Design feedback in Open Source
Channel: FOSDEM
Date: 07/03/2018

by Ecaterina Moraru

At: FOSDEM 2017

Open discussion about the design feedback process, gathering expectations andguidelines from different open source communities.

Every Open Source project is different, every developer and designer isdifferent so hoping that this session would provide a magic answer to ourquestions is not realistic. Its purpose is to open the discussion and try togather examples from different communities in the search of drawing someguidelines.

In Open Source, the hardest part is to know when a design iteration shouldstop: after a certain amount of time, after a certain amount of votes, etc.Since there are no real/accountable stakeholders/decision-makers and themajority of decisions are done with voting, it can be hard for a designer toknow which voices should be listened when iterating. Also, design is notreally like code, so it can be harder to do partial work and just let anotherdesigner continue it. Sometimes things need to be redone from scratch (becauseof style differences, vision, approach, tools, etc.)

The purpose of giving and receiving feedback in open source should maximizethe input all parties receive, having in mind their interests, availability,experience, commitment, etc.

Some questions we could ask: \- What can be done when we feel there is noconsensus between designer and community or even between community members? \-What are the motives for proposing the design work and how much work does itinvolve? \- Should something be accepted just because it's the only proposal?Do we have the luxury to refuse design work? \- Should the same rules as incode review be applied? \- How do we better match designers and communities interms of style? \- Should people from outside the community be involved in thefeedback process? \- Are community members the target or representatives fortheir users?

Meeting everyone's expectations needs a better communication and understandingof the topic and that's what this session tries to achieve.


Room: AW1.121
Scheduled start: 2017-02-05 11:30:00