Package, file info and document setup in Vectornation
File > Package gathers the drawing, images and a fonts report; File info writes SVG and PDF metadata; Document setup and templates start each job right.
The beginning and the end of a job are where small mistakes cost most. Start a drawing at the wrong size or in the wrong colour mode and you fight it all the way. Send a printer a file with missing images and the job stops. Vectornation by Zaweba has a set of plain, practical tools for both ends: Document setup and templates at the start, and File > Package and File info at the finish.
Starting right with templates
The templates cover common jobs: print sizes, business cards, posters, social media sizes and icon sets. Starting from one saves measuring and gives you a drawing that is already the right shape. A business card template, for instance, starts at the right size for a card, so the layout is right from the first object you draw.
The Start screen offers new drawing sizes too, and recent drawings, so most jobs begin there.
Document setup and colour mode
Document setup is where you change a drawing's basic settings after it has been made. Colour mode matters most. Work for print usually belongs in CMYK, and work for screens in RGB. Choosing the right mode early means the colours you pick are colours the final output can actually show.
If a job changes, say a web banner that now needs to be printed as a poster, check the document setup before carrying on, rather than discovering the colour problem at the end.
File info
File info stores details about the drawing, and they are written into SVG and PDF metadata when you export. Title, author, copyright and description travel inside the file, where search tools, asset libraries and other software can read them.
For illustrators selling or licensing work, putting your name and copyright in File info is a sensible habit. For studios, it helps files stay findable years later.
Package for the printer
File > Package gathers what a printer or colleague needs: the drawing, the images it uses, and a report of the fonts. Linked images that live in folders all over your computer are collected together, so nothing is left behind.
The fonts report tells the recipient which fonts the drawing uses, so they know what must be installed, or so you can decide to turn type into outlines before sending.
Package is often the better choice than embedding every picture. It keeps large images as separate files while making sure they all go together.
How these fit with print output
Packaging is one part of handing over a job. For printers who want a single PDF, the PDF export, preflight and print-ready PDF tools are the main route, and the package is useful as an archive or for a printer who wants working files. Many jobs use both: a print-ready PDF for the press, and a package kept for future changes.
Small things that save trouble
Choose the template or size before you start drawing, not after. Resizing a finished layout is always more work than starting at the right size.
Fill in File info once, as a habit, and it will be there when you need it.
Check the fonts report before sending. A font licence may not allow you to send the font itself, in which case the printer needs to have it, or the type needs outlining.
And open a package folder before sending it, to make sure everything is really inside.
