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Designers, how do we get you guys to contribute to open source projects?

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Re: Designers, how do we get you guys to contribute to open source projects?

#151

Post by rmccue »

replicatorblog wrote: post #13

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 entir…

On 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.

Re: Designers, how do we get you guys to contribute to open source projects?

#152

Post by jj_aa »

ced wrote: post #65
vog wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

On the other hand, maybe we should make designers want to use Git. This might be not as crazy as it sounds, as I recently learned: A few weeks ago, there was a short presentation about Git, targeted at non-programmers such as graphics and web designers. After the presentation, one of the designers (who apparently already knew about Git) stood up and criticized the presenter for not going deeper into branches and auto…

"diff" between graphics files is neither readable nor meaningful, and where automatic merges are impossible anyway. Both problems seem "hard but solvable" to me. Isn't there software doing that already?

Kaleidoscope (OSX) has an "image scope" that at least integrates a couple tools for image comparison.

http://www.kaleidoscopeapp.com/

Re: Designers, how do we get you guys to contribute to open source projects?

#153

Post by adrianN »

AaronChampagne wrote: post #140
lovskogen wrote: post #133

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Welcome to Hackernews, great to see another designer joining up :) What do you work on?

I am trained as a designer but I actually work as a lookout observer for Alberta Forestry. I spend 6 months a year alone in the woods. Designing and illustrating fills some of that time :)

How much does that job pay, and how hard is it to become a lookout observer?

Re: Designers, how do we get you guys to contribute to open source projects?

#154

Post by [deleted] »

rorrr wrote: post #115
jrwoodruff wrote: post #95

During my day job I play the lone designer in an organization built from day one with only software engineers. I suspect the problems that I face there are similar to the problems faced by designers in OSS. 1. Communication. Developers use a completely different language than designers. If I come in talking about alignment, developers are thinking 'right left or center justified?' When developers start talking about…

Design IS optional and isn't as is important as you make it sound. Look at craigslist, hacker news, reddit.

[deleted]

Re: Designers, how do we get you guys to contribute to open source projects?

#155

Post by T-R »

nnutter wrote: post #93
Andrex wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Funny you mention GIMP, that's one OSS program that needs a UI refresh badly.

I 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.

There's a lot of duplication (Colors, Tools>Color Tools; Brush in Toolbox & as Dockable window), things that are out of place (View>Show Grid, Image>Configure Grid), common workflows that require more clicks than in other editors (Select-Copy-DeSelect-Paste), odd choice of defaults (When resizing canvas, choose "resize all layers" instead of "None"), and other odd design choices (Toolbox can't be a dockable window, Toolbox needs scrollbar if vertical Resolution<1024) that make GIMP occasionally frustrating to use, despite being an otherwise awesome tool.

Re: Designers, how do we get you guys to contribute to open source projects?

#156

Post by hamai »

jbk wrote: post #53

I really wish I knew how to get great designers... VLC is a product, that is widely used, usable (not the mac version, though), but it is extremely ugly. It is quite hard to get designers to help us (redesigning all the buttons for example) for quite many reasons. The biggest reason is that we don't speak the same language. Many designers don't understand the criticism that usually comes around with each modification…

I like VLC "ugliness". I think it's more functional than some more elaborated interfaces that end up looking like scene keygens.

Re: Designers, how do we get you guys to contribute to open source projects?

#157

Post by megablast »

texture wrote: post #86
rue wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I understand what you're saying…but as an open-source contributor I certainly expect that my code can be modified for various reasons. I guess a “work of art” would feel more personal, and (unless given a tight spec of elements that must be included) is more of a candidate for either rejection or admission as-is. For changes I'd certainly expect a request “can you add a wizard hat on the ninja?” rather than someone m…

The other guy hit the nail on the head. Most developers aren't designers, and in fact they tend to think in ways that are the opposite of aesthetically pleasing. It's why there are so few developer/designers (I'm one of them). The problem with design is that it is something that is not easy, but it SEEMS easy, because everyone has an opinion, and they think it's just as valid as anyone else's, even a professional des…

"The problem with design is that it is something that is not easy, but it SEEMS easy, because everyone has an opinion, and they think it's just as valid as anyone else's, even a professional designer. "

No, the problem with design is that every designer has a different opinion, and believes that their opinion is 100% correct, and there is no sway room at all. It has to be done that way, or no one will come to the site, even though it is exactly opposite as every other designer, who also has such strong opinions.

Design is subjective, but designers really believe it is not, that is the most important thing ever, and do not listen to anyone else.

Re: Designers, how do we get you guys to contribute to open source projects?

#158

Post by SamIAre »

rorrr wrote: post #115
jrwoodruff wrote: post #95

During my day job I play the lone designer in an organization built from day one with only software engineers. I suspect the problems that I face there are similar to the problems faced by designers in OSS. 1. Communication. Developers use a completely different language than designers. If I come in talking about alignment, developers are thinking 'right left or center justified?' When developers start talking about…

Design IS optional and isn't as is important as you make it sound. Look at craigslist, hacker news, reddit.

Other people have have said as much as I'm going to say but I just couldn't help but add my two cents.

The problem here is your very definition of design. If you were a designer, you'd be the bad kind that equates good design with over the top graphics. The best design is subtle. It doesn't call attention to itself or say "look at me." It just is. To paraphrase from the movie Helvetica, good design shouldn't make you say oh look how nice this design is—it should make you say well of course it's this way, why would it be any other way?

Take this very comment page, it's not flashy but I wouldn't say it's bad design at all. It knows it's audience isn't looking for bells and whistles. Everything lines up in a pleasing—and more importantly, logical—way. The typography is decent and there's enough differentiation between the comment and it's meta data. I could go on.

Basically, just open your mind. Bashing someone's profession without hearing their side is never smart.

Re: Designers, how do we get you guys to contribute to open source projects?

#159

Post by rue »

jt2190 wrote: post #149
rue wrote: post #97

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For you and ErrantX, I think you're reading too much into my parallel: I was just replying to a statement made in the parent. Obviously I'll expect that someone making changes to my code is qualified to do so. It's presumably parallel for interactions between multiple designers on the same project – one can make reasoned changes to the other's work. In the described event, there clearly wasn't communication but we do…

Your "logo" example is too contrived. What is more typical is to get a design for something like a form, that has made no consideration for user interaction (space for error messages, error icons, disabling/enabling buttons, etc.) This is where user interface programmers really stand apart from everyone else... Their designs actually work.

I'm sorry if it's contrived (I felt it somewhat related to the anecdote above); what I was trying to get at is whether designers have a point where they can't further deviate from their vision without compromising it, even if requested to by a co-designer or the client.

Re: Designers, how do we get you guys to contribute to open source projects?

#160

Post by AaronChampagne »

neutronicus wrote: post #141
perlgeek wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That experience sucks indeed. I guess there are two lessons to be learned: 1) try to lift the technical burden from the designer. If the designer sends a file as a mail attachment, just add it to a branch of your repo yourself (with permission, hopefully) 2) when programmers see a small bug in a piece of code, they often fix it. Don't assume you can and should do the same with designs. Talk to the designer.

Maybe also: have a designer high in the project hierarchy whose responsibility it is to merge design packages.

Having someone to direct the efforts of other designers would definitely help. Style guides would also help.
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