Sketch: Building the Hub
Transforming a Mac app into a collaborative cloud platform.
Roles: Core, Product, UX Location: Remote
At Sketch, I didn’t just work on a tool; I worked on the place where design happens. As a member of the Core team, I wore multiple hats—spanning Product, UX, and Engineering—to transform Sketch from a Mac app into a powerful, collaborative cloud platform.
Sketch has always been my favorite company. As a design geek, this was exactly where I belonged. I learned a lot, worked with extremely smart people, and built features that hundreds of thousands of designers use daily.
Here is a look at how we built the collaborative backbone of Sketch.
Structuring the Chaos: Workspaces & Projects
Organizing design work at scale is no small feat. We saw the need to create distinct Workspaces to keep organizational work separate and secure. To make navigation seamless, we introduced a Workspace Selector that allowed users to switch contexts instantly 1.
The real challenge, however, wasn’t just showing the workspaces—it was moving things between them.
I worked heavily on the logic for moving documents and projects across workspaces. This was a complex orchestration task because of permission transitions. We had to ensure that when a document moved from a private project in Workspace A to a shared team in Workspace B, the access controls adapted perfectly—keeping data safe without breaking the user’s flow.
We also refined Project management. We added the ability to create projects directly from the sidebar. Initially, we used a quick inline editor, but as we added more granular permissions, we evolved this into a robust dialog system to handle setup configuration upfront.
We also added “quality of life” features like Starring (for quick access), Locking (for privacy), and Archiving (to keep things tidy without deleting history) 2.
The “Who Sees What” Puzzle: Permissions
Permissions was an incredible project to work on. As design teams grew, they needed more than just “Public” or “Private.” They needed control.
We built a comprehensive solution allowing designers to specify exactly who could access, edit, or share their work.
A highlight was the Access List feature we developed for high-profile clients. They needed a centralized way to manage rights for large teams of stakeholders. We delivered a system that made adding people, assigning roles, and creating Permission Groups simple and visual 3.
Safe Spaces: Drafts & Versioning
Creativity needs a safe space before it hits the production pipeline. That’s why we built Drafts.
Drafts allowed designers to duplicate files and experiment privately or share with a select few for feedback before finalizing. It streamlined the process of turning a “maybe” into a “definitely” 4.
But iteration also means mistakes. I contributed to the Design File History, a safety net that let designers retrieve every version ever uploaded.
We made it effortless to roll back to previous versions if an exploration went down the wrong path. We also added Starred Updates—allowing teams to mark specific versions as “Final” or “Milestone,” locking them to prevent accidental edits 5.
Collaboration on the Infinite Canvas
Finally, we wanted to make collaboration feel native. We introduced Point-and-Click Commenting directly on the Canvas. Instead of vague feedback in a sidebar, discussions were tied to the exact pixel or artboard in question.
We built threaded conversations and a robust Notification System (which I helped redesign!) to keep everyone in the loop without checking email constantly 6.