Asynchrony Solutions Blog

Photoshop Variables for Software Design

by BJ Self on September 9th, 2010 at 12:37 pm

As a UX Designer for Asynchrony, I’m educated in 3D animation and modeling and have been exposed to all of the major 3D software packages, as well as Adobe Photoshop. However, I find myself using Photoshop more than any of my 3D software. I love Photoshop, but I really missed one particular feature that almost every 3D package provided.

The ability to link one file into another is a feature that was incredibly useful in the 3D world. I could create a model of a light switch in one file and link that model to any number of other files. I could link it to my kitchen model, my living room model, etc. If I ever decided that the light switch needed to change colors or styles, I would simply change the light switch model and the next time I opened any of the files that referenced the light switch, they would grab the updated version.

I found myself longing for this ability when creating screen mockups for applications in Photoshop. There were elements such as site navigation, toolbars, and application headers that were in almost every mock up I created. If something changed in one of these elements, I would have to open every one of the 50+ mock ups and do the same change 50+ times. “Why can’t I just make one file that has the navigation and tell Photoshop to grab that file and put it here?” I thought. I searched through Photoshop and the web without finding anything that would allow me to do this.

Then one day, a co-worker of mine stumbled upon variables. They were exactly what I had been searching for for so long. Variables in Photoshop allow you to make reference to another file inside of your pdf. Here’s how it works.

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Tags: design, photoshop, tutorial