Sketch Tutorials

A Step-by-Step Guide for Starting a New App Design Project in Sketch

And why I never, EVER start them from scratch.

I’m a firm believer in transparency, so before we start, I owe you this:
Portions of this post reference a design framework that I built myself, and sell on the side. That said, this guide will still be useful even if you don’t go buy it.

Starting a design project is hard.

It doesn’t matter if you’re a freelance designer, work for a hot product agency, or help support a large enterprise design team…it’s daunting.

I work at a design agency that signs new clients on a monthly basis. My unofficial title is something like Product Concept Designer, which basically just means that each time we start with a new client, I get the exciting job of creating visionary concept screens which help inspire their product roadmap for the next year (or two…or three).

These concepts come with tight deadlines and require fast turnaround, so my ENTIRE WORLD is centered around efficiency and accuracy; my mockups have to solve the problem, provide vision, and be polished for a smooth transition into production design.

As far as I can tell, I’ve become pretty efficient, and I thought other designers might find benefit in seeing how I start new projects.

Note: I’m not showing you how to make the whole meal…just how to chop the ingredients…