

Sustain Open Source Design
Richard Littauer
S.O.S. Design is a podcast dedicated to exploring the intersection of open source and design: how design is crucial in the open source ecosystem, how designers work with coders to make open source software better, and what sustainability means for the field of open source designers. This podcast grew out of the Sustain community (https://sustainoss.org) and Open Source Design (https://opensourcedesign.net/), and seeks to share great conversations with members from both communities and the open source and design space at large.
Episodes
Mentioned books

Jul 14, 2021 • 32min
Episode 3: Smera Goel on Designing in the Fedora Project, Outreachy, and India
Guest
Smera Goel
Panelists
Justin Flory | Memo Esparza | Richard Littauer
Show Notes
Hello and welcome to Sustain Open Source Design! On this podcast, we will talk about sustaining open source with design. Learn how we, as designers, interface with open source in a sustainable way, how we integrate into different communities, and how we as coders, work with other designers. Joining us today, our guest is Smera Goel. Smera was previously an open source design intern through the Outreachy Internship Program and contributed with the Fedora Project on a couple of different projects and other things throughout the open source academia world that we’ll be talking about with her. Also, we will learn about the Infographics project, the Fedora Zine project that she started, and what role mentorship plays in working together with other people collaboratively on design projects. Go ahead and download this episode now to find out more, and if you’re interested please subscribe!
[00:02:36] Smera tells us how she discovered the design world, what got her into this kind of work, and all about the Outreachy Program and the Fedora Project.
[00:05:14] We learn from Smera how she always loved being an artist and loved tech since she was a child, and the process of picking your college major in India.
[00:07:22] Richard wonders when Smera joined Outreachy and was involved in Fedora, did she have any difficulties being a designer in that community and not just being a coder, and how did she manage the two competing interests.
[00:08:54] Smera talks about the Infographics project, what some of the goals were for it, and how it was such a helpful tool for all the different projects.
[00:12:12] Memo wonders what is the magical thing that makes Smera so excited, besides being a designer. She also tells us what kind of things she does in her everyday life and the connection process with the Fedora Project.
[00:16:01] Richard asks Smera if she can talk about using Hindi or other languages, if there is awareness for open source at her university in India, and if she feels like it’s becoming more well-known in the student world of technology.
[00:19:30] Smera shares with us her idea of open source design as a professional job or as a business, as opposed to just being something she does with her volunteer time.
[00:21:33] We learn all about the Fedora Zine project that Smera started, how she managed all the different feedback and ideas that people came with, and how she turned it into something that she shared back with the community.
[00:23:18] Richard wonders what Smera is super excited about in the future when she has her free time back and how is going to bring her particular version of open source design.
[00:25:01] Smera explains what role mentorship plays in terms of the design process and working together with other people collaboratively on design projects.
[00:27:56] Find out where you can follow Smera on the internet.
Spotlight
[00:28:30] Justin’s spotlight is the announcement of the new research from the Ford and Sloan Foundation funding.
[00:29:03] Memo’s spotlight is Spline.
[00:29:46] Richard’s spotlight is his mentor, Alexis Palmer.
[00:30:31] Smera’s spotlight is Fedora Design, especially Fedora Badges, Zine, and Infographics.
Links
Smera Goel Twitter
Smera Goel Linkedin
Fedora Project Commops Infographic
Fedora Project Diversity & Inclusion Infographic
Outreachy
Tech Crunch- “$1.3M in grants go toward making the web’s open-source infrastructure more equitable.”
Spline
Alexis Palmer
Fedora Badges
Fedora Zine
Fedora Pagure Infographics
Open Source Design Twitter
Open Source Design
Sustain Open Source Twitter
Credits
Produced by Richard Littauer
Edited by Paul M. Bahr at Peachtree Sound
Show notes by DeAnn Bahr at Peachtree Sound
Special Guest: Smera Goel.

Jun 16, 2021 • 39min
Episode 2: Abraham Agiri and Designing as a Coder, and Coding as a Designer
Guest
Abraham Jr. Agiri
Panelists
Richard Littauer | Eriol Fox | Justin W. Flory | Memo Esparza
Show Notes
Hello and welcome to Sustain Open Source Design! On this podcast where we will talk about sustaining open source with design. Learn how we, as designers, interface with open source in a sustainable way, how we integrate into different communities, and how we, as coders, work with other designers. On today’s episode, we have our first guest, Agiri Abraham, Software Engineer and Team Lead at Softcom. He’s also on the Node.js Community Committee and a Cross-Project Council (CPC) member of the OpenJS Foundation. Agiri is passionate about engineering and solving problems. We will learn about what Agiri does at all his jobs, how he got involved with Node, challenges that he’s faced along the way, and much more. Go ahead and download this episode now to find out more and if you’re interested, please subscribe!
[00:02:38] Agiri tells us what he does at his jobs.
[00:03:55] Find out how Agiri got involved with Node.
[00:06:14] Eriol brings up a conversation they had with Agiri almost a year ago, and Agiri recaps that conversation which was about developer designs relations.
[00:08:38] Justin asks Agiri if there’s another role that design plays in the JavaScript ecosystem in ways that people don’t think might typically be true.
[00:11:36] We learn the types of difficult types of conversations Agiri’s had with other developers.
[00:14:10] Agiri tells us if the developer relationship roles in organizations could change to be more design friendly, what kind of ways would he like see those roles change.
[00:16:10] Eriol poses a question to Agiri regarding a current situation around the topic of problem-solving ideas with designers and wonders what he would do.
[00:18:49] Richard wonders how Agiri is implementing these high-level abstractions into his actual projects and how does he bring this to the CPC. Richard also asks him what he sees as possible venues to make the shift cost-effective and if he has any examples to help people understand how this will actually accelerate.
[00:23:54] Justin asks Agiri if he could tell us a story of a time when he was working with a community of people like open source design, and what that experience like to work with other people on a wider project and something that just wasn’t for yourself.
[00:26:33] Richard wonders if Agiri has had the same experience as him with every time he’s run a NodeSchool, he notices that everyone else there is trying to figure it out with him.
[00:27:49] Memo asks Agiri outside of his work, like with pixel pushing, how does he envision design happening between him and developers, and where design happens outside screens and drawings, in his experience, how has non-pixel, non-graphical experience been with developers. Agiri also tells us how he designs with other people in conversations rather than in screen.
[00:32:45] Agiri talks about the challenges of building the vocabulary and having conversations.
[00:35:06] Find out where you can follow Agiri and his work on the internet.
Spotlight
[00:36:13] Eriol’s spotlight is Penpot.
[00:36:43] Justin’s spotlight is Taiga6.
[00:37:09] Memo’s spotlight is Open Web Docs.
[00:37:40] Richard’s spotlight is NodeSchool.
[00:38:04] Agiri’s spotlight is NodeJs and OpenJs Foundation.
Links
Abraham Agiri Twitter
Softcom
Open Source Design Twitter
Open Source Design
Sustain Open Source Twitter
Penpot
Taiga6
Open Web Docs
NodeSchool
Node.js
OpenJS Foundation
Credits
Produced by Richard Littauer
Edited by Paul M. Bahr at Peachtree Sound
Show notes by DeAnn Bahr at Peachtree Sound
Special Guest: Abraham Agiri.

Jan 29, 2021 • 25min
Episode 1: What is Sustain Open Source Design? An Introduction
Panelists
Richard Littauer
Eriol Fox
Perrie Ojemeh
Georgia Bullen
Memo Esparza
Justin W. Flory
Show Notes
Hello world and welcome to the debut episode of Sustain Open Source Design! On this podcast, we will talk about sustaining open source design. But what does design mean? Well, listen to this podcast and you will find out. Instead of having a guest we have six panelists, most won’t be on every episode, but some will be on at least every episode. Today, our goal is to talk about who we are, why we think design is important, why we think open source is important, and what we think sustainability means for us. Go ahead and download this episode now to find out more and if you’re interested, please subscribe!
[00:01:20] Our first panelist is Eriol Fox, and they tell us all about themself and what designing means to them.
[00:05:28] Our next panelist is Perrie Ojemeh, and she tells us all about herself, OSCA, and how she got into design.
[00:08:31] Our next panelist is Justin Flory, and he tells us all about himself and what designing means to him.
[00:12:40] Our next panelist is Memo Esparza, and he tells us all about himself and what designing means to him.
[00:16:22] Our next panelist is Georgia Bullen, and she tells us all about herself, what she does at Simply Secure, and what designing means to her.
[00:20:12] Our last panelist is Richard Littauer, and he tells us about himself and what designing means to him.
[00:21:45] Georgia tells us the assumption of what design is and what it really is because it’s actually really broad, and Eriol shares thoughts about design as well and having more conversations with developers and open source contributors of all different types.
[00:24:39] We end with Richard saying if you have any guests, please send them our way, and where you can contact them via the Sustain Discourse or Twitter handles.
Links
Richard Littauer Twitter
Eriol Fox Twitter
Perrie Ojemeh Twitter
Georgia Bullen Twitter
Memo Esparza Twitter
Justin W. Flory Twitter
Open Source Design Twitter
Open Source Design
Sustain Open Source Twitter
Open Source Community Africa Twitter
Sustain Discourse
Ford Foundation
Alfred P. Sloan Foundation
Credits
Produced by Richard Littauer
Edited by Paul M. Bahr at Peachtree Sound
Show notes by DeAnn Bahr at Peachtree Sound