 Before we start, I would like to give a brief introduction about myself. So my name is Nikhil Katripathi and I'm a pre-final year student pursuing BTech in mechanical engineering at IIT Roorkee. I'm going to talk about my work so far at this year's Outreach Week interns for the summer cohort at Fedora under the mentorship of Mary Nordin's Mera Goyal. My internship is for the Fedora Badges design project and in the past few months I have learned that Fedora Badges is a fun initiative meant to gamify the contribution experience and improve the contributor engagement for the overall development of the Fedora infrastructure. By gamify, what I mean is the application of game-like elements into a non-game environment. Now such psychological models make use of human motivation in the sense that when a contributor achieves a badge, be it for even participation or making large contributions, the achievement induces dopamine boosts and motivates the contributor to become better. The Fedora Badges came into existence about nine years ago and the badge template stayed the same through these years. Now over time, some shortcomings were noticed in the existing design and hence came the need for a new badge template. Now for this purpose, I researched 25 existing digital badges on different platforms in an attempt to get familiar with the popular styles and discover the scope for our own improvement. Here you can see some of the discussed favorites that we discussed in our meetings. Now learning from the research and discussing the previously identified improvements, I made a series of iterations and in the new version, I reduced all the white space to lay more emphasis on the graphics. I removed the drop shadows from the design in order to make it look more sleek and make it even dark mode compatible. In the original design, as we can see, there was a repetition of the vector shape provided. Or in simpler terms, the border, the white space and the graphic space, they were all made up of a single shape. Because of this now, mathematically the design was balanced. That means that there was no anomaly, mathematically speaking. But this created a sort of illusion to the eyes as we can see that the corner is a bit larger. Now to improve upon this, I introduced a solution that instead of using the given shape as the border, we could add an out border to the graphic base shape and make it look more visually balanced. The simpler design also added to the simplicity of usage. I reduced the number of editable layers and added a clip group, which means that the group will get cut out to the shape provided. Now using the clip group, anybody can simply put their design inside the body group and it will automatically get clipped to the vector shape. This eliminated the traditional method of separate clipping of objects and which can be observed in a lot of present badges. And for the sake of consistency, I also added the typical typography composition for the badges and patterns in invisible layers. I also provided instructions to delete unused layers and objects to maintain a lightweight badge, as in the badge that occupies lesser kilobytes. In order to accommodate more clear guidelines to assist contributors maintain consistency across Fedora badges for the deliverance of the authentic Fedora experience and to give the decade old badges guide a modern refresh. I created the new official Fedora badges guide. On reading through the old style guide, I made certain observations that could be improved. I also went through some existing style guides to learn what more can be included. For the design of this style guide, I wanted to keep things simple. So I used flat colors instead of gradients. The theme was also fitting well with the new badge template. In addition to the previously laid guidelines, I introduced some new ones to help contributors. For example, in this page, I am suggesting a good trick of trade for color selection, that is to select any of the columns and then go with the top three rows of the main palette for the badge design composition. I tried to introduce some of the unwritten rules about topics which needed consistency, such as this one. Here I am talking about the typography composition against light and dark backgrounds. I also noticed that the main and extended color palette had a reputation of dark blue Fedora color from the old logo. So I introduced the new light blue shade, which is in the new logo, instead of the dark one, in the extended palette. And I rearranged the positioning of the colors so that they create a more intuitive pattern of shades. And I think I was able to do this because I make artworks and I like to arrange colors in my palette as well. You might have noticed that I also added some button structures in the guide. Well confused. These are just hyperlinks to relevant documents and websites, giving them the well-known better look makes its usage easily recognizable. It also makes the links stand out. But what if the hyperlink doesn't work? For that, I have added a bibliography of quick response or QR codes and text links at the end of the badge style guide. To accommodate the possibility of inclusion of a dark mode in the future of Fedora websites, I also made a dark version for the style guide of badges. It additionally served the purpose to suit users like me who generally prefer to read in dark mode. Another one of my quests included identifying and updating old and outdated badge artworks. For this purpose, I made an enormous inkscape while composed of screenshots from the explore badges website. And I made up shapes such as these to identify badges which were inconsistent or didn't meet the guidelines. I identified more than 200 badges which are then plotted across a spreadsheet and made columns of particular trades that I identified as faulty in them like some of them use the color absolute black in them or sometimes the typography went beyond the badge area. I made space for Mary and Smira to add their suggestions before I started working on their improvements. Up next, I will be completing the move of all the badge designs from the old template to the new one with the generous help from the design team members in a design sprint as planned. And well, I also made suggestions for the figure 404 page design and I keep making design suggestions whenever I find something that may use some improvement. I just find the simple act of ideation and designing thrilling. I'm grateful for this golden opportunity and my experience at Fedora has been one of the most enriching ones I have had so far. Thank you all for being such a nice audience. Oh and one more thing I think I forgot to mention I'm not really good at taking compliments and sometimes I forget to say thank you out loud even when I'm feeling grateful. So just I'm grateful. I just I just sometimes miss saying it. Yeah, I think I mentioned that we are going to move the badges, the old designs from the old badge templates to the new templates with the help of the design team in the design sprint that we have planned. I'm not so sure about that. I think it would be by September. I am presently in a sort of a time crunch otherwise I feel like if I get out of this task then I can do things faster. There is just something that is like making me do some other stuff I would. Okay, so there's also would you guys like to join over in the video for discussion? I love the work that you've done. It's honestly it's like very impressive. I don't know how you're like how that was how you came up with all those ideas. Like that's that's pretty cool. Do you do you have a process of like how you wanted to design a certain badge or you kind of reflected it from previous badges? So in our designing discussions we went through like the previous batch and we discussed what was the identified shortcomings as I mentioned before. So like Mary told me that they had mentioned beforehand to the design badges design team that the white space was actually occupying a lot more space than required. That means that the artwork that was in the middle was actually not being in focus which it could have been in focus. And the additional stuff like me thinking of removing the drop shadow and everything that was just an inspiration from the modern trends that are going on. We do not really prefer adding drop shadows nowadays. Okay, so something I was mentioning in the chat was doing like some kind of fedora design week. And we definitely have to coordinate with other design projects that are happening but I thought it would be cool to kind of like have a week where we're all focused on you know basically hacking or sprinting on the various things we're doing right and we could do some marketing around it and oh hi there she got it all ready for camera. Yeah quickly took a call. So I know that you know we have a whole queue in the design track which is now in GitLab so I'm not quite sure how that translated over but there's like a queue of tasks there. We're always working on the fedora wallpaper. That's kind of like continuous process because if we're we've done the one for like 37 then we've started already on 38 so there's always steps that can be taken for the wallpaper. Also we had a number of UX type related talks and there's a lot of work going on around websites. So thinking it would be cool if we had testing sessions during that week where you know the UX folks set up like usability things and we can go through and give them a bunch of feedback and obviously we have this badges thing right so we want to take all that old artwork and move it into the new template get it pushed out to the website and also make improvements to art like as we kind of go along. So there's quite a bit of design work that's happening and I think it would just be cool to coordinate it so kind of all you know kind of doing it in the same week we can make a big deal out of it on twitter and other places because I think that like the design work that happened in fedora isn't happening in every single like open source community there are plenty of communities that do have design but it's maybe smaller pockets and at this point we have enough activity going on that I think we should make like a ruckus right and kind of share um all of the the awesome stuff we're doing. So it's an idea that I came up with like I went to Ashlyn and Dawn's UX friendly fedora usability thing and they only had it for a half an hour and I was like this could be a whole day I feel like I want to do this more um so yeah that would be something to work towards though I don't think it could happen in September I will say that um planning something like that's gonna definitely take some coordination maybe in October maybe like right around the release before after I don't know we have to figure out the timing but open to other ideas and suggestions for uh an effort like that um I think that'd be a great idea especially as someone who's very interested in like all this design work and it's like I'm very fascinated by it but understanding how to use Inkscape is extremely hard because I'm not I've never I don't have any background in designing so just like listening to you guys talk about it is like interesting how you guys pull your ideas and um just like a lesson more in depth on how to use like Inkscape and stuff like that would be nice to to learn about. I think we could totally add in some like uh workshops yeah like how to use Inkscape, how to use Gimp, how to use Penbot, um maybe even how to use Krita, I think that's what it's called um and I think we also have some people who know how to use Blender so we could probably have a whole series of how to do this thing I think that would be a great addition. Yeah I think that's a really good idea go ahead sorry um I said that uh I think people would be like very comfortable if if there are designers in using Penbot and Krita because like Penbot is very similar to like one of the famous applications Figma and Krita is very similar to Porto Shop and as a side bonus we use we use open source products and maybe you know more people than like it will become more mainstream because once I started using Inkscape I have like sort of stopped using Adobe stuff for my day-to-day work because it's just very easy I think Krita is way better than Porto Shop for me so oh go ahead Issa. All right I was just gonna ask is it just like easier for you guys or why was the transition made because like I had never heard of Inkscape I had only heard of like Adobe and like the Photoshop things um and now I only know Inkscape because like Marie introduced it to me and so now I know how to use that but I don't know how to use the other things so is Inkscape easier than the other more popular platforms? I think it totally depends on your practice like instead of picking up Photoshop I picked up Krita and I've been using it for like two years so I find it easier obviously if you start making a transition from one app to another like I start using Photoshop sometime I feel I find it difficult to use because everything is different in the interface so if you are familiar with the Photoshop and everything when you start practicing on Inkscape I think you will get used to it and you'll find it easier I personally find Inkscape just lighter to use I don't know how else to describe it I like I'm more used to just Adobe products because I've used them longer but when I'm doing something small something quick I just prefer just opening Inkscape and you know it seems simpler because things aren't as complicated you could say that you know then they're not a lot of fancy bells and whistles but I think that when you are doing work you don't need all of those you just need the basic features which are there in Inkscape and that gets the job done without having to fuss around with you know Adobe. I think that Inkscape, Krita, Gimp, these these different pieces of software still offer the same things that Photoshop, Illustrator, so they're comparable in their functionality it's just it's like they're saying it's a different interface but you asked why they made the change they didn't answer that which is I'm gonna say Outreachy and hopefully a little bit me oh yeah definitely I was not aware of like Inkscape before I started my Outreachy internship and after that that is all I used like I almost stopped using Illustrator and Photoshop because Inkscape is just way faster way easier and I think Nikita is a wizard like even after two years I still feel like I can only use like the basic functions but I see the work Nikita and even Maria I remember I used to ask her how do you all do all of this in Inkscape it seems so complicated all of these illustrations right now I'm not really used to that but yeah it's like like I can see the work that they do in Inkscape and I'm just amazed and I know that it's a very very very powerful tool I think it's it's more because I have never used like Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop to a greater extent I just started with Krita and I never used Illustrator before and I just started with Inkscape so like I'm going with the open source long ways so I'm used to it now I would say another reason is that it doesn't cost money right like Adobe Illustrator and Adobe Photoshop they cost I don't know if it's a monthly fee or is it your it's a monthly fee so in order to use that like a not pirated version you need to pay a monthly fee in order to use it and with free software obviously it's free so you don't have to deal with that kind of thing and it's just as powerful hey Edward how are you I have a question for Nikita what's like your plan for the future do you want to continue your work like within design or do you see yourself like going into another industry so right now as I'm a pre-final year student like I just started my pre-final year in college and so last year I explored the domain of design through a campus group and I have been continuing design to this point and I'm really enjoying it to be honest and last year I also explored the domain of coin research so it's like I'm good at adapting to new things I'm good at learning new things and I just I just want to be able to explore all the domains that I may use my skills to like right now I am targeting for a software engineering internship so that when I am of the age of joining the work working people working class then I am aware of my skill set and I'm aware that where I can put my best efforts into um what are you studying in college I'm pursuing my b-tech in mechanical engineering I'm actually in my dorm room right now okay wow you're you have very a lot of skills that you pick up quickly also Nikita wanted this session but I'm pretty sure it's the middle of the night what time is it um it's 1 24 a.m right now oh my goodness it's all right I've been practicing waking up late like this week because I was having my internship exam so I was like up till 3 a.m or like anytime because like after the classes ends I'm having my internship exams in the night so it's a it's a sort of a continuous process for me later students in India have it tough we did it's not like that in the US I would I would beg to differ for that one because like it's it's not it's not that all the students have to go through this like suffer this it's just that the college that I am in and uh like the the government uh engineering colleges in India the best colleges they try to bring the best out of the students like uh we learn a lot over here we learn about time management and everything yeah and I think Nikita is also selling herself short she is an extremely hard worker not everyone can do all of this we know the things that she has been juggling for the past few months and on top of that producing quality work so yeah it's hard and Nikita makes it look pretty easy I would totally agree with that Issa do you feel like you've picked up some inkscape skills from the internship you're doing yeah I think I have but very very very very basic like um I've I've been trying to like create some type of design so we can post on the Instagram for the marketing team but that has taken me like a month I can't create the design I'm just like but whenever you teach me and like I I see from what you're doing and then like you send me the SVG and I just work from the SVG directly that's already kind of made the template it's easier for me to like you know make create a gradient or resize images and stuff like that but creating something from scratch is is a process to learn and I'm still learning yeah you should mention your background like what are you studying I'm studying international business so I'm working with Marie as her intern and so I'm helping her with like events and then I'm also working within like the community like DEI and the marketing team specifically um but yeah my background is like PR and marketing background um but I'm very interested in like web design so the talk that Ashlyn had the other day was really fascinating for me and then like this graphic design stuff that you guys are doing is like crazy but um but I feel like my creative brain isn't there so much but I want to try to tap into more and like learn as much as I can so it's like great seeing all these talks and seeing like what you guys come up with and like how someone could how like I could maybe learn from that eventually so the cool thing is there is a ton of tutorials about Inkscape, Krita, all of these tools online and um I think just doing some of those you might seem boring at first but like doing some of those like basics actually brings inspiration because once you're familiar with the tool then you can kind of like start breaking the rules if that makes sense like you learn how to do it that way then you're like wait I might be able to do this or I might be able to do that and then you kind of start pushing the bound um I'd also give the advice to start um feeding your creative brain um by you know consuming more graphic design looking at different art and even trying different methods of of creation right like I don't know what that might be for you but it could be writing it could be crafting it could be painting a little something and it doesn't have to be good like it really doesn't have to be good just like try to let that go into the ether that like you're not doing it to make some masterpiece right you're doing it to learn and to feed your creative brain right so just a couple thoughts I'm sure Smira and Nikita have ideas too for this yeah I actually agree with what you said Nori because especially the point about consuming more creative content um so I think Iza for you I'm not sure but maybe you might not have like in in your immediate circle access to like a lot of creatives like like how people with traditional design background right they're surrounded by creative people all their friends are starting design so they just consume this content so all of this comes very easily but for me when I started out that was not the case a lot of them were just tech software people so creativity was not there at all but once I started like actively consuming more design content you know whether it was what kind of pages I was following on Instagram you know what kind of Netflix shows and documentaries I was watching all of that made a difference and over the years the same thing that I used to be like because I used to stare at the blank inkscape and and I just couldn't come up with anything it's just it's hard starting from scratch it was easier to edit existing badges existing files but slowly once you start seeing more content and other people doing amazing stuff as you said makes it easier I would like to answer this one a bit more specifically and from my experience as well so uh when we are not doing graphic design like from our own creativity we find it a lot more difficult than it actually is like we have this fear that if we start it may not get completed because it's it's a it's a it's like a huge mountain for us to climb when we are not tabbed into it uh so first of all uh like you need to break that barrier you need to like just get into it and secondly in inkscape there is this one tool there's a tool that is all you need for vector design creations that is that is the ultimate tool that you need for creating your own and in addition to that you can always learn with practice so there are games online on which you can like learn how to create these vector images from tools like Bezier tool so these are like good practices to follow thank you for the input everyone I really gonna take it and I'm gonna try to transfer it into my daily life I've been thinking about it lately I'm like hmm I should try to start painting I've never painted before but it's I've been following like accounts on Instagram of people painting I'm like I should start doing this but um but yes thank you for the input yes and um there's this group called oh gosh I forgot what they're called it's like a Foss and Crafts group I think it's called yeah I know but the thing is they meet on Saturday nights and I'm like in a totally different world by the time Saturday night is happening I'm like you know just doing my house thing you know watching shows doing things around the house now I'm doing the home improvements I'm like that thinking about Foss and Crafts but it might be fun to do like a Fedora design artsy meetup maybe like once a month or something like that that's not on a Saturday night because like I think we're all having other things to do at that time so I don't know maybe we could just get together and chat and bring our own crafty our art project and just hang out together and feel the vibe because I think sometimes it's hard to do it on your own too like you're not as motivated or just like yeah I could just put a show on scroll on my phone I don't want to drag all my stuff out right like I've definitely been there many times so I think sometimes like having that moral support other people who want to do the same thing as you so you have some fun fun plans for the future but I do think we're at time so thank you so much Nikita for your presentation you've been doing an amazing job I will say you did not show off all of the things you've done so there's more to look forward to Fedora community for badges there's like art and other things that didn't get seen in this presentation so I'm going to drop off the call but I'll see you online. Hi. Hi.