12 ms·

But what about designers?

grzm 10y ago
Projects need design as well. Websites, logos, manuals/documentation: there are plenty of opportunities for designers as well.
- Mz 10y ago
  https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12881822 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12881822 If you could elaborate a bit on how to get involved in the non-programming piece for us non-programmers, like designers and copywriters, the world will be a slightly better place. Thanks.
  - grzm 10y ago
    I think the key is to find a project you care about, or care enough about that you're willing to put in the effort to get to know the project and how it works. Some communities will be easier to get involved with than others. It's great that people want to get involved and volunteer their time and effort. They also need to keep in mind that managing the community takes effort as well, and that increases by some margin with every new contributor. Try to be as self-supporting as possible. That goes for any project you want to get involved with, regardless of how you want to participate. And probably stuff you already know. Want to work on the website? Documentation? Does the project already have tickets or tags for these types of issues? Maybe a separate mailing list? Look at the issue tracker. Subscribe to the mailing list. Look at the mailing list archives. The commit history for the website or documentation. How recent is the work? Who are the people involved? After you've gotten the lay of the land, figure out where you might want to start and ask if people the project would be open to having you work on it. Maybe take a stab at it yourself to get accustomed to the project and tool chain. Take a look at what's there already. How would you improve it? Compare it with sites or documentation for other projects you think are good or enjoy using. What can you apply from those sites to the project you want to work on? For contributing and improving documentation, if you're new to the project, you've got a great opportunity to help produce better content for new users. What were your stumbling blocks? What was hard to find? What would you have liked to see as you were getting started? And remember, you're likely entering the epitome of bikesheds.[0] :) Wear a thick skin! Some of my first contributions were in design and documentation. People like well-designed things. And they can be a great introduction to a community. Was this helpful? [0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Law_of_triviality https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Law_of_triviality
    - Mz 10y ago
      I have a pretty thick skin. :-) As someone who is strongly people-oriented and likes to debug the wetware/collective crap, I would say that the Law of Triviality grows out of the need to hash out important human elements, such as good communication protocols, trust between members, etc. It lays the groundwork for doing good work when the chips are down. Thank you for the long, detailed reply. I think this will help me.
cheiVia0 10y ago
Debian needs some help from artists: https://wiki.debian.org/DebianArt/RequestArtwork https://wiki.debian.org/DebianArt/RequestArtwork

grzm 10y ago

Projects need design as well. Websites, logos, manuals/documentation: there are plenty of opportunities for designers as well.

Mz 10y ago
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12881822 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12881822 If you could elaborate a bit on how to get involved in the non-programming piece for us non-programmers, like designers and copywriters, the world will be a slightly better place. Thanks.
- grzm 10y ago
  I think the key is to find a project you care about, or care enough about that you're willing to put in the effort to get to know the project and how it works. Some communities will be easier to get involved with than others. It's great that people want to get involved and volunteer their time and effort. They also need to keep in mind that managing the community takes effort as well, and that increases by some margin with every new contributor. Try to be as self-supporting as possible. That goes for any project you want to get involved with, regardless of how you want to participate. And probably stuff you already know. Want to work on the website? Documentation? Does the project already have tickets or tags for these types of issues? Maybe a separate mailing list? Look at the issue tracker. Subscribe to the mailing list. Look at the mailing list archives. The commit history for the website or documentation. How recent is the work? Who are the people involved? After you've gotten the lay of the land, figure out where you might want to start and ask if people the project would be open to having you work on it. Maybe take a stab at it yourself to get accustomed to the project and tool chain. Take a look at what's there already. How would you improve it? Compare it with sites or documentation for other projects you think are good or enjoy using. What can you apply from those sites to the project you want to work on? For contributing and improving documentation, if you're new to the project, you've got a great opportunity to help produce better content for new users. What were your stumbling blocks? What was hard to find? What would you have liked to see as you were getting started? And remember, you're likely entering the epitome of bikesheds.[0] :) Wear a thick skin! Some of my first contributions were in design and documentation. People like well-designed things. And they can be a great introduction to a community. Was this helpful? [0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Law_of_triviality https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Law_of_triviality
  - Mz 10y ago
    I have a pretty thick skin. :-) As someone who is strongly people-oriented and likes to debug the wetware/collective crap, I would say that the Law of Triviality grows out of the need to hash out important human elements, such as good communication protocols, trust between members, etc. It lays the groundwork for doing good work when the chips are down. Thank you for the long, detailed reply. I think this will help me.

cheiVia0 10y ago

Debian needs some help from artists: https://wiki.debian.org/DebianArt/RequestArtwork https://wiki.debian.org/DebianArt/RequestArtwork