Core FeaturesLesson 6 of 10

Working with Branches

2 min readGitHub for Designers

Branches let you work on new features or experiments without affecting the main codebase. Think of them as parallel timelines for your project.

Why Use Branches?

Work on features without breaking the main code
Multiple people can work on different things simultaneously
Easy to discard experiments that don't work out
Clean history when merging completed features

Create a New Branch

Terminal

# Create and switch to a new branch
git checkout -b feature/new-navigation

# Or with newer Git versions
git switch -c feature/new-navigation

Switch Between Branches

Terminal

# Switch to an existing branch
git checkout main

# See all branches
git branch

Branch Naming Conventions

Most teams use prefixes to categorize branches:

feature/ - New features (feature/user-profile)
fix/ - Bug fixes (fix/login-error)
design/ - Design changes (design/new-color-scheme)
docs/ - Documentation (docs/api-guide)

Always Know Your Branch

Before making changes, always check which branch you're on with "git branch" or look at your terminal prompt. Committing to the wrong branch is a common mistake!

Lesson Complete!

Create branches for new work
Switch between branches
Understand branch naming conventions

You're ready to work safely with branches!

← Back to GitHub Course for Designers overview

Core FeaturesLesson 6 of 10

Working with Branches

2 min readGitHub for Designers

Branches let you work on new features or experiments without affecting the main codebase. Think of them as parallel timelines for your project.

Why Use Branches?

Work on features without breaking the main code
Multiple people can work on different things simultaneously
Easy to discard experiments that don't work out
Clean history when merging completed features

Create a New Branch

Terminal

# Create and switch to a new branch
git checkout -b feature/new-navigation

# Or with newer Git versions
git switch -c feature/new-navigation

Switch Between Branches

Terminal

# Switch to an existing branch
git checkout main

# See all branches
git branch

Branch Naming Conventions

Most teams use prefixes to categorize branches:

feature/ - New features (feature/user-profile)
fix/ - Bug fixes (fix/login-error)
design/ - Design changes (design/new-color-scheme)
docs/ - Documentation (docs/api-guide)

Always Know Your Branch

Before making changes, always check which branch you're on with "git branch" or look at your terminal prompt. Committing to the wrong branch is a common mistake!

Lesson Complete!

Create branches for new work
Switch between branches
Understand branch naming conventions

You're ready to work safely with branches!

← Back to GitHub Course for Designers overview