Presented by Garth Braithwaite.

“We want to do something that’s universal and clear, but we don’t want to do what everyone else is doing.”

  • Richard Stallman worked for MIT, encountered a problem with the printers and was able to fix it himself. A new printer was introduced and the source code wasn’t available. He knew the solution to the problem, but he couldn’t do it himself. This prompted him to start GNU.

Free to use, study, modify, and redistribute.

  • The Nightscout Project — “an open source, DIY project that allows real time access to a Dexcom G4 CGM from web browsers via smartphones, computers, tablets, and the Pebble smartwatch. The goal of the project is to allow remote monitoring of the T1D’s glucose level using existing monitoring devices.”
  • Eric S. Raymond’s The Cathedral and the Bazaar “examines the struggle between top-down and bottom-up design.” Inspired Netscape to open-source the code for Communicator and start the Mozilla Project.
  • Dan Pink’s Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us
  • Virgin America’s in-seat entertainment center is built on open source project. They implemented Doom just because they could!

“Chance favors the connected mind.” – Steven Johnson

Getting in to Open Source

  1. Share your process (could be as simple as a project postmortem)
  2. Share your source files
  3. Use code as a design tool
  4. Collaborate with other designers, developers, etc.
  5. Donate your unused designs
  6. Contribute to open source projects

Don’t be the designer who codes, be the designer with the bigger toolbox. – Kevin Sharon at ARTIFACT Conference

  • The Sass website has become really well-designed thanks to contributions from designers who were passionate about Sass and wanted to make the site better.

Roadblocks to Design Open Source

  • Fear of committee
  • Tooling
  • File Formats
  • Lack of desire
  • Unreasonable greed
  • Pride