Vector graphics app Sketch 2.0 has launched SketchMine, a repository for free sketch files provided by the design community.
Last year, Sketch 2.0 brought in new features aimed at web designers. Since then, the app has gained traction within the industry, something only likely to continue with the death of Fireworks.
Nine Four founder Nathan Pitman told .net he found Sketch “exciting, because you can have direct impact by talking to the developer, and therefore get changes in the next version”.
Clearleft senior visual designer Paul Lloyd enthused that it “has a lot of things that touch on the crossover between visual design and code, mapping effects to CSS properties”, adding that the app “also provides an infinite canvas, and has all the right hints as to where web design is going”. However, for some users, new products can be daunting, in part through a lack of available readymades.
This is something SketchMine creator Maxime Cormier set out to address. “In my opinion, Sketch is way more efficient and easy to use for web design than Photoshop and Illustrator, but I felt what was missing was a place to find templates you could reuse, get inspiration from or study to understand how other designers work,” explained Cormier about his reasoning behind creating the site.
“With SketchMine, you can more rapidly create designs and learn how to use Sketch. When you’re on your first iteration, it makes no sense to start your design from scratch. Having readymades is key to efficiency!” he added.
With the growing trend towards ‘flat’ design, Cormier thought the relatively streamlined Sketch is well-positioned and added it would be great to see more submissions for SketchMine: “I’m amazed by all the great files people are submitting daily. We have a lot of templates for mobile apps, mock-ups and devices, but I’d like to see more web app templates!”
