Alternative digital tools are not known for their user-friendliness. Although the open source aspect is often considered more important, design does play a role in accessibility for new users. How do you lower the threshold for the general public, or for specific target groups?

In the commercial world there is the urgency to make money. This ensures that the design fits well with the end user. In the world of alternative technology, people often only think from technical possibilities, not from design. The two communities often simply do not find each other. The discussion is important: even when the designer wants something that may not be technically possible, it can give the technician a different view.

The design knowledge of alternative communities mainly lies with programmers who design a bit themselves. It's important for designers to feel more attracted to participating in the development phase.

In the call 'Developer meets designer' last year, together with Cultuur Eindhoven, `SIDN fund created a call for proposals to designers who want to use their expertise to increase the impact of promising - but mainly technically oriented - projects. The process resulted in eight successful matches. developers and designers have worked together on the project plans to increase the design, user-friendliness and/or accessibility of the projects.

During this workshop we would like facilitate a discussion between developers and designers.
As inspiration, a few projects can show how this collaboration between developers and designers took place and in which projects it resulted.