop: Icon workflow issue (set up & export)

[tobiaso98500488]

Hi everyone!

I am close to losing my mind about the following set up issue while trying to create an icon set template for my company:

There is an icon set, consisting of two layers:

     1) just the basic black symbols

     2) the background

The goal is to be able to:

- group icons in folders to apply layer styles to all icons at the same time

- quickly scale the icons according to the requirements of upcoming icon sets

- change all backgrounds at once

- export all icons at once while keeping the single file names consistent for each icon set

As this is going to be a template, also provided to freelancers, i want to keep it as self-explanatory as possible and to avoid complicated batch loops.

To fulfill all of the goals mentioned above, I tried the following methods so far:

# One single workspace:

Having all icons layered upon each other and only one background layer brings me close but doesn't allow me to quick-export the layers with their file names, as i can't export the icon + the background at the same time.

# Artboards:

Focusing on export, this is perfect. Setup: 1 artboard per icon, created and copied a smart object for the background layer in order to change all backgrounds with a single modification. Big disadvantages for the workflow: The icons can't be grouped anymore, so instantly applying a style to all icons in the foreground is impossible. Also the scaling lacks of comfort, as i have to scale every icon on its own (if i don't want to change the scaling of the background).

# Slices:

Quite similar to the artboard method, with the advantage of grouping items, thus applying styles to all icons with one click. With the limitation of gradients: Still i can't apply gradients to a group as the gradient area will always refer to the whole workspace. Still the same issues about scaling all items at once.

So this is where i am, stuck.

Could anyone please save my day with an idea?

Thx, Tobias

[davescm · Accepted solution]

Have you tried option 1 but with layer comps? It sounds like it would achieve what you want

Dave

[tobiaso98500488]

Hi Dave!

1) No, i haven't

2) Now I have

3) You saved my day!

Thanks a lot!!

Tobias

[davescm]

You're welcome

Dave