Designing
A person with experience in graphic design has potential to be a very great help in ensuring that Haiku looks good and presents itself well to the public. The areas of design which a skilled hand is needed by an open source project are varied, but the style used needs to remain true to the over all branding of the project.
The Haiku project needs UX/UI designers, graphic designers and all sorts of visual artists.
Check out the following areas where we need help with design:
GUI Interface
Improving compliance to the Haiku Human Interface Guidelines (HIG)
Haiku is known for its speed and being easy for anyone to use. This is partly because good programmers try to design their apps for more than just themselves. The Haiku Human Interface Guidelines provide instructions for making sure that applications remain consistent and easy to use. You can study the Guidelines and make sure that applications adhere to them. Alternatively, you could contact the people on the general haiku mailing list and discuss your ideas on human interface guidelines.
Mockups
A Mockup is when someone with design skills creates an image of how the graphical user interface could look in order to get feedback on the design.
There is no official guide yet. Check with the people on the general haiku mailing list for more information.
Examples:
Artwork
Graphic Design
We need graphic designers for...- designing new graphics for the Haiku website.
- designing new T-shirt designs for our merchandise store on Cafepress.
- designing artwork revolving around Haiku. Please do not violate our Trademark Policy.
The actual need for a graphic artist is only occasional, such as new graphics for the Haiku website or T-shirt designs. Designs for the Haiku store at CafePress are always welcome. While many people can draw or do a passable job, there is a noticeable difference in quality when compared to a professional.
Marketing Material
New marketing material is always in short supply. One of the biggest challenges is to maintain a professional and serious image that is appealing to the general public and business community. The project can always use new and improved signs, posters, business cards or advertisements.
System Art
Drawing Vector Icons
Haiku uses a special Haiku Vector Icon Format(HVIF) for its icons. Thanks to that format, our icons scale flawlessly, take up minimal disk space and look iconic. As a matter of fact, they're even smaller than a bitmap icons or icons generated with the widely used SVG format for the most part.
We use a specialized app for drawing these icons called 'Icon-O-Matic'. You can read up more about it in the Haiku User Guide.
Icons should be licensed under the terms of the MIT license, as per Haiku, Inc.
The official Haiku Icon Guidelines should be your next port of call. This document is meant to define the distinctive Haiku look in further detail and to be a useful resource in case of doubt. It's a very important resource, particularly in situations where you may not be sure what you should change in an icon that doesn't seamlessly fit in with the rest of the system.
Designing Wallpapers
An open call for wallpapers was made in October, 2020. It may be a good idea to use some of the submissions as a point of reference for your own.
Designing Screensavers
There is no official guide for designing screensavers. Check with the people on the general haiku mailing list for more information.
Composing System Sounds
There is no official guide for composing system sounds. Check with the people on the general haiku mailing list for more information.