File Formatting

 Importance of file formatting

Looking after your files and keeping them in an organised state is of paramount importance for the upkeep of all the work. Files need to be simple and obvious of their contents just from their name and place of save. So much so that if you walked away from your device and another worker had to access your work it must be easily findable and self explaining so they may continue; this can even extend into the adobe softwares as well - when working for IVH we were told if we did not organise all of our layers into titled sublayer we had to start again (e.g. all paths in 'Path' group or all text in 'Text' group) that way the next person can go through your layers completely aware of your steps taken.

The way you label and name your files also affects their uploads, if you had multi usage of special cases in a video file that then needed to be opened in a website - not only does it look unprofessional it can cause the video to malfunction upon upload.

File Types

.PNG - supports transparency and can be layered within other images. Typically used as in web imagery for its diversity and usually the format used in logo's so it can be layered without excess memory being taken.

.JPG - The staple of saving images; mainly for its extreme diversity in memory usage. A jpg can be manipulated to make the file a large size with a higher quality image resolution or a very small file that may be used as a widget, icon or just needs to be sent smaller. Very popular with photographers and any image making.

.GIF - moving image that can only be use and viewed on the web. You also will not loose any data of the gif if the image is compressed making it more popular for site usage. A gif can be animated or it can also be a static image. 

.PDF - Better for documents, a PDF can withhold multiple type of media within a single file; images of almost any format can be embedded into it and then presented as a single PDF formant. It also allows you to make documents at a higher quality, making it perfect for job applications and CV's.

Ultimately it depends on your purpose of the image and where it will be when you are choosing a format, but organising your files in a way that is more easily found allows you to go between the formats with ease.