What does Open Source Design mean by "good design should be as open as good code"?

"Good design should be as open as good code" is the central claim of Open Source Design (opensourcedesign.net), a global community of designers, developers, and advocates. It means design work — the process, the files, the decisions, and the results — should be shared, inspectable, and reusable under open licenses, in the same way open source code is. The site states this directly as its heading: "Good design should be as open as good code." The community pursues it through three concrete mechanisms: a job board, events, and an open forum, plus openly licensed resources.

The principle, stated plainly

Open source code is public, forkable, reviewable, and improvable by anyone. The community argues design deserves the same treatment. Instead of a designer working privately and handing over a finished mockup, an open design process would let users, developers, and other designers see the work as it develops, comment on it, and reuse it.

The site frames this as a shared mission: "We are a global community of designers, developers, and advocates improving the usability of open source software." The phrase "as open as good code" is a comparison, not a claim that design is identical to code — it sets an expectation that design artifacts and processes meet the same openness standard.

How the community puts the principle into practice

A job board connecting designers and projects

The site reports "14 design jobs open right now, 374+ posted by open source projects over the years." Current listings include:

• Designers for OpenStrap, an open-source fitness app
• Logo design for Apexdeck
• Product landing page UI design for chadbox
• Front-end developer (UI) and illustrator/graphic designer for Corro, an accessibility-first board & card game platform

This is the practical side of the principle: projects that need design get matched with people who can do it, and the work happens in the open rather than behind a closed contract.

Events and conference design tracks

Open Source Design organizes events and runs design tracks at conferences. Its monthly community call happens every first Wednesday, and the site notes a recap about funding recordings of talks for FOSS Backstage Design 2026. These events are where the community debates and spreads open design practice.

An open forum for discussion

Conversations happen in the open on the community's Discourse forum. Recent threads include "Clean Room open source projects," "Automated (recorded) User Tests?", and "Finding participants for usability tests." Anyone can read along, and joining takes a minute. This is the "open process" in action — design questions and feedback are public, not confined to private channels.

Openly licensed resources and tools

The community shares openly licensed resources and points to open source design tools: Penpot, Inkscape, GIMP, Blender, and Krita. Using tools that are themselves open source keeps the whole chain — tooling, process, and output — consistent with the principle.

What this means if you want to get involved

The site offers a clear entry path: read about the community, its manifesto, and how to join. If you are a designer, you can browse or post on the job board. If you want to discuss or give feedback, the forum is open to read and quick to join. If you want to follow the conversation, the monthly call is on the community calendar.

The underlying idea is simple: just as open code improves because many eyes and hands can work on it, design improves when it is shared, criticized, and reused openly. Open Source Design exists to make that the norm in open source software, not the exception.