# Starting my journey into Open Source Design

**URL:** <https://discourse.opensourcedesign.net/t/starting-my-journey-into-open-source-design/1559>\
**Category:** Design Lounge\
**Created:** [February 22, 2020, 8:39pm UTC](https://discourse.opensourcedesign.net/t/starting-my-journey-into-open-source-design/1559 "2020-02-22T20:39:33Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 12\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Eugene](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex029/user_avatar/discourse.opensourcedesign.net/eugene/32/1457_2.png) [@Eugene](https://discourse.opensourcedesign.net/u/Eugene)\
**Post date:** [February 22, 2020, 8:39pm UTC](https://discourse.opensourcedesign.net/t/starting-my-journey-into-open-source-design/1559/1 "2020-02-22T20:39:33Z")

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Hello everyone,  
I am Eugene. I am a UI/UX designer with experience in UI design and a little experience in UX. I just got into Open Source Design recently through @Erioldoesdesign and she is helping me understand what it is all about and the opportunities one can get through Open Source Design. I would like to start contributing to Open Source Design projects on here. Here are some of the designs that I have worked on; let me know if you like them and if you have some open source design projects that you would like me work on with you, I would be happy to help.

 ![All in One](https://canada1.discourse-cdn.com/flex029/uploads/opensourcedesign/original/2X/e/ea5dbc39fef13f3b37351ba97b68ad953dcfd389.jpeg)  
 ![BTC White](https://canada1.discourse-cdn.com/flex029/uploads/opensourcedesign/original/2X/3/35c96a91c74ad4a16f4786ba194d85be90a1b3f1.png)  
 ![Product-page](https://canada1.discourse-cdn.com/flex029/uploads/opensourcedesign/original/2X/1/1cb803bfdef7caf45a4a38ad98693d4988f1b5d4.jpeg)  
 ![Ease](https://canada1.discourse-cdn.com/flex029/uploads/opensourcedesign/original/2X/3/3c2951c6e9d45cdefa335c98ee3c1083117daacc.jpeg)  
 ![Screenshot from 2019-11-11 21-17-07](https://canada1.discourse-cdn.com/flex029/uploads/opensourcedesign/original/2X/7/78ccb7266a41b93c09b08cc9b3cdf7c4e5a8ce4e.png)  
 ![To-Do](https://canada1.discourse-cdn.com/flex029/uploads/opensourcedesign/original/2X/7/7e9ef3e0e616ddef0e595a7cb1a3e61defc57236.jpeg)

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**Author:** ![Erioldoesdesign](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex029/user_avatar/discourse.opensourcedesign.net/erioldoesdesign/32/2895_2.png) [@Erioldoesdesign](https://discourse.opensourcedesign.net/u/Erioldoesdesign)\
**Post date:** [February 27, 2020, 8:59am UTC](https://discourse.opensourcedesign.net/t/starting-my-journey-into-open-source-design/1559/2 "2020-02-27T08:59:15Z")

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Hey @Eugene great to see your previous work here 😉 and it looks great!

Some fantastic UI work and good layout work.

What kind of OSS do you think you’d like to work with? Dev tools? or Humanitarian projects? or is there a topic you’re particularly interested in? (like branding as a design topic or maybe like operating systems like Linux?)

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**Author:** ![Eugene](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex029/user_avatar/discourse.opensourcedesign.net/eugene/32/1457_2.png) [@Eugene](https://discourse.opensourcedesign.net/u/Eugene)\
**Post date:** [February 27, 2020, 10:56am UTC](https://discourse.opensourcedesign.net/t/starting-my-journey-into-open-source-design/1559/3 "2020-02-27T10:56:43Z")

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Thanks Eriol @Erioldoesdesign.  
I haven’t really gotten to know about these branches of OSS. It would be great if you could help clarify how a designer can contribute to OSS like Dev tools and Humanitarian projects.

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**Author:** ![Erioldoesdesign](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex029/user_avatar/discourse.opensourcedesign.net/erioldoesdesign/32/2895_2.png) [@Erioldoesdesign](https://discourse.opensourcedesign.net/u/Erioldoesdesign)\
**Post date:** [February 27, 2020, 12:18pm UTC](https://discourse.opensourcedesign.net/t/starting-my-journey-into-open-source-design/1559/4 "2020-02-27T12:18:18Z")

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So if they aren’t on our jobs page right now the open source design community can reach out to OSS projects to seek their interest and willingness to have design contributions.

I suggest using github and gitlabs search functions and searching for your interest (e.g. Search:Refugee tech) or look at Open Collective [https://opencollective.com/discover](https://opencollective.com/discover) for projects.

Find a way to contact these OSS projects you like and grow the interaction from there 🙂

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**Author:** ![Beulah](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex029/user_avatar/discourse.opensourcedesign.net/beulah/32/1483_2.png) [@Beulah](https://discourse.opensourcedesign.net/u/Beulah)\
**Post date:** [February 27, 2020, 12:52pm UTC](https://discourse.opensourcedesign.net/t/starting-my-journey-into-open-source-design/1559/5 "2020-02-27T12:52:20Z")

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Hello! My name is Adebola, from Nigeria. I am a front end web designer who is so interested in UI/UX design. I am quite a novice in UI and most of the online courses are inaccessible for me right now because of finance and I would really appreciate any free online PDF and tutorials to start as a designer. Thank you @Erioldoesdesign for this amazing opportunity.

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**Author:** ![jdittrich](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex029/user_avatar/discourse.opensourcedesign.net/jdittrich/32/42_2.png) [@jdittrich](https://discourse.opensourcedesign.net/u/jdittrich)\
**Post date:** [February 28, 2020, 7:13pm UTC](https://discourse.opensourcedesign.net/t/starting-my-journey-into-open-source-design/1559/6 "2020-02-28T19:13:25Z")

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Hi @Beulah,

> I am quite a novice in UI and most of the online courses are inaccessible for me right now

I have taught UI/UX (so have some others in the group) and I might be able to find some free materials. What would you be interested in particularly and/or what activities would you like to be able doing? The field is relatively big and it would be tough to start with everything at once 🙂

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**Author:** ![Beulah](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex029/user_avatar/discourse.opensourcedesign.net/beulah/32/1483_2.png) [@Beulah](https://discourse.opensourcedesign.net/u/Beulah)\
**Post date:** [February 29, 2020, 2:42pm UTC](https://discourse.opensourcedesign.net/t/starting-my-journey-into-open-source-design/1559/7 "2020-02-29T14:42:16Z")

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I notice the field is so wide too and if care is not taken, it might become overwhelming. I am majorly interested in UI (Beginners level) for starters. I am interested in giving the user an amazing experience while browsing the web.  
Thanks a lot @jdittrich

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**Author:** ![jdittrich](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex029/user_avatar/discourse.opensourcedesign.net/jdittrich/32/42_2.png) [@jdittrich](https://discourse.opensourcedesign.net/u/jdittrich)\
**Post date:** [February 29, 2020, 5:36pm UTC](https://discourse.opensourcedesign.net/t/starting-my-journey-into-open-source-design/1559/8 "2020-02-29T17:36:45Z")

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> I am majorly interested in UI (Beginners level) for starters.  
> I am interested in giving the user an amazing experience while browsing the web.

I looked at what I had bookmarked, here are some things I consider useful:

In General:

- [Usability for Nerds](https://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Usability_for_Nerds) (also good for non-nerds)

UI elements – important to know the ‘grammar’ of interactions:

- [gnome ui elements](https://developer.gnome.org/hig/stable/ui-elements.html.en) (whole [gnome guidelines](https://developer.gnome.org/hig/3.32/))
- [Material design elements](https://material.io/components/) (whole [Material Design Guide](https://developer.android.com/design/index.html))

Microinteractions:

- [Little Big Details](https://littlebigdetails.com/) microinteractions in UI design

Icons are frequently asked for, easy to add to products and easy to mess up.

- [Nielsen Norman on Icon Usability](https://www.nngroup.com/articles/icon-usability/)
- [Icons and User Needs](https://digital.nhs.uk/blog/transformation-blog/2019/icons-avoid-temptation-and-start-with-user-needs)

Accessibility assures that people in less-than-optimal conditions (might be a disability or being stressed or having lost their glasses) can use your designs:

- [7 things on accessability](https://medium.com/salesforce-ux/7-things-every-designer-needs-to-know-about-accessibility-64f105f0881b)

Hope this is a good start.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Beulah](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex029/user_avatar/discourse.opensourcedesign.net/beulah/32/1483_2.png) [@Beulah](https://discourse.opensourcedesign.net/u/Beulah)\
**Post date:** [February 29, 2020, 5:55pm UTC](https://discourse.opensourcedesign.net/t/starting-my-journey-into-open-source-design/1559/9 "2020-02-29T17:55:05Z")

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Thank you, you are so kind.

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**Author:** ![jdittrich](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex029/user_avatar/discourse.opensourcedesign.net/jdittrich/32/42_2.png) [@jdittrich](https://discourse.opensourcedesign.net/u/jdittrich)\
**Post date:** [March 5, 2020, 3:47pm UTC](https://discourse.opensourcedesign.net/t/starting-my-journey-into-open-source-design/1559/10 "2020-03-05T15:47:01Z")

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Glad to help. Feel free to tell if there is anything specific that interests you particularly or where you know more than what the links provide

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**Author:** ![Erioldoesdesign](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex029/user_avatar/discourse.opensourcedesign.net/erioldoesdesign/32/2895_2.png) [@Erioldoesdesign](https://discourse.opensourcedesign.net/u/Erioldoesdesign)\
**Post date:** [March 6, 2020, 11:17am UTC](https://discourse.opensourcedesign.net/t/starting-my-journey-into-open-source-design/1559/11 "2020-03-06T11:17:22Z")

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Amazing resources @jdittrich 😃

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**Author:** ![uidesigner](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex029/user_avatar/discourse.opensourcedesign.net/uidesigner/32/1816_2.png) [@uidesigner](https://discourse.opensourcedesign.net/u/uidesigner)\
**Post date:** [July 16, 2020, 5:16am UTC](https://discourse.opensourcedesign.net/t/starting-my-journey-into-open-source-design/1559/12 "2020-07-16T05:16:37Z")

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Hi ,  
I am Suresh Sapkota a web UI/UX designer from Nepal. Interested to contribute in Open Source projects, where I can collaborate with designer team to make a better product by sharing my skill and ideas.

Thank you.