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Sketch

Score4.9 out of 10

269 Reviews and Ratings

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What is Sketch?

Sketch is a visual design tool of use for application prototyping, coming with a wide variety of extensions, plugins, and an active user community.

Categories & Use Cases

Reviews

What users are saying about Sketch.
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Sketch, in my opinion, sometimes great sometimes sketchy

Incentivized
Verified User
Manager in Product Management (1001-5000 employees employees)

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

We use Sketch as a digital product design tool for designing and wireframing UI interfaces from low fidelity through to high fidelity. We have used it to present prototypes to stakeholders for approval as well as giving our development teams detailed visuals, exported assets and specifications fro delivery. Whilst the basics can be picked up quite easily there it a steep learning curve for more complex tasks.

Pros

  • Wireframing
  • Hi-fidelity digital design
  • Prototypes

Cons

  • In platform collaboration with colleagues
  • Licencing can be expensive when sharing
  • Text formating can be limitied

Return on Investment

  • Allows Dev teams to see what the intended digital product should look like, increasing quality
  • Good for showing working prototypes speeding up delivery
  • Help bridge the gap between design and development teams improving time to market.

Usability

Alternatives Considered

Figma, Adobe Illustrator CC and Axure RP

Other Software Used

Figma, Figma Dev Mode, Adobe Illustrator CC, Adobe PhotoShop, Miro, Marvel, draw.io

Using Sketch at work and home.

Incentivized
Verified User
Professional (5001-10,000 employees employees)

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

We used Sketch as our primary tool for 3–4 years, supporting interactive and visual designers through all design stages. Sketch initially replaced Adobe Illustrator but was later replaced by Figma when the team transitioned to fully remote work. I still use Sketch for my projects, including sketching, prototyping, and refining visual details.

Pros

  • Modern tool, native application for mac, lightweight in comparison to Adobe products.
  • A very simple tool for new users, yet it offers highly capable features.
  • Has built-in simple prototyping tool.

Cons

  • Sketch is slow when working with files that contain raster graphics. Its speed was acceptable five years ago, but now, compared to Figma, it feels prolonged.
  • Smart layouts and symbols are far less intuitive and significantly more cumbersome to work with compared to their counterparts in Figma.
  • Small UI glitches that are not fixed for years.

Return on Investment

  • As a designer, the tool fulfills all my needs and allows me to achieve my objectives. It is affordable and meets many requirements for interactive or visual designers. Additionally, it continues to work even after the license expires (though without updates).

Usability

Alternatives Considered

Figma, Adobe PhotoShop and Adobe Illustrator CC

Other Software Used

Figma, Adobe PhotoShop, Principle

Don't use Sketch, use Figma instead.

Incentivized
Verified User
Professional in Professional Services (1-10 employees employees)

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

We no longer use Sketch. Sketch has a learning curve that is too big. It is much slower than Adobe XD (which is dead) and Figma. Figma is the new industry standard. Figma attracted designers with real-time collaboration, cross-platform support, cloud access, intuitive developer handoff, and strong community-driven innovation tools.

Pros

  • Sketch is great for drawing and creating shapes, like buttons or icons. It lets you adjust every curve and line perfectly, so you can make your designs look exactly how you want. (All design tools can do that, though).
  • Sketch is built just for Apple computers, so it runs smoothly and uses all the special Mac features. If you’re already using Apple tools, Sketch feels like a natural fit. (The downside of this is that non-Apple users can't use it.)
  • If you make something, like a button, and need it in many places, Sketch lets you save it as a "Symbol." You can use it repeatedly, and if you change the Symbol, it updates everywhere automatically. (Figma can do this too.)

Cons

  • Sketch is only available on macOS, which limits its use to teams with mixed operating systems (Windows or Linux). Although it's a great tool for Mac users, it forces teams to look for alternatives like Figma if they need cross-platform support.
  • Sketch relies heavily on plugins to extend its functionality, but managing them can be challenging. Some users report that too many plugins can slow down the app or cause crashes. Also, discovering and installing the right plugins can be time-consuming.
  • While Sketch is excellent for static designs, its prototyping capabilities lag behind those of competitors like Figma and Adobe XD. Creating interactive prototypes with animations, transitions, or scrollable areas is more complex and often requires additional tools or plugins. This makes it harder for designers to build and test user interactions directly in Sketch.

Return on Investment

  • We no longer use Sketch.
  • I don't know anyone still use Sketch.
  • I never liked Sketch. I rated it 1 year ago. I would give it a 0 if I could, but 1 is the lowest rating.

Usability

Alternatives Considered

Figma and Adobe XD

Other Software Used

Figma, Adobe PhotoShop, Adobe Illustrator CC

Sketch is a great program for designing screen interfaces.

Incentivized
Mike MullerView profile
Executive Vice President in Corporate at Stevens Advertising (11-50 employees employees)

Pros

  • Strong design tools
  • The app is optimized for screen designs
  • Easy to use

Cons

  • Other tools handle collaboration better than Sketch
  • File sizes can get rather large
  • Can't work with PC users on projects.

Most Important Features

  • Easy to use
  • Allows for complex designs
  • Optimized for screen layouts

Return on Investment

  • Sketch is easier to use that tools like Photoshop
  • Tools designed for screen interfaces work better than photoshop.
  • Streamlined our design process

Alternatives Considered

Figma and InVision

Other Software Used

Affinity Publisher, Affinity, Figma

Powerfull design tool, but still need to improve on performance with complex scenario

Incentivized
D Hendrik MulyanaView profile
UI/UX Designer in Information Technology at Ice House (51-200 employees employees)

Pros

  • Support over 1000 plugins.
  • Can handle simple and complex artboard in one file.
  • Support external library.
  • Support Design collaboration.

Cons

  • If in one file has over 100 artboards, sketch will slow.
  • Drain your memory ram, if design is complex and use external library.
  • Doesn't have a feature can download plugin in one place such community feature on Figma.
  • Only support MAC platform.
  • Doesn't have web version.

Most Important Features

  • Symbol feature & external library.
  • Real time collaboration (In Beta).
  • Smart Distribute.
  • Text Overrides on the Canvas.

Return on Investment

  • In term of business, sketch is very helpful and cheaper from competitors.
  • Sketch is universal design format right now, and support import Sketch design format to another design tool.
  • Need to improve on performance , when handle complex design is really annoying. impact to design timeline.

Alternatives Considered

Figma and Adobe XD

Other Software Used

Figma, Adobe XD, Affinity