We’ve all had a negative customer experience at some point. We just didn’t get what we thought we were going to get. Maybe the product didn’t look exactly like it did on TV, or it was missing parts, or broke as soon as you tried to put it together. We’ve all experienced it, and we can all agree: it’s frustrating!

We tend to stop purchasing products when we’ve been disappointed by the manufacturer. After all, why should we continue to buy after we’ve had a negative experience? On the flip side, a happy customer is a returning customer. A positive user experience means that we’ll tell all our friends about how great the product is.

So why are we talking about customer satisfaction with purchased products on a Royalty Free stock website? Well, because we’re a company that supplies a product, of course. Downloaders are our customers and we want to keep them happy. But how can we be sure our vector files meet our customer’s expectations?

We’re here to help. We’ve put together a few quick and easy construction tips for illustrators that will help ensure our customers receive a clean, easy to edit, professionally presented product.




Let’s start at the very beginning and set up our document properly. It’s important to pay attention to document sizes and where the vector shapes will be located on the artboard. When you create a new document, think about how large your actual vector file will be: Don’t use a big artboard if you’re not planning on filling it. If your final vector is going to be small, then by all means make a smaller artboard, then center your illustration on the page.

Yes, we all know that vectors can be scaled and moved around within a document, so maybe this isn’t an urgent technical problem. But it’s definitely a presentation problem. Starting with a huge or too-small artboard is unnecessary and could possibly confuse novice vector and Photoshop users when they import the file into another program.

When choosing a document size it’s a good idea to think of standard print sizes: letter size (8.5” x 11”), greeting card sizes (some standard card dimensions include 4” x 6” or 3” x 5”) and so on and so forth. You don’t need a 40” document: hardly anyone needs a file that size, and it can be a pain in the butt to deal with a file that large in a page layout program.

Building your images at standard sizes can also mean less editing for designers: they can use your image right after downloading without having to change the orientation of your image to fit their project. Making your files unnecessarily huge, or miniscule, only means more work for the customer.





Because the default background colour of an artboard is white, it’s very tempting to use white shapes to cover up any bits and pieces that hang outside of your artboard. While this is quick, easy and looks OK in Illustrator it’s also messy and becomes a big headache for customers.

If the downloader places an illustration containing extra white shapes onto a colored or patterned background, it ends up looking pretty awful. These extra shapes can also become a problem when the file is rasterized in Photoshop or imported into a page layout program: the outside shapes can show outside your file, and will need to be removed. This is a shame since the last thing we want to do is cause more work for the customer.





Live trace is a relatively new feature to Illustrator CS2, though autotrace software has actually been around for a long time now. Live Trace is so tempting! Why waste hours hand drawing an image when you can just import a photo and click a button? Voila, instant vector.

But beware: autotraced files can be a nightmare for both designers and printers. Autotraces can do really horrible things to an image, like adding unnecessary points and shapes, creating jagged curves, overly simplifying detailed areas, generating strange colors that don’t print right… the list goes on and on. Overall, Live Trace and autotrace programs can create way more work for the end customer, though it may have saved you an hour of illustration time. Is it worth it? We don’t think so, and neither do most downloaders.

Certain effects can be worth tracing, such as grungy strokes and textured effects The definitive line lies in the subject of your image: Does the rougness add the overall composition, or does it overwhelm the illustration? Has the detail been compromised? Could this illustration still be easily edited and pulled apart? If you’re autotracing an entire image, the answer to all of the above is almost always an emphatic ‘no’!

Whenever possible we ask that illustrators hand draw as much as possible in their images, or only use Live Trace on small portions of an image. We’re pretty picky when it comes to autotraces and expect them to be as clean and tidy as possible. Since you’re going to be cleaning up the autotrace anyways, it won’t take much longer to draw by hand, and the end result will be much better.





We all love layers. Without them, it’d be almost impossible to create a highly complex illustration. Layers help us organize our files and lock any shapes we don’t want to move by accident. They’re also handy for storing work shapes just in case we need to go back and retrieve something we drew earlier.

Designers love layers, too. It makes it much easier to find individual elements that need to be edited, and makes deleting unwanted shapes a breeze. Hooray for layers!

That being said (there’s always a catch!), there are good layers and bad layers. You don’t necessarily want to put every single shape in your file on a separate layer: this leads to a massive layers palette and makes it hard to navigate your illustration. Group related shapes and divide them into logical layers, and make sure you label your layers clearly.

Empty and hidden layers can also be tricky. It’s really easy to turn off a layer containing work shapes and then completely forget about its existence. It’s also easy to move shapes from one layer to another, and then forget to delete the empty layer. Having unnecessary hidden or extra layers in a file is easy for a customer to fix, but it’s sloppy and unprofessional looking.

Another good suggestion we have is make sure you unlock your layers before uploading. While unlocking a layer may seem easy to you, you need to remember that not everyone who downloads files is a genius in Illustrator. Many designers don’t use vector software for anything other than logo design, and a complex multilayered vector file is something they may never have worked with before.

Put yourself In a busy designer’s shoes for a minute: You’re swamped, have 20 projects to finish by end of day, and you now need to change the background color of a vector in order to match the brochure you’re working on. Your client doesn’t have a big budget so you need to work fast: any delays, and you’ll be putting in time you’re not getting paid for. So you download a file, open it into AI, and get ready to edit.

What gives? You’re clicking all over the place but nothing is happening. You can’t select any shapes for some reason. You only budgeted a couple of minutes for working on the file and you’ve already wasted time: You need this file NOW!

Rather than looking up a tutorial online, or going through all of Illustrator’s palettes to track down what you need, chances are you’ll ask for a refund and go elsewhere next time you need an illustration. You’re busy after all, and would rather spend your time working on your page layout, not twiddling with a vector file that’s not easy to edit.

Next time you upload, try to put yourself in the shoes of a busy designer! It might be annoying for you to unlock layers before submission, but would you rather take a minute to do it yourself, or risk frustrating a customer?





Sometimes we get so caught up in illustrating, we forget to clean up after ourselves. It happens to everyone! But as long as we all take an extra minute or two to tidy up our files before submission, our files will not only look polished and professional, but our customers will be happier too.