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Blog posts tagged
"open design"

Kola Ojoodide
26 June 2026

Challenges designers face in open source (and how to fix them)

Design Article

Open source powers up to 90% of modern software, yet many projects lack usability. Canonical’s Design team surveyed 115 cross-functional professionals to uncover the 4 core challenges UI/UX designers face when contributing, and how maintainers can solve them. ...

Nina Rojc
16 June 2026

Template: Streamlining open source design contributions

Design Article

As designers working at Canonical, we’re always thinking about open source. We believe that encouraging more designers to contribute to open source  benefits everyone, from the project maintainers to the end users themselves.   In the 2025 edition of FOSSBackstage conference, we presented our research findings on  why designers don’t get ...

Miguel Divo
22 May 2026

Decoding design: How design and engineering thrive together in open source

Design Article

Open source thrives on engineering-driven processes. Fast feedback loops, terminal tools, Git workflows: they’re the lifeblood of how we build software in the open. But for software to truly excel, we need to create user experiences that empower people to use them. I wanted to bring this conversation into the spotlight as part of Canonica ...

Miguel Divo
13 February 2026

From inspiration to impact: design students from Regent’s University London explore open design for their dissertation projects

Design Article

Last year, we had the opportunity to speak at Regent’s UX Conference (Regent’s University London’s conference to showcase UX work by staff, students, and alumni), where we engaged with students to make them aware of open design and their ability to contribute design skills to open source projects. The talk sparked great discussion, and we ...

Miguel Divo
19 January 2026

Showcasing open design in action: Loughborough University design students explore open source projects

Design Article

Last year, we collaborated with two design student teams from Loughborough University in the UK. These students were challenged to work on open source project briefs. Team 1 focused on non-code contributions, while Team 2’s brief was to create a unified documentation experience, giving them a chance to apply their design skills to real-wo ...

Miguel Divo
21 November 2025

Open design: the opportunity design students didn’t know they were missing

Design Article

What if you could work on real-world projects, shape cutting-edge technology, collaborate with developers across the world, make a meaningful impact with your design skills, and grow your portfolio… all without applying for an internship or waiting for graduation? That’s what we aim to do with open design: an opportunity for universities ...

Leia Ruffini
9 September 2025

How we ran a sprint to refresh our design website, Part 2

Design Article

Part 2 of our series on how our team created content for our design website. Get insights, tools, and lessons to help you run your own design sprint. ...

Leia Ruffini
14 April 2025

How we ran an effective sprint to refresh our design website, Part 1

Design Article

Part 1 of how we ran a design sprint to refresh our website. Sharing what worked, what didn’t, and lessons from designing for open source in mind. ...

Ana Sereijo
19 April 2024

Let’s talk open design

Design Article

Why aren’t there more design contributions in open source? Help us find out! ...