Updated November 9, 2026
Use separate Photoshop artboards when a product campaign needs different compositions, not just different pixel sizes. Keep the product’s proportions intact and arrange the product, copy and background for each canvas. A square design stretched into a wide banner changes the product and often leaves the message badly placed.
Decide whether you need a resize or a new layout
A proportional resize keeps the existing composition and aspect ratio. An artboard provides a separate area where you can arrange a different composition. Layer Comps, by contrast, record selected layer states in a document. These solve related production tasks, but they are not interchangeable.
Consider an illustrative brief requesting a 1080 × 1080 square, a 1080 × 1350 portrait and a 1920 × 1080 wide layout. These are example deliverables, not universal platform specifications. Confirm the actual destination’s requirements before choosing them.
| Example canvas | Composition decision |
|---|---|
| Square | Balance the complete product and concise message |
| Portrait | Use vertical space without elongating the bottle |
| Wide | Move copy into available space rather than widening the product |
Create and name the artboards
Adobe documents the Artboard tool under the Move tool. Draw an artboard, choose a preset or custom size and give it a descriptive name. Add the design elements to the intended artboard; its contents are grouped in the Layers panel and clipped to its boundary. Export individual boards through File > Export > Artboards To Files.
Use names that identify the purpose and shape, such as “Winter_Square” and “Winter_Wide.” Keep version information in the working-file and delivery records so the reviewer can distinguish an approved export from an earlier concept.
Recompose around an approved product source
Start from the same approved product cutout or photograph. Preserve its width-to-height relationship when placing it in each board. If there is not enough room for a long headline, change the layout or wording rather than shrinking the product into an unreadable corner or stretching its silhouette.
Do not generate a hidden side of a label simply to make a wider composition work. Moving a source image within a design does not reveal new product information. If another angle is essential, obtain an appropriate reference.
Check boundaries and shared content
A layer can remain visible on the broader Photoshop canvas while extending beyond an artboard’s export boundary. Inspect the complete product, shadow, logo and required copy inside each board. Check the exported file as well as the working document.
Separate artboards do not mean every source is independent. If multiple placements use linked or shared Smart Object content, changes to that content can affect more than one placement. Keep a versioned master before retouching a shared source, then review all affected layouts.
Review the delivered files individually
Open each export and verify its dimensions, orientation, intended layout and visible product details. Read the message at the expected display size. Confirm that the filename points to the correct layout and that no board accidentally contains a rejected product version.
This is a documentation-based design workflow, not an executed Photoshop export or a measured advertising test. The reused cover illustrates a creative worktable; it is not a screenshot of artboards or evidence that a campaign was built in the application.
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Sources and scope
Checked November 9, 2026. Rewarx is the publisher. This is an editorial, documentation-based guide. Examples are illustrative; no software benchmark, physical inspection, customer result or live shopping transaction is claimed. The cover is a reused editorial illustration, not newly generated for this article or evidence of its example product.