Learn Sketch 3

32 points by davidkmckinney 12 years ago | 15 comments

Sketch has really changed my workflow. I think it really makes things much easier for developers who work with a designer or just need t cut up assets. Definitely worth checking out.

Kiro 12 years ago | |

What would you say is the biggest benefit compared to Photoshop?

abalone 12 years ago | | |

Sketch's main benefit is that it's built from the ground up to focus on vector-based design and composition, with a more modern, simplified approach to its interface. It makes it feel really light-on-its-feet and productive for UI design.

Photoshop is a powerhouse but has a lot of historical bloat built up over the years particularly around high-resolution bitmap editing. I mean it can paint a car out of a scene with a single brushstroke for chrissakes. Sketch has none of that, but in turn its vector feature set is super streamlined and thoughtful, so it's basically a UI designer's dream.

It would make a little more sense to compare it to Fireworks (may it rest in peace), as that was maybe a bit more suited to UI design than Photoshop.

megafix 12 years ago | | |

My biggest benefit is working with multiple artboards. As we all know, design now starts with going mobile first. Right from the start there is a mobile view, tablet view, and desktop view.

Other pros

+ Text Styles (Save a font style for h1,h2,h3,p. Why hasn't anybody else done this?)

+ Better color picker because it magnifies to the pixel. Much easier/faster to find colors on text.

+ There's like 10 colors on your active palette. Photoshop is 2.

+ Faster to export images.

+ Duplicate/Copy anything faster than Photoshop.

+ Opens up way faster than Photoshop. Similar to opening a text editor.

+ It's $49 vs $50/month for Adobe CC.

mengto 12 years ago | | |

I'd say there is zero learning curve. So much easier to get started for anyone new. My favorite thing about Sketch is the ability to use Pages and Artboards + Symbols for multiple screens design. That's the way I prototype nowadays; focusing on interactions and flows rather than static single screens and branding/image editing.

carlosdp 12 years ago | | |

I think the most fundamental advantage is that Photoshop was designed to edit photos, whereas Sketch is clearly built for UI design. Because of that, it has the tools you are more likely to use in the right places and has a lot of built-in features specifically geared to designing UIs.

mengto 12 years ago |

Photoshop has been too hard to use for anyone outside the design community to want to learn. It's the new MS word. The export for 1x, 1.5x, 2x, etc. could be useful for making assets for Android.

mweibel 12 years ago |

FYI: Can't play the videos on Firefox, no supported Mime Type

mengto 12 years ago | |

It puzzles me why Firefox can't support Antialias fonts and the same video types supported by Chrome and Safari. Will find a fix. Thanks for letting me know.

davidkmckinney 12 years ago |

hey kiro, there's a lot I like, but probably the best thing is that I find it fits the process that goes on back and forth between designers and developers. It's really good for that. Few other things: - small team (4) that are pushing many builds a day - really easy to slice and export e.g @2x and 1x - vector, so easy to scale up and down - lightweight - super active community releasing plugins and resources. - it's cheap. - lots of good learning resources

I don't use photoshop anymore. really happy with it

SneakerXZ 12 years ago |

If I want to learn UI design, where should I start?

megafix 12 years ago | |

Start by copying/replicating designs from dribbble. It's just practice. After you learn how to use Photoshop/Sketch start modifying those designs and try to make it your own.