What If We Work Together? Fostering Reflections on Designer Inclusion in Open Source Software Through Speculative Design

2026-04-27

AI Summary

This study addresses the longstanding imbalance in open-source software communities, where technical priorities have historically overshadowed design considerations, limiting adoption by non-technical users due to insufficient designer involvement. For the first time, speculative design is introduced into the context of open-source governance to explore how cultural and value-laden differences shape designer integration. By constructing two fictional societies—Husia, grounded in collectivism, and Reetar, rooted in individualism—the research illuminates divergent pathways for collaboration. Drawing on online forum analysis, worldbuilding, and semi-structured interviews with twelve practitioners (seven designers and five developers), the work provokes critical reflection on existing collaboration models and proposes concrete strategies to enhance community inclusivity and foster meaningful designer participation.

Abstract

Open source software (OSS) often prioritizes technical functionality over usability and UX design. This imbalance limits OSS adoption among broader, non-technical users. Key underlying factors contributing to this issue are the shortage of design expertise in OSS and a dominant developer-centric mindset. To address these persistent issues, we explore the potential of speculative design as a catalyst for transforming the OSS community's mindset towards a more designer-inclusive environment. Our design was informed by an analysis of online forums, which revealed designers' motivations and challenges when contributing to OSS. Guided by these insights, we created two speculative societies, Husia (collectivist) and Reetar (individualist), in which designers are valued for different reasons and their work incorporated in different ways. Through a user study with 12 OSS practitioners (seven designers and five developers), we found that our speculative societies provoked participants' rich and critical reflections on OSS values, the root causes of challenges, and proposed actions. Our work provides insights into how speculative design can be used in the practical, sociotechnical context of OSS to stimulate critical reflection, improve awareness, and yield recommendations for fostering an equitable, sustainable, and inclusive OSS environment.

Problem

• open source software
• designer inclusion
• usability
• UX design
• developer-centric mindset

Innovation

• speculative design
• open source software
• designer inclusion
• sociotechnical systems
• critical reflection