News from this design world of ours
In this issue ????
- Introduction — the why the hell?
- Sketch Beta 58 (lots of resources links and stuff)
- Curious about Figma?
- Mimo app
- Lapa Learn
- Color Scale Generator
- Superposition — A great way to automatically grab design assets, code & animations from anywhere
- Sketch2React v1.6 is soon here
- A new Sketch2React freebie
Introduction
Hey guys! ??
I have always been focused on sharing knowledge, it’s actually really fun. So instead of overflowing this and that Slack channel (which I already do anyway) I asked myself the question:
“How can I do this waaaay smarter than I’m doing it right now?”
Here’s how. From time to time, when I have gathered enough resources from the awesome inter webs I’ll collect them into something that we can call Juans Design Digest ??✅? Can’t come up with a better name actually.
So here we go. ?
Best Sketch Beta 58 Resources
Sketch Beta 58 is here with something really exciting that they call Smart Layout. Here’s a couple of great resources for learning more.
- Download the Beta from here
- Christoper Deane has done a great little vid here
- Another great little vid I found on Facebook
- Here’s Pizza Yap with a very thorough tutorial and walk through
Curious about Figma?
Do like me. Just start watching this awesome free course from the kings @ Design+Code and you’ll very quickly understand why people switch from Sketch to Figma like there’s no tomorrow. Figma is like having Sketch, Zeplin, Abstract and InVision in the same app. Heck, if it weren’t for my heavy investment in Sketch2React and that the main client I work with uses Sketch, I would have jumped ship ages ago. That’s how great Figma is.
Mimo app is a great place to learn how to code
I have tried many many courses ?that teaches you code but no one has made me understand code better than Mimo app. I have the app on my iPhone and iPad and you can sit anywhere anytime and learn because the interface and thinking behind this app is brilliant. Now they also have the very same courses on the web, you just login with your account credentials and you’re good to go from where you left it the night before.
Lapa Learn is a great place for free design courses & tutorials
Actually I think I found Lapa Learn ages ago. Or maybe I dreamt about finding it ages ago?! Anyway, I “rediscovered” this the other day. Seems like a great (double meaning there guys) collection of free design tutorials and courses. ?
I really like Color Scale Generator
My brilliant co-worker Jörgen Gedeon sent me this great color tool tip, Scale, and I really enjoy using its simple but elegant user interface. Thanks man! ?♂️
Grab design systems from existing websites ?
Superposition is a really cool app that automagically grabs lots of useful stuff for designers from already existing websites. Available for Mac, Linux & PC and you can export directly to XD, CSS, Javascript and SCSS. Also they’re working on plugins for both Sketch, Figma, Swift and Android.
What surprised me most was that you also get out all the motion data. ??
Sketch2React v1.6 pre-release is soon here ??
Of course, this would not be Juan’s Design Digest without a bit of shameful self-promotion, but it’s for a good cause I swear. Your cause actually. ? ? Our advanced free design to code framework Sketch2React is getting epically better with each iteration and the next one will bring you:
- Support for working with Sketch Cloud Libraries ?
- Support for working directly with Sketch Cloud Documents ? ?
- Support for external Javascript libraries in our HTML export
- New component {link} which at last gives you the ability to link to whatever you want, which will speed up your design to code prototypes ?
Plus a couple of other awesome thingies, read more in Fredrik’s article.
What is a new S2R release without a new freebie? Nothing I say — nothing! So I’m working on a very handy and beautifully crafted (if I may say myself ehm) website portfolio template. The whole idea behind this is that it will require 0% knowledge about Sketch2React to get started. You just update the overrides in Sketch and when you’re happy with the end result — you export to code and publish on your own server.
Best thing is, this way, with very small adjustments you also have a very nice looking PDF portfolio that you can send to brokers, clients etc. And you’ll be able to very easily update and maintain your portfolio directly from within Sketch! Now that is amazing! ??
That’s all folks, hope you enjoyed the very first issue of Juan’s Design Digest! I know I did, it was fun putting this together. And fun is good ? ?
/Juan Maguid, senior designer & co-founder of Sketch2React.io
https://medium.com/@Freedruk/fredriks-front-end-quick-read-5b7f59b00820
Pssst. I highly recommend you following the other 50% of Sketch2React, Fredrik and his blog. ? ?