A photo from Open Source Design devroom for 2026's FOSDEM!
Had fantastic time running the devroom for another year with some fantastic speakers, audience and folks willing to chip in and help make the room great.
We also finally took an updated photo of the devroom (this was towards the end of the day and not at all the busiest the room got which was at capacity for most of the talks!)
Watch the videos on each talk page here:
https://fosdem.org/2026/schedule/track/design/
“I’m really nerdy about digital sovereignty as a topic right now. This was raised at penpot festival in 2025 and it’s a huge topic...largely about what companies own and do what with our data.”
Check out the penpot ambassador community hours video recording here: https://bit.ly/penpot-ambassador-03-26
FOSS Backstage Design is a decicated design day connected to the wider FOSS Backstage conference.
Open Source Design has been long time supporters of FOSS Backstage platforming design OSS and we're helping to fundraise to recover the costs of recording the design talks and ensuring that they stay available for years to come online!
https://opensourcedesign.net/design/open/source/2026/03/31/foss-backstage-donation-support.html
https://opencollective.com/opensourcedesign/projects/foss-backstage-design
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vrl7aRQ25HU&list=PLq-odUc2x7i-ZpO0FvWOCb5BzoyQOEZoT
“When you give user insights and feedback to FOSS - that’s an open source contribution!”
Check out this conversation with Canonical.
In this video, Open Source Designer Eriol Fox dives into the pragmatic world of design and usability within the FOSS ecosystem. We discuss how product designers and user researchers are driving long-term software sustainability through accessibility and smarter design.
This conversation covers the full spectrum of modern design development: from CLI design (Command Line Interface) and the "contributor-user" pathway, to why industry leaders are prioritizing design systems to keep their projects healthy. If you’re into Linux terminal workflows, human-computer interaction (HCI), or just building better digital commons, there's something here for you.
Myself and https://iamkingsleey.framer.website/ lead a session at https://chaoss.community/chaosscon-2026-eu/
We wanted to understand how the health of OSS and their communities are affected by design, usability and designers invovlement.
#oss #ossdesign #opensourcedesign #designinoss #design #chaoss
We want to continue understanding how design and designers affect the OSS projects they get involved in but so far we're understanding in what ways design/designers can be measured and observed in OSS.
Find out more about the workshop here: https://teamup.com/event/show/id/RxyUFnvu9dZ56oVZGvDNq8f2wENdAd
I had a great time summarising some key points for inclusive and usable design in OS for the OSS sustainability lab.
An element of design that doesn't often get spoken about in the wider product space is how 'taste' and 'good taste' is a colonial hangover of design and how organisations and companies with power, money and influence, typically those that benefit from power over the marginalised global majority get to set the 'design tastes' and trends.
OSS and Hacker culture can fight that and be a space for everyone to modify, define and equitably design for people. OSS doesn't need to emulate big tech in either aestehics or design pratices but it should be a concious and aware choice if they decide to.
Designers have a powerful role to play in open source, bringing vital perspectives that go beyond code. If you’re interested in how design and open source intersect—or want to learn from the Taiwanese OSS community—don’t miss our full reflections from a design sprint we ran last year: https://superbloom.design/learning/blog/design-contributions-to-oss-at-coscup-2024/
#OpenSource #DesignInTech #InclusiveDesign #OSS #OSSDesign #Taiwan
Designers have a powerful role to play in open source, bringing vital perspectives that go beyond code. If you’re interested in how design and open source intersect—or want to learn from the Taiwanese OSS community—don’t miss our full reflections from a design sprint we ran last year.
#OpenSource #DesignInTech #InclusiveDesign #OSS #OSSDesign #Taiwan
https://superbloom.design/learning/blog/design-contributions-to-oss-at-coscup-2024/
Let's gooooooooo penpot party time in London
Study: Designers in OSS: Summary of diary studies of designers contributing to OSS
https://superbloom.design/learning/blog/the-secret-life-of-open-source-designers/
https://github.com/sprblm/Diary-Studies-Designers-in-OSS/blob/main/findings-report.md
Open Source Design
Erioldoesdesign
Superbloom
Gerardo Lisboa