How Difficult is it to Learn Sketch?

The challenges of learning Sketch are somewhat subjective and depend on factors likeprior experience with similar programs, a basic understanding of graphic design and UX design, and the desired proficiency level. 

Wherever you fall on the Sketch learning spectrum, plenty of tools are available to help make learning more accessible than you might think.

What is Sketch?

Sketch is a design tool for creating user interface (UI) layouts for webpages and mobile applications. Sketch is a vector-graphics design program, meaning that the assets created can be modified and resized for optimal performance on screens of any size. Sketch’s significant features include its easy customization tools, digital collaboration tools, and, most importantly, Sketch symbols. Sketch symbols let users create reusable design elements that can be modified individually, allowing users to build layout assets like buttons and drop-down menus, which all look the same but function differently as the design demands. Advanced Sketch users can use the built-in tools to make even more complex, interactive symbols to optimize their workflow and the functionality of their design.

Sketch originated on the macOS app store and is only available on machines that run off macOS. Therefore, the program can be slightly limiting but is built with the specific functionalities of this operating system in mind. Sketch has features common to almost all macOS native programs, such as touch bar support, Retina and non-Retina displays, and native font rendering. These features allow macOS device users to learn Sketch more efficiently and quickly pick up advanced skills. Web designers can also create layouts designed to operate on devices like next-generation iPhones. The functionalities of Sketch designs won’t be limited to these devices, but the program gives users the tools to optimize their layouts for specific platforms.

In recent updates, Sketch has added new features to make collaboration and prototyping easier for teams of users. Sketch lets designers work together to build clickable prototypes of their webpages that designers can distribute for testing and iteration, a crucial feature of any user-interface design software. And Sketch is constantly evolving to meet the needs of its users.

Read more about what Sketch is and why you should learn it. 

What Can You Do with Sketch?

Sketch allows web designers to create layouts for webpages and mobile applications. Users can create vibrant, interactive webpage models for testing and development using text, images, graphic designs, and artboards. Because Sketch is a vector graphics illustration tool, these designs are easily reusable and scalable. They can be optimized to work on any-sized screen and used in multiple contexts in any design layout. Sketch also recently added advanced features for collaboration and prototyping, allowing team members to work together more efficiently to build model user interfaces.

Sketch’s most unique features are symbols and reusable digital interface assets that can be replicated across multiple pages. Sketch lets users define symbol characteristics to repurpose them as the design warrants. In addition, users can manually override the function of individual symbols, letting users give each asset a different interactive functionality without having to start from scratch. More advanced users can build complicated, multi-purpose symbols that make designing interfaces a breeze.

Sketch also has a robust community of designers and developers who are constantly building new adds-on and templates for Sketch. Users who learn Sketch can take advantage of these resources to make working with the program more straightforward and efficient. Since this community is so active, new resources are available daily.

What Are the Most Challenging Parts of Learning Sketch?

The first Sketch challenge is whether it’s the right UX/UI design program for you. If it is, the next challenge is understanding how to build user interfaces. Graphic designs in printed materials aim to communicate information purely visually. But while UI designs should be visually appealing, they also serve a functional purpose on a webpage. So, designers must balance the webpage’s visual aesthetics with its UX goals of being navigable and accessible for users.

How Does Learning Sketch Compare to Other Applications?

One of the first issues aspiring Web Designers will face is choosing where to begin, as there is no unified industry-standard user interface (UI) design tool. Sketch is a top-three player, alongside its competitors Figma and Adobe XD, so new users should compare the functionalities of each program to learn which one is best for them. A more in-depth explanation of the differences between Sketch, Figma, and Adobe XD is available through Noble Desktop.

The most significant difference between Sketch and its competitors is that Sketch is only available for macOS devices, meaning that users will only be able to learn Sketch if they have access to a Mac device. But it also means that Mac-device users may have an easier time learning and practicing Sketch because it is optimized for a system with which they are familiar.

Sketch also gives advanced users powerful tools like Sketch symbols—repurposable design assets that users can add to their UI designs. These symbols let users build assets with interactive functionality and replicate them across the layout. Specific symbols can then be re-defined individually or as a group to alter their functionality, giving users a powerful tool to optimize their designs.

Aside from being platform-locked, Sketch's major drawback is that it is the oldest of the three top programs and has less built-in functionality for collaboration and prototyping than its peers. Sketch has added collaboration and testing features, but they are not as robust as those offered by XD and Figma.

Check out Noble’s Learn Hub to learn more about Adobe XD and Figma.

How to Build Better Interfaces

A challenge for new Web Designers often arises from inexperience with UI philosophies and theories. A great deal of time, money, and effort is spent each year researching and testing user behavior, and it has become a growing and lucrative field of data science. Beginning your first web design without a background in UX design may lead to repeating mistakes made by many thousands of designers before you.

One way to prevent this is to receive introductory training on current UX theories and practices. Noble’s UX in a Day course can help students better understand the UX design process when building interfaces, allowing new Sketch users to make more informed decisions in their designs.

Learn Sketch with Hands-on Training at Noble Desktop

Students looking to master Sketch may wish to consider any Sketch classes and bootcamps offered through Noble Desktop. These classes, which range from short seminars offering students a basic understanding of Sketch to in-depth career skills training courses, give students the tools they need to use Sketch in their personal and professional lives. These courses are available in person at Noble’s Manhattan campus or live online from anywhere in the United States. Courses are taught by experts with whom students can interface directly, and class sizes are kept small, even online. So students can ask questions and receive timely, personalized feedback on their work. Plus, courses include a one-year free retake option. Students can repeat the course to review a lesson that gave them trouble, attend a seminar they missed, or just get more hands-on practice with Sketch.

Students seeking in-depth training in Sketch should consider Noble’s Sketch Bootcamp. This intensive skills training course teaches students to use the basic and advanced features of Sketch, such as its layout design tools, interactive elements, and prototyping capabilities. Students get hands-on instruction in building web layouts using text, shapes, and images, all built with Sketch’s vector graphics illustration tools. They then learn how to optimize those illustrations for web and mobile viewing, including Hi-res and Retina displays. Finally, students receive hands-on training in using Sketch symbols, including how to override symbol functions to make them work differently and how to alter their functions universally after they have been implemented.

Noble also offers Sketch training as part of its immersive, career-focused UX & UI Design Certificate program. This course is designed to help aspiring Web and user experience (UX) Designers receive comprehensive career training and mentorship. Students learn to use an array of design tools, including Sketch, Figma, and Adobe XD, and receive hands-on training by working through practical exercises that reflect the work they will do professionally. Students also learn the best practices of UX design and how to best conduct user research and analysis. By the end of the course, students get the opportunity to have one-on-one career mentorship discussions with trained experts in the field of UX/UI design, and they will have built a sample design portfolio to take with them into the job market.