Ask HN: How can GitHub better include designers in open source?

2 FerkiHN 1 7/9/2025, 5:22:07 PM
Most open source platforms like GitHub are primarily developer-oriented — which is great — but what about designers?

I’ve noticed that many open source projects could really benefit from improved UI/UX, visual polish, and branding. Yet designers often don’t know how to contribute, or even where they’re needed.

Would it make sense for GitHub to support a dedicated section or tag for “Design Requests”? Or maybe a lightweight way to showcase that a project is looking for help with visuals, UI, icons, or layout?

If we had more designers involved, maybe popular projects like GIMP and others could have had cleaner, more user-friendly interfaces — without waiting years for visual updates.

Curious:

Has anyone here successfully involved designers in OSS workflows?

What tools, practices, or platforms helped?

What would need to change to make GitHub friendlier for non-coders who still want to help?

Comments (1)

FerkiHN · 21h ago
What do you think?