We have a new website:
https://opensourcedesign.net/
Remote
Open Source Design
@opensourcedesign@mastodon.social
mastodon 4.8.0-nightly.2026-10-06🎨 Design + Open Source http://opensourcedesign.net
💬 Chat https://discourse.opensourcedesign.net
💻 Help http://github.com/opensourcedesign
#opensourcedesign
2199 Followers
151 Following
30 Posts
Joined August 14, 2017
💻 Website:
🗨️ Forum:
😍 Contribute:
Why one should be familiar with projects and their structure – Rather than joining some project that has design tasks, join one that you are or want to get familiar with
https://opensourcedesign.net/resources/why-know-projects-and-their-structure/
A photo from Open Source Design devroom for 2026's FOSDEM!
Had fantastic time running the devroom for another year with some fantastic speakers, audience and folks willing to chip in and help make the room great.
We also finally took an updated photo of the devroom (this was towards the end of the day and not at all the busiest the room got which was at capacity for most of the talks!)
Watch the videos on each talk page here:
https://fosdem.org/2026/schedule/track/design/
Open Source Design has some small funds to pay someone who has experience in helping OSS projects/communities build out effective governance work.
Please check our job posting here:
Overview of typical tools used in open source projects:
https://opensourcedesign.net/resources/tools-and-code/
Imani Joy, designer at @Mastodon@mastodon.social – A Solo Designer’s Survival Guide to the Fediverse at FOSS Backstage Design (@fossdesign@floss.social)
Imani Joy – A Solo Designer’s Survival Guide to the Fediverse #FOSSDesign
Designing in @penpot@fosstodon.org and @excalidraw@mastodon.social for @Blender@mastodon.social at @fossdesign@floss.social
Mockups and Prototyping at Blender #FOSSDesign
"Difficulties of design in open source" (discourse thread)
https://discourse.opensourcedesign.net/t/difficulties-of-design-in-open-source/787
If you are interested in research in design in open source projects see the list of publications at
https://github.com/victoria-bondarchuk/List-of-Academic-Research-on-Usability-in-FOSS
and the literature review at https://user-project.superbloom.design/process/literature-review/
TODAY!!!
Join us for our monthly get together where we talk about all things Open Source Design. Everyone is welcome.
These monthly meetings happen as a voice/video call using Jitsi at meet.jit.si/opensourcedesign.
Date: Every First Wednesday
Time: 19:00-20:00 (CEST Berlin Time)
Location: Online
"It turns out that preferences have a cost. Of course, some preferences also have important benefits - and can be crucial interface features. But each one has a price, and you have to carefully consider its value."
FOSS Backstage Design is a decicated design day connected to the wider FOSS Backstage conference.
Open Source Design has been long time supporters of FOSS Backstage platforming design OSS and we're helping to fundraise to recover the costs of recording the design talks and ensuring that they stay available for years to come online!
https://opensourcedesign.net/design/open/source/2026/03/31/foss-backstage-donation-support.html
https://opencollective.com/opensourcedesign/projects/foss-backstage-design
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vrl7aRQ25HU&list=PLq-odUc2x7i-ZpO0FvWOCb5BzoyQOEZoT
If you are a designer in open source: What do you wish you learned earlier about being a designer in open source? //jd
If you are a developer working with designers in open source projects:
What did you learn about design from them and what would you like designers would know about development?
"Open Source Design: Governance research and documentation project"
»I would love to see the Pen Tool allow for even simpler node editing, perhaps utilizing different mouse buttons for faster workflows, similar to the experience in Illustrator. I also think a more intuitive system for modifying page sizes and artboards would be a great addition.«
Join us for our monthly get together where we talk about all things Open Source Design. Everyone is welcome.
These monthly meetings happen as a voice/video call using Jitsi at meet.jit.si/opensourcedesign.
To see what we talked about in previous meetings, check out the “Monthly call” category on the forum.
Date & Location
Date: Every First Wednesday
Time: 19:00-20:00 (Berlin Time)
Location: Online
"Rotate mode by second click" is a rather standard interaction in graphics applications, but it is not very discoverable.
Replying to
@fossdesign@floss.social 3rd round:
- fdroid testing: Was done!
- Balancing newcomers and powerusers
- What are the effects of breaking workflows
- is it about giving up control?
- Are core values are followed?
- Resources on opensourcedesign.net
- Highlighting projects that care for design(ers)
- What exactly do you want to work on?
- https://contribute.design/ and design.md
- Being early adopters
- It might be rough at the beginning but what is done enables others to build upon
"What should OSD to focus on and have an impact in?"
https://discourse.opensourcedesign.net/t/what-should-open-source-design-focus-on-in-the-future/4407
Discourse thread: "What are patterns of rejection of design input/contributions in open source projects?":
https://discourse.opensourcedesign.net/t/4395
Replying to
@fossdesign@floss.social second round barcamp:
Onboarding design newcomers:
- by manual and/or by shift in community mindset?
- sharing knowledge of context is hard
- have relevant, non-essential tasks to start with
Low Telemetry research:
- review tutorials, social media etc.
- qualitative research
- which data would actually be needed which not?
community decision making
- communication about design
- vote by community on community suggestions
- balance specialization vs. involvement by everyone
Replying to
»Our experience with Greenstone suggests that open-source development methods may need to adapt if they are to produce software for the desktop of the typical user. A community of developers will not necessarily pay sufficient attention to issues of usability that they themselves do not experience. An interesting question is whether a large open-source project could address usability issues without the well-known benefits of studying real users?«
Replying to
Past research as inspiration: https://github.com/victoria-bondarchuk/List-of-Academic-Research-on-Usability-in-FOSS
Replying to
@scottjenson We'd be very interested to see your experiences there Scott. Maybe a photoblog? :)
If you don't know @saptaks you should chat. A wonderful core member of OSD.