Sharing Sketch files with Github

Giff Constable design

sketchgithub

While we don’t dictate tools in the Neo NYC office, a large number of us have long moved to using Sketch, the vector design app from Bohemian Coding. One struggle has been sharing Sketch files. Dropbox handles them OK, but last time we tried, Google Drive and Box.net did not. But given the way Sketch saves, with Dropbox it can be very problematic to have multiple people open the same Sketch file at the same time. Hence our interest in using Github.

Today we ran a quick test to see how Github handles Sketch files, not least because we want to explore using Github to manage design assets, and I’m pleased to say it worked without a hitch.

To be explicit, we created a repo, pushed a Sketch file, had a collaborator pull the repo down then open and edit the file. After they pushed their changes, we pulled and tried to open the file. It all worked properly. Obviously I don’t expect Github to be able to handle merge conflicts, but at least the team will be aware that version-splitting has happened and can make decisions accordingly.

Related: Elepath’s use of Github for their design assets