Ask HN: How can I contribute to Open Source as a Designer?

SO many open source projects could use the help of a designer! While we all like to describe open source projects as having a meritocracy, the accessibility of information about a project can be critical in picking up a large audience.

Git, for example, had a pretty ugly homepage. Something like this: http://git.or.cz/index.html After Scott Chacon got involved (not sure if he designed this or got outside help) launched the new face of git: http://git-scm.com/

We're all affected by our first impressions, and sometimes having a well-design site where folks can understand the context of an open source project can make or break its adoption.

I'd suggest just diving in head first. If you know of a project that you've enjoyed and are passionate about, ask if you can help re-design the web presence of that app. I can't imagine anyone turning you down!

I would like to make a request:

Please search for a project not in the web area. Try to work with projects like Gimp, Inkscape, Gnome - they need more help in my opinion.

Most large open source projects have a 'design' or 'artwork' team, who actively seek contributions, for example:

http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Design

http://art.gnome.org/

become a design ninja by completing one of the fedora bounties:

http://mairin.wordpress.com/

Try googling for <favourite project>+design, or <favourite project>+artwork.

For smaller projects, just do something and then show it to the dev's - explain _why_ it's good and _why_ it's better for the project - just looking nice often isn't enough; Open Source is a functioning meritocracy, mostly, so you'll have to convince people of the merits of what you've done and get them on board. If you're open minded, articulate and willing to help, I'm sure lots of projects will love to have you!

At http://www.satchmoproject.com we could really use a designed to help spruce up the default layout. If you're interested, post on the list or email me and we can discuss.

Joomla! is also a great CMS (Content Management System) with huge user base you could help to improve and is in constant development so you will definitely have a lot to contribute with there.

Have a look at http://people.joomla.org/groups/viewgroup/119-Joomla+UX.html and one of the group admins there will definitely help you to get on track.

Try http://art.gnome.org/, I mean I find the gnome UI in ubuntu pretty depressive (Its better than the previous versions but still not perfect). Try making skins for the ui that make it look better. I mean seriously, what can brown/orange skins do for you do for you?

You could contribute to making decent Gtk themes.

Gnome tends to be the face of Linux, as it's the default desktop for Ubuntu & Fedora, so the way gnome looks is the way Linux looks.

Now, Gnome uses Gtk for widgets, and in my opinion, Gtk is inherently flawed, and it will probably never look as good as Aqua. But I definitely see room for improvement. If more graphics designers get involved, it's more likely that Gtk will get "fixed", where by "fixed" I mean it will evolve to a form where it can compete with Aqua.