Creating a Design System
Depending on your preferred workflow, you can create a new design system from either the DSM website or the DSM Sketch plugin.
Creating a design system via DSM on the web
To create a new design system via DSM on the web:
- Sign in to DSM on the web.
- Near the top right, click the Create button.
If you’re a legacy DSM customer, and you want to create a legacy design system, toggle on Create a legacy library. If you're not sure which one to choose, check out this article: Should I Upgrade to the New DSM?
- Enter a name for your design system.
- Optionally, add a description and upload an image. This image will be used as the system’s icon in the design systems list.
- Set the permissions to Only people invited can view or Anyone at your organization can view.
- Click Create.

Creating a design system via Sketch
To create a new design system via the DSM Sketch plugin:
- In the DSM Sketch plugin panel above the left-hand layers list, click the DSM icon .
- At the top right of the DSM window, click the settings icon .
- Click New Design System.
- Enter a name. Optionally, add a description and upload an image.
- Set the permissions to Only people invited can view or Anyone at your organization can view.
- Click Create.

Uploading a Sketch file to DSM
To begin developing your design system, you’ll need to upload one or more Sketch files that contain all your assets.
To upload a Sketch file:
- Open the Sketch file you want to use as the basis for your design system.
- In the DSM Sketch plugin panel above the left-hand layers list, click the upload icon
Depending on whether or not you've previously uploaded a document, the plugin panel will show either Upload document or Push changes.
. - In the DSM window, next to your preferred design system, click the upload icon . If it's the first document added, you can alternatively click the Upload Sketch document button.
- Click the upload button .

Once the file is uploaded, it becomes a DSM managed library that can be added to Sketch.

To learn more about DSM managed libraries and how to add them to Sketch, check out this article: What Are DSM Managed Libraries?