At Sketch, we’re proud of our role in helping to grow and define the UI design tools space. And we’re happy to see it flourish and offer so much choice to designers. So now, we want to make sure our community program fully reflects this.

2020 has been a challenge for all of us in many different forms. It’s pushed all of us to think outside of the box and consider different perspectives.

Unity, equality and inclusivity were the themes that struck us the most. And with that in mind, we’re proud to announce some important changes to our community outreach efforts, creating something bigger than us that gives back to all designers out there.

Starting late September, we are going to introduce changes to how we support design communities. This brand new approach will aim to:

• Bring inclusivity by removing barriers and embracing competition in the space
• Promote unity and help connect more designers to more communities
• Most importantly, reward community leaders for their hard work and efforts, giving back more than ever!

In this post, we thought we’d share a brief overview of those changes, what they mean for wider design community and the reasons for our new approach.

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New support for Sketch Ambassadors

We’ve had an Ambassador scheme since 2015, and since then, we’ve supported over 100 design community leaders and organizers on 5 continents. Since the beginning of 2020, we’ve been chatting with every single active Sketch Ambassador to find out how we can better support and give back to their communities. With our new approach, we want to extend our Sketch Ambassador program and establish partnerships with more communities out there.

Every organization relies on different tools to carry out their work — including us! The design industry is one of the best examples of this — and we know from talking to our Ambassadors that their communities want to know about all of the tools available to them. It’s time to make sure our Ambassador program reflects this, and acknowledges our friends in the industry.

With our new approach, we want to extend our Sketch Ambassador program and establish partnerships with more communities out there.

We’ll soon be changing the guidelines for our Ambassadors that require them to focus their events solely on our product. We want to support communities in discussing digital design related topics, regardless of what tools they’re talking about. If you’re a Sketch Ambassador, there’s no need to feel hesitant about relying on a single tool for support. As long as you are there for your community, we would like to be there for you!

Community has always been at the heart of everything we do. And we want to be at the hearts of design communities around the world. Going forward, we will be support Ambassadors on a case by case basis with licenses to raffle, official Sketch swag, invitations to feature previews and more. You can head over here to check out the details of this program and become a Sketch Ambassador yourself.

Introducing Sketch Advocates

As well as updating our Sketch Ambassador program to better reflect our industry, we wanted to offer something extra special to the most dedicated ambassadors. We want to reward their relentless efforts and the way they wave the Sketch flag. So, we’ve decided to launch a brand new role: Sketch Advocates.

We know that there are passionate, respected design community leaders out there. They care as much about their craft as they do sharing their knowledge and bringing people together. They enjoy the challenge of building a community and they hold the same values and beliefs as we do at Sketch. These are the people we hope will become Sketch Advocates.

The Sketch Advocate role is open to the most valued members of our community. We want to help them in the amazing work they do and empower them as trustworthy design community leaders. We’ll be offering Sketch Advocates a whole package of support — ranging from personalized event materials, to training sessions and speaking opportunities. You can find detailed information on all of the perks, as well as eligibility requirements, here.

We’re setting a high bar for the role of Sketch Advocate — to become one, you’ll need to be both a true leader in your local design community and incredibly passionate about Sketch. For the initial launch of the role, we will be limiting Sketch Advocates to one per country and 20 in total, aiming for an even geographic distribution. Over time, we’ll continue to bring on more Advocates, but we want to make sure we can support everyone in the best way possible.

If you think you have what it takes, apply through our form!

Moving forward, together and stronger

With these updates, we’re excited to be supporting more digital design communities out there, regardless of their tool preferences. Letting community leaders take the charge when it comes to topics, visuals and naming, we want to be more welcoming than ever.

On the other hand, the new Sketch Advocate role rewards design community leaders who are truly passionate about Sketch, and have supported us and their communities on a higher level.

We think this new approach treats all efforts fairly and allows more freedom and support for the communities that have made Sketch what is is today. We can’t wait to explore these brand new horizons with you!