How to properly organize your design files forever

I had a nice subtitle for this article somewhere, but unfortunately, I can't find it.

“Wait, maybe it’s in this folder. Did I e-mail it to myself? Doesn’t matter, it’s on Google Drive anyway … if only I knew on which Google account. Let me find my password real quick”.

Judging by the (sometimes hilarious) messy trail left behind by myself, my coworkers, and the interns I had the pleasure of working with over the past twelve years, it’s become clear to me that many designers, regardless of their age and status, struggle with one thing: structure. And by “struggle with”, maybe I mean “neglect and give zero fucks about”.

When you’re solo, structure doesn’t seem to be a priority. I get that. I was like that, too. And in all honesty, when it comes to solo or pro bono projects, I’m not half as organized as when I’m working on agency stuff. But, sooner or later, the mess comes back to haunt you. You just can’t find that one goddamn file, which you are absolutely sure of you saved to that external hard drive. “Wait, maybe it’s in this folder. Did I e-mail it to myself? Doesn’t matter, it’s on Google Drive anyway … if only I knew on which of…