6 ms·
1. Ask for help - I'm a designer that reads HN everyday and I wouldn't know where to look if I wanted to participate in an open source project. Is there a list?
by replicatorblog 16y ago
1. Ask for help - I'm a designer that reads HN everyday and I wouldn't know where to look if I wanted to participate in an open source project. Is there a list? The problem is most OS software aside from GIMP/Inkscape doesn't make its way in front of designers often.
2. Make it discrete - What needs to be designed? The entire UI and workflows? The application icon? The internal navigation glyphs? Redesigning an entire app that has tens or hundreds of contributors can be daunting, but getting someone started with something small can be a gateway.
3. Leave it alone - One of the other commenters mentioned how a designer contributed something and then it was overwritten and ruined. Typically you don't want to have dozens of designers all working on a project unless there are fairly strict guidelines to work from. Have a working group at the beginning that can set the UI tone and create guidelines from that. Also a small review committee to review changes is smart, just as they do for code.
4. Version Control for Dummies - Put together a short explanation of how to use the version control system of choice, assuming no knowledge beyond Photoshop. Or find someone on the technical side who can be an intermediary/GIT trainer. The human part of this is very important.
Do those things and you should see prettier projects in the future. I know I'd love to get involved, but have no idea where to get started!
- micrypt 16y ago#2 - Perhaps a reasonable starting point would be improving the look of the project's documentation.
- neutronicus 16y agoI remember the Haskell community actually sat down and had a community discussion about laying down design guidelines for the entire Haskell ecosystem (all packages should use so and so a color scheme, this is our logo, this is our font, etc.). I find Haskell sites almost always aesthetically pleasing, and it was probably due to conscious decision by the community to establish design standards. I think OSS in general could benefit from giving a designer such broad-brush authority over an entire ecosystem.
- greengarstudios 16y agominor typo: discreet -> discrete
- Andrex 16y agoFunny you mention GIMP, that's one OSS program that needs a UI refresh badly.
- deleted 16y ago[deleted]
- deleted 16y ago[deleted]
- mkr-hn 16y agoThey've had something going since at least February '07 (going by the refresh wiki edit history), but I don't see any sign that it's produced a tangible product. Lots of pretty mockups though.
- deleted 16y ago[deleted]
- minozake 16y agoI disagree. I, against popular opinion, like Gimp's UI a lot. It just feels natural to me.
- SkyMarshal 16y agoSame, especially on Linux where I can just give it its own workspace, the lack of container window isn't a problem.
- nitrogen 16y agoI love the right-click interface in GIMP because it makes almost everything I need to do immediately available. But why on earth don't they sort and/or categorize the tool palette icons?
- nnutter 16y agoI have not really seen any evidence of GIMP being that poor of a UI. The biggest complaint is the multi-window interface for which single-window mode is currently in alpha and should be out in a few months or so.
- allenbina 16y agobrilliant answer. Moreover, there is no GIT for designers made from the ground up (I'm envisioning a gui for past drafts). Also, there are no standards for schools of design. There is no professional course that teaches the basics of ergonomics for the web the same way architectural web development can be taught. Most of the people like myself just follow a few major blogs. I know many designers who would love to donate to open source projects.
- TorbjornLunde 16y agoNot sure if I agree about the school. There are schools that offer courses in interaction design. In addition many visual communication courses offer interaction design in addition to the usual print oriented design.
- quannum 16y agoSparkleShare aims to fill the 'git for designers' void by making using git more like using Dropbox. No URL to hand, sorry.
- rmccue 16y agoOn the flip side: I'm a developer, and I have no idea how to even find designers, let alone try and get them to help out. If there is a list, I'd really like to find it.
- d5tryr 16y agoI'd love to know if there was a list too.