Free & Open Source Design – The Path to the Light side

Designing in the open is hard. Designing with Free & Open Software is even harder. But you gotta start somewhere, right?
Quite some time ago I started using Inkscape when I first found out about the Fedora Design Team. In true FLOSS style, I started learning Inkscape, which was needed to contribute to the Fedora Design Team (and it was long due for me as well!).

Since then, I have adapted Inkscape into my workflow, and although still not getting rid of Adobe Illustrator, I’m confident enough to use Inkscape for my design needs as of now. So if Open Source/FLOSS Design is a Jedi Master, I am still a Padawan, but I’m motivated to strive towards leading an example for it, so we can finally get rid of the bias that all good designers use Macs. It’s getting tiresome already.

To celebrate the beginning of this transformation, I decided to refresh several logos of famous Free & Open Source Design tools out there. I believe that one of the biggest advantages proprietary software has over Free & Open Source software, is its advanced User Experience and Design values. Once we can tackle these elements in Free & Open Source Software, we can engage users way more, efficiently, and make FLOSS a standard, not an alternative.

Having said this, I hope that said projects will update their branding in the near future, to keep up with modern branding standards, while still keeping their true FLOSS spirit alive. This is not to be passive aggressive about “Hey, use my logos”, rather than initiating a discussion to join forces and improve the overall visibility of FLOSS Design tools. I’d be happy to contribute my time for free (as in free beer) to achieve that. Check out ura for more FLOSS Design stuff as well and let me know what you think!