Layer comps: several versions of one design

Design work rarely ends with one version. There's the poster with the red headline and the one with the blue, the menu with the photo on the left and the one with it on the right, the logo with and without the strapline. Keeping each as a separate file means every change has to be made several times. The Layer Comps panel in Paint by Zaweba keeps them all in one document.

What a layer comp stores

A layer comp is a saved state of your layers. It records which layers are visible, where they are, and the state of their Layer Art. Save one, change things, save another, and you can switch between them at any time. The panel restores each state exactly.

What's important is that the comps share the same layers. If you correct a typo in the headline, the correction shows up in every comp that uses that headline layer. You edit once, and all the versions stay up to date.

Building a set of versions

Start by building everything you might need into one document. Put both the red and blue headlines on their own layers. Include the photo and position it for one version. Add the strapline.

Then set up the first version: show the red headline, hide the blue, put the photo on the left, show the strapline. Save a comp. Now set up the second: hide the red, show the blue, move the photo to the right. Save another. Carry on for each variant.

Click a comp in the panel and the document jumps to that state.

Jobs layer comps help with

Showing options to someone else is the most common. Instead of sending five files, open one and click through the comps side by side.

Different layouts for different uses can live in one file too, as long as the canvas size stays the same: a version with a price, a version without.

Before and after views of an edit are easy to keep, with one comp showing the adjustment layers and one hiding them.

Variations of effects, like a headline with a shadow in one comp and a glow in another, use the Layer Art part of the comp.

Keeping comps tidy

Keep a note of what each comp shows, in the order you saved them, so you know which is which when you come back a week later.

Revisit the comps after big changes. If you add a new layer, decide which versions should show it, set each one up and save it again as a comp.

Keep the content changes on shared layers and the differences in visibility, position and effects. That's what comps capture, and it keeps the file working.

What comps will not remember

Expecting comps to store edits to pixels is the common misunderstanding. A comp remembers visibility, position and Layer Art state, not paint. If you paint on a layer, every comp sees the new paint. For a version with different pixels, use a separate layer and show or hide it.

Forgetting to save after setting up a state is the other. If you set up a variant and then click another comp, the unsaved arrangement is gone.

Layer comps are a planning tool as much as an editing one. Thinking of a design as a set of states from the start makes it easier to explore, and Paint by Zaweba keeps them all a click apart.