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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?

#131

Post by alanfalcon »

mechanical_fish wrote: post #35
jeremyswank wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

but wait, it says the developer 'botched the output' -- shouldn't i be able to presume as a designer (who knows how to create proper output) that my contribution will not be botched by someone who may be a really fine coder, but lacks a good understanding of how to optimize images and deliver good output for the screen?

But how, as a design idiot armed with a recently downloaded copy of Gimp, do I tell whether or not my fine edit has "botched" your design or not? Here we come to a fundamental problem of FOSS economics. There are three forces which protect the software from the work of well-meaning but clueless people: A) Physical reality. The software has to work. If I take an ax to the internals of Apache it will quickly become app…

I can define "wrong": Wrong is using the square image stretched to fill a rectangular space, instead of using the rectangular image I provided. It's mis-aligning elements intended to be shown on a grid. Or attempting to convert that PNG with a complex alpha channel to a GIF.

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

#132

Post by jrwoodruff »

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.

Yea, I think this is part of the attitude problem actually.

Many sites are heralded as an example of 'no design necessary' because they lack the eye candy. However, the minimalism of these sites, the layout of results by date (as opposed to alphabetically or something else) the categories they are arranged by, all are part of the design of these sites. Was a designer involved in this? Hard to say, probably not, but were these decisions made intentionally by someone considering alternative choices? absolutely.

I'm not saying designers are the only people who can design. Just that designers are trained and have experience making decisions like the ones I mentioned above. We can - and do - provide value to software.

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

#133

Post by lovskogen »

TorbjornLunde wrote: post #113
schwabacher wrote: post #103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In the intrest of bi-lingual education could you explain what you mean when you come in talking about alignment? Developer here, and I would definitely be thinking 'right, left, center'?

Alignment could refer to alignment of different objects in a design (a website, an application window). The most important function of aAlignment is to communicate what belongs together. Having objects align also makes for a “calmer” design. Imagine that each new place any object has a beginning or an end adds an invisible line to your design. These makes the design more chaotic. Aligning objects is a way to “re-use”…

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

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

#134

Post by Locke1689 »

jbk wrote: post #81
zavulon wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> usable (not the mac version, though) Heh. Obviously as VLC's developer you know better, but FWIW I've been using VLC on Mac OS X extensively, as my primary video player. I don't think it's unusable, or ugly at all.. I can't be the only one, can I?

Well, to be honest, VLC on Mac has this 2 windows paradigm that is very complex to understand those days... I've been working with a designer to try to do this mockup: http://www.jbkempf.com/~jb/VLC_mac.png

Much better. The VLC design on OSX has bugged me for a long time. In my opinion all the platforms should move towards the model where the only visible window by default is the player and the controls are temporary overlays over that player. One should always strive towards simplicity in design and optimize for the most used features. Most people will be using VLC to play one video at a time so including things like the video queue in the display by default is just time consuming and distracting.

P.S. Not just being a spoilsport here -- I do contribute to VLC, just through libavcodec.

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

#135

Post by jrwoodruff »

StavrosK wrote: post #111
schwabacher wrote: post #103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In the intrest of bi-lingual education could you explain what you mean when you come in talking about alignment? Developer here, and I would definitely be thinking 'right, left, center'?

Developer here, too, but I think he means the alignment of elements on the page, as in one element aligning with the other, or the title aligning with the text, etc.

Yes, this. Should've explained that :)

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

#136

Post by AaronChampagne »

TorbjornLunde wrote: post #113
schwabacher wrote: post #103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In the intrest of bi-lingual education could you explain what you mean when you come in talking about alignment? Developer here, and I would definitely be thinking 'right, left, center'?

Alignment could refer to alignment of different objects in a design (a website, an application window). The most important function of aAlignment is to communicate what belongs together. Having objects align also makes for a “calmer” design. Imagine that each new place any object has a beginning or an end adds an invisible line to your design. These makes the design more chaotic. Aligning objects is a way to “re-use”…

http://desktoppub.about.com/od/designprinciples/a/alignment....

Here's an article for the interested. Often times, designers will use a grid, like http://960.gs/ offers, to help make layouts with good alignment.

Left, right centre alignment refers to the relationship of text and text frame. You can still have alignment relationships betweens photo and text frame, photo and animation, text frame & text frame, etc.

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

#137

Post by neutronicus »

micrypt wrote: post #26
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…

#2 - Perhaps a reasonable starting point would be improving the look of the project's documentation.

I 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.

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

#138

Post by AaronChampagne »

kevinburke wrote: post #120
rorrr wrote: post #115

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

I disagree - those sites have great designs, they're just not pretty. There are a million different ways people use Craigslist so they put a million different links on the homepage to get as many areas as possible within one click of the mouse. HN and Reddit support thriving communities of non-assholes - look at how many sites with "better designs" have tards for community members. HN in particular may purposely be d…

I can vouch for Reddit's community being a result of it's "poor design". Most people are turned off by giant walls of text. Reddit is actively trying to build a community out of people who are going to take the time out of their day to sort through a wall of text.

In this way, Reddit's 'poor design' serves a function of repelling undesirable people. If you want to repel people then go for a non-design. If you want to attract as many people as possible, or attract people who are turned on by something other than a wall of text, then hire a designer.

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

#139

Post by jrwoodruff »

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…

If you're interested in learning about some design concepts, I highly recommend reading The Non-Designers Design Book by Robin Williams:

http://www.amazon.com/Non-Designers-Design-Book-Typographic-...

It's a quick, easy read and the concepts can really apply to any kind of visual design. Any of her other titles are also excellent.

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

#140

Post by AaronChampagne »

lovskogen wrote: post #133
TorbjornLunde wrote: post #113

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Alignment could refer to alignment of different objects in a design (a website, an application window). The most important function of aAlignment is to communicate what belongs together. Having objects align also makes for a “calmer” design. Imagine that each new place any object has a beginning or an end adds an invisible line to your design. These makes the design more chaotic. Aligning objects is a way to “re-use”…

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 :)
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