Join and cut paths

Cut the overlapping path in the brochure icon so the inner counter becomes a separate closed path, then join the broken outline on the left cap. Work on layer Icons_Brochure, keep the stroke widths as they are, and order the new path beneath the shadow group. Save the file as Brochure_Icon_CutJoin.ai and leave a short note in the document’s notes field describing what you trimmed.

Before I send these icons to development, make the join operations predictable for export. Convert the compound shapes where necessary, show which joins create new fills, and surface any places where a join will invert winding rules for SVG. Flag icons that will need a manual clip path instead of a join, and produce a one-page map listing icons, the action taken, and the expected SVG behavior.

I tried joining two paths in the feature icon set and the fill rules flipped, which will break the SVG export tomorrow. The developer expects the glyphs to be solid, but I’m not sure which join method preserves the winding without creating compound shapes. Should I flatten fills, reverse paths, or create a manual compound path, and which approach prevents runtime inversion across browsers?

Every release we spend the same day fixing path joins and odd fill rules for the icon set. It costs the team two people-days per release and creates friction with engineering. Where is the time leaking — are we tracing with too many nodes, failing to agree on winding conventions, or not using a shared export checklist — and what single process change would stop this recurring firefight?