Version control for graphic files

Version control system is a software system that allows you to easily store and manage multiple version of the same file.

The versions of the file are identified using increasing numbers. Version control systems are traditionally widely used by software engineers, but the concept of controlling file versions is being adopted for many applications such as Wiki-pages and office documents (for example, the “Track changes” option in Microsoft Office).

Version control systems usually consist of some sort of a database or repository that invisibly stores the versions of files for you. You as a user don’t need to worry about this repository – usually the software takes care of connecting to the repository and saving files. Also, repositories usually only store the difference between 2 versions of files and not the files themselves, and the difference between 2 versions of a huge file may be just a few kilobytes, so it’s more optimal to use a version control system rather than to save multiple versions of files manually.

So how can you as a designer benefit from using a version control system?

Imagine that you are working on something. At some moment you think that it’s perfect, so you save the file on the disk. But then you have an inspiration, and you change the background and the font. Now you have 2 versions and you are not sure which one is better, so you save the second version in a separate file and as a result you have 2 files instead of one. After some time it’s so easy to forget which version is which, so when you need to find some particular version you have to open both files. If you have more that 2 versions the situation is much worse because you have to store many copies of your file and you have to open all of them to find the version that you need.

Version control system can significantly simplify this situation. As mentioned before a version control system is a database that stores all the versions of your files for you. When you save the first version of the file, you just submit it in this database (in case of Timeline it’s as easy as clicking on a button in Photoshop). Later, when the second version is ready, you submit this version too. Together with the file itself you can add some comments explaining what exactly has been changed in this version and why. Now, if you decide that the first version was better you just ask your version control system to get you that version, and it replaces your file with the first version. You always work with the same file and the versions of that file are stored separately. If you need some particular version of the file you just “get” it, and the file is replaced with that version.

Also you can quickly check the comments to the versions of a file to remind yourself what was change in each version.