Design files and project folders
Last modified on Thu 11 Aug 2022

Tidiness and organization of files and project folders is an essential part of your job. More and more of our projects are becoming long-term, so this is an important segment for us. This love story is dedicated precisely to that :)

We usually store our project files in project folders on Google Drive. Keep your folders clean and tidy. Old and outdated documents should be archived (filed in an Archive subfolder) to avoid clutter.

Working on local files is a no-no, but there are some situations where we can't avoid this (files are huge/somebody else is also working with it). In that case, you must upload the files later on to Google Drive.

We currently take care of 4 things:

  1. Project folders (in alignment with PM)
  2. File tidiness
  3. Versioning
  4. Export

1. Project folders

New projects

When starting a new project, ping David when you start working on UI. We will schedule 2 meetings:

After the second meeting, further reviews will be transferred to the design coordinator. From that moment, the design coordinator is responsible for executing the review task.

Ongoing projects

2. File tidiness

Naming convention

If a colleague takes over your project, the naming convention will help them onboard faster. Here are a couple of pointers:

Naming conventions for Pages:

Naming conventions for Screens (Frames):


Sub-flows will make it easier to locate screens in an extensive feature flow. For example, you'll find a "Checkout" flow more easily if it's highlighted instead of drowned in a complete "Store" flow. Oh, and let it breathe! Visually distance flows for more straightforward navigation through the file.


Master Components (or Symbols) allow you to reuse elements easily across your document's Artboards and Pages, so try to use them as often as you can. When creating them, use Auto Layout and Variants to optimize your workflow.

Bounds are also a must so that the assets of the same type (icons, images) are the same in size, thus making the developers' job a bit easier. Keep symbol names logical and tidy. Use them regularly!


To make our files/projects more organised and consistent, we use an appropriate style guide (web, Android, or iOS - depending on a project). Working with the style guide as you go along with the project will make your life easier later on. We set all the elements in the style guide as symbols, so every change you make will automatically update in the style guide as well. Just so you have an overview of all the things that are, or need to be, included there is a checklist Artboard that needs to be updated/checked as the project moves along. You can find our set of reusable templates for your project in Figma.

Archive and work in progress

Save all versions of your designs; you'll never know when you might revisit a draft or scrap. Put those screens aside for safe-keeping in one of these ways:

It's important to highlight those screens somehow. If another designer views your file, they need to know what's not final within a second. Cross out those we are not implementing (or you think that the client will change their mind). The line should have a thicker stroke (〜50px) and Infinum red (you know the red hex code by heart, right? 😃) with 50-70% opacity.


Feel free to leave notes under screens or flows. Sometimes a screen flow can be complicated, decisions questionable, things are happening in the background, and after a few months — you're not sure why you made that decision. Create a note component and help yourself and others after you.

Legacy projects

Sometimes we need to update something or add a feature in an old legacy project that no one opened in years. They do not follow our current standards and partially break because of a lack of Sketch backward compatibility. For these projects, we should have a status explanation on the first page. This explanation should have hold information about missing or broken things in the file and the reason for why they can't be fixed (due to a fixed budget, the client didn't want it or some other reason).

When creating new features for a legacy project, follow our current guidelines (create text styles, group flows, use components, etc.).

3. Versioning


Figma autosaves all your work and creates versions on its own, but it's not so easy to navigate through auto-generated versions, so make sure you save versions on your own after finishing a specific task or a chunk of work. Versioning in Figma is as easy as it gets; click File → Save to version history and name it in a way that makes sense and is easy to find.

Sketch & Abstract

When working in Sketch for version control, we use Abstract, where we keep design files that we work on and primarily open sketch files from Abstract. Since no software is perfect, you should periodically back up the documents you work on in Abstract to Google Drive (every month or so).

If you have not worked on the project for more than a week, everything should be committed and merged into the master. If there are multiple projects for the same client, it must be clear (visually or textually) which one is the latest version, what is updating and what is stale (outdated).

How to commit on Abstract

  1. Make sure you commit once a day at a minimum (at the end of the workday).
  2. Branches should be active for a maximum of 5 days. So, for example, at the end of the week, merge everything to Master.
  3. If you are working on the same project with other colleagues, sync with them regularly and keep the project neat.

Pro tip: Commit upload can work in the background as you continue to work on the file.

4. Export

Zeplin & InVision

Ideally, Zeplin and InVision should be a 1:1 replica of your design file (even if all of the screens aren't imported the flow structure should be visible nonetheless). More on exporting in later chapters.

Why all this bureaucracy?

There are no problems while you're working by yourself, but if something comes up while you are on vacation and someone needs to jump in ASAP... Well, that might be a problem. If a colleague doesn't know where everything is, a 15-minute task can quickly become several hours of soul searching and digging. All the latest files should be online in some form (Figma, Abstract or Google Drive).

We support creative clutter, but it's a good idea to do a 15-minute cleanup once a week to keep everything tidy. It would be the best if you did this every day for a few minutes when you're finished with work, or while doing some kind of recap in your head (I understand that sometimes there is no time for that).

Take half an hour on Mondays (schedule it like it's fun) and go through your projects (active ones and those that you think will be active for some time). Clean them up a bit if you haven't already. If that cleanup takes too much time, make a plan and work it out over the upcoming weeks parallel with ongoing tasks.