Organizing layers with objects, documents, and artboards in mind

As we discussed in Using the Artboards panel to your advantage section, multiple artboards allow you to have separate documents on each of them and even scale them to the exact size of the document. This allows you to host a variety of output media within one document, such as a business card, letterhead, and envelope design. One of the key benefits of preparing them on separate artboards is the ability to output each one as a separate asset when needed. To output artboards separately, you can use the Export for Screens command. Artboards also allow you to store and present multiple items or concepts within one file. If you do intend to collaborate or present an Illustrator file, then it will be very beneficial to keep everything logically organized.

In this section, we are going to look at how the development of the layers can maintain greater control of your work and result in less confusion and difficulty at a later...