The Ripple Effect of Messy Layers

 You're excited to join a fast-paced design sprint as a junior designer and have just been tasked with creating a new page. Most of the components you need are already in the design system, but this project calls for a new custom feature. Since your page is the first place this feature will appear, it’s also your responsibility to build it so it can be added to the shared component library for the team.

Eager to show your creativity, you dive in—dragging, duplicating, and adjusting elements until the feature looks just right. Visually, everything works, but behind the scenes, your file is chaotic. Layers are unnamed, groups are scattered, and nothing is easy to find. In the rush, labeling layers feels like a small detail you can skip.

Soon, the impact becomes clear. A coworker needs the new feature for their own page and searches for it in the shared library, but it isn’t there. Confused, they dig into your page, only to get lost in a maze of Frame 23, Rectangle Copy, and Image 1. Frustrated, they reach out for help.

At the same time, your lead designer reviews your page and leaves a comment: “Please clean up your layers before we move forward.” That small shortcut is now slowing down the whole team.

When you go back to clean up your layers, you realize it’s much harder than expected. You can’t quickly tell which elements belong to which part of the feature, and multiple overlapping adjustments have made things even more confusing. What should have been a simple cleanup turns into a stressful puzzle.

The lesson is clear: a few minutes spent naming and organizing layers properly at the start saves hours of frustration.

Here are a few simple, practical examples:

  • Bad layer names: Frame 23, Rectangle Copy, Image 1

  • Good layer names: feature-card-header, feature-card-button-primary, feature-card-image

Having a consistent naming convention, organizing groups logically, and publishing new features to the shared library ensures teammates can find and reuse them right away. Add short notes for unusual interactions, and always do a quick self-check before handing off your work. Tools like batch renaming or plugins can also make cleanup easier.

Messy layers don’t just slow you down—they ripple across the team, creating friction, delaying work, and making your designs look less professional. Taking the small upfront effort to properly name and organize layers ensures your work is efficient, reusable, and collaborative.

Layer naming isn’t just about neatness—it’s about keeping your team moving forward, fast.


Helping UX Designers bridge gaps and grow

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