10 Sketch Tricks for Designers

I’ve been using Sketch for quite awhile now and I absolutely love it. So I thought I’d put together a couple of tricks that I use on a daily basis that helped me become better and faster in Sketch.

1. Copy Styles between layers

⌘+OPTION+C
⌘+OPTION+V

Copy styles between layers instead of copy and pasting color codes.

2. Move layers up and down

⌘+OPTION+↑
⌘+OPTION+↓

Move layers up and down in your layer list with keyboard shortcuts instead of dragging and dropping. Sometimes it can be easier to drag and drop though, like if the layer list is out of sight for example.

Easily move layers up and down with ⌘+ALT+↑ or ↓ arrow. Instead of drag and drop

3. Color Picker

CTRL+C

Use the Color Picker in Sketch to grab any color visible on your screen.

Use the built-in Color Picker in Sketch to grab any color visible on your screen.

4. Set different Corner Radiuses

0;10;10;0

Use this handy shortcut to only make some of the corners rounded. TopLeft/TopRight/BottomRight/BottomLeft.

5. Symbols. Change one thing
— it changes everywhere.

Use symbols, use symbols, use symbols. A symbol is a group of elements you can re-use. Change one thing in a symbol and it changes everywhere. What you do is that you select a group “⌘+G”. After you’ve created your group you click Create Symbol in the toolbar and you have a symbol (shown as a pink folder in your layer list).

Pink folders in your layer list like this one means it’s a Symbol.

Below is an example of a symbol. It just makes working with your design feel so much nicer when you don’t waste time on repetitive tasks.

Symbols: Change one thing — It’s changed everywhere.

Create Symbols by clicking here in the toolbar

6. Customize your toolbar

Right-Click on the toolbar to customize it.

Don’t use dropdowns for things that you use often. Customize your toolbar to have access to the stuff you use the most. Right-click on the toolbar and select ‘Customize Toolbar’. You can now drag and drop and remove items from the toolbar.

7. Live Preview your Designs
on your iOS Devices.

Download Sketch Mirror and see how your designs look on your iPad or iPhone. It only costs $4.99 on appstore. It’s handy if you’re in doubt if some text or button you’ve made is actually big enough to see on an iOS device. Use the ‘Connect’ button in the toolbar. Make sure that you’re on the same wifi as your iOS device.

Open Sketch Mirror on your iPhone or iPad and preview your designs

8. Plugins

If you want to have access to a lot of plugins for Sketch then download sketch toolbox. It lets you browse the most popular plugins available for Sketch. http://sketchtoolbox.com/

If I should recommend one you must have…

Content Generator Plugin

It allows you to quickly create dummy data such as avatars, names and more in seconds — take a look below. https://github.com/timuric/Content-generator-sketch-plugin (also available in Sketch Toolbox)

9. Presentation time!

⌘+.

If you want to show your new design to someone. Then get rid of all that clutter and do a nice presentation of your artboards. Use “⌘+.” to go to fullscreen presentation mode.

Use “⌘+.” to go to fullscreen presentation mode.

10. Record your iPhone or iPad

This is not a Sketch trick but it’s still nice to know…

You can record your iPhone or iPad by opening quicktime and use ‘Movie Recording’. In the arrow next to the record button select iPhone or iPad. (remember to have your iPhone or iPad connected via USB.)

My tweets: @assentorp