Participating in the open source design community can mean engaging in discussions about design in open source, joining our community calls or organizing events.
Often, people who join the community are designers working on open source software, developers interested in design or people from other professional backgrounds.
There are no formal requirements to take part in the community other than following the code of conduct.
Communicating well
In order to keep the Open Source Design community a warm, welcoming, and safe place we ask that all participants read and adhere to the Code of Conduct.
Participation channels
Social media
Our account on Mastodon is @opensourcedesign@mastodon.social. The account is run by core members. If you want to join discussions or want to be found, use the #opensourcedesign hashtag.
Community call
Our community call happens once per month on the first Wednesday of the month at 7pm CET (please check for when daylight savings happens in your timezone) and we meet via Jitsi: https://meet.jit.si/opensourcedesign (an open source video, chat and audio service). Jitsi sometimes asks for you to ‘login’ but this should not be required to attend a community call.
Usually, we do a short introduction round, give updates on what is going on in the Open Source Design community and anything in the world of open source design and then chat about a few topics more in depth. New people are always welcome!
Discourse forum
Discourse is used for discussions around open source design. The account creation is not restricted - feel free to join.
GitHub
GitHub is used for working on the website and the job board. The content is written in markdown, the website’s theme is implemented in HTML and Hugo templates. You can file issues and make pull requests. Before submitting a pull request, it is best to open an issue first to describe the suggestion and to get feedback (except it is a fix for obvious bugs or spelling mistakes). Please do not submit AI-generated code changes, issues, documentation or code reviews.
Ways to contribute
Contribute design work
Open source projects post design requests on our job board. Some are paid, many are volunteer. If you have a project that needs a designer, you can post a job there too.
Come to events
We run and attend events throughout the year - meetups, conference devrooms, and design sprints. Browse upcoming events or help organise one.
Support us financially
We accept contributions through Open Collective - one-off or recurring, whatever works for you.
What membership looks like
There’s no membership card or formal sign-up. You’re part of the community when you participate - whether that means posting in the forum, helping someone on GitHub, attending events, or contributing financially. If you’re consistently active over time and start taking on responsibility for some aspect of OSD, you may naturally become a core contributor. There’s no formal process for that either - it just happens through sustained engagement.