The Logic of Naming Things

12 Days of Sketch | Day 6

Unorganized naming is one of the most common digital organizational problems, and for good reason! The goal is to pick a naming convention and stick with it, but it’s not always as easy as it sounds. Below is our guide to naming solutions for a UX designer from files to styles.

Files

General

The theory is to name a file in such a way that with just the name anyone will be able to identify where that file belongs and what is likely to be inside. This will prevent Raw files that aren’t part of a naming system from getting lost out of context.

Version Control

When using a version control tool, such as Abstract, this logic changes slightly. When working in an environment like this, you work from branches instead of the original file; these branches are always in the context of the parent file. Because of this change in workflow, the parent file can be more generally named than a typical file, and the branches can be much more specific than a general file.

Artboards

The logic for artboard naming is very similar to that of the files, name in such a way that if the content was hidden you would have a pretty good idea of what should be on that board.

Symbols

Symbol naming is a little different beast because symbols are often nested within each other. Atomic Design principles were created to solve this problem, and we utilize those principles in our naming conventions. This naming often happens in the library level and is then applied across projects.

Styles

The key to efficiency is consistency because only items with exactly the same prefix name will show up in a folder together. Styles in Sketch are already segmented into Colors and Typography, so there’s no need to put that in the name. From there, name the styles according to how you want them to show up in the folder structure.

Summary

Understanding the naming needs for various aspects of your projects, and sticking to a consistent system helps keep your projects organized, and the team satisfied!

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