“Unless you try to do something beyond what you have already mastered, you will never grow.”
– Ralph Waldo Emerson
So I took a break from Photoshop. Yes, I still want to increase my Photoshop skills out of personal interest and as a part of the Continuing Education side of Greenstone, but I have found another skill that I am also interested in: designing with Sketch. Even though my main role on the Greenstone Media team is Project Management, I also dabble in a little web design, photo editing, and graphic design on the side. I think it is important to focus on honing and mastering a skill, but I also believe in the advantages of being well rounded. According to Mr. Emerson, I will never grow unless I try something new. So, there you have it.
In the spirit of well-roundedness (and because I am using Sketch more and more for client projects these days) I chose to start a course through Udemy. The course was made up of 19 screen recordings with the instructor’s voice helping you along. Not only did I watch the videos, but I also followed along in the tasks that the instructor was explaining. The course started off with a basic introduction of Sketch, how it can be useful to graphic and web designers, and the tools available through Sketch. As the course went along Brendan (the instructor) went into further explanation of the basic tools that he most commonly uses and the variety of ways that he uses them. As a hands-on learner, I am really glad that he provided links for items to download, and paused for us to have time to try out the skills ourselves.
Overall, I found this course to be a very helpful addition to the little knowledge of Sketch that I already had. Many keyboard shortcuts were explained that I did not previously know about, and several tools that I did not know how to properly use were demonstrated and explained. I really enjoy using Sketch, and now that I can use it more efficiently I will enjoy it even more.
