over 5 years ago from Surjith S M, Freelance Web Designer
What are some good side projects ideas for designers that have less or no programming required?
If there is a programming task, how do you find like-minded developers for the same?
working on a homelessness and activist resource, and nonprofit guide in Atlanta. it's cool to make stuff with impact
Strange. I work on the same project.
My side projects are analog. I like to build things in wood.
Me too. Also wood.
Some quick ideas:
Designing requires programming?
I mean, if you plan to do a To do App, You can design it, but to make it work, programing is needed right?
Make sense?
I guess I would consider that developing and not designing. We could all simply sketch something on a piece of paper to design it.
Maybe I’m so old that I recall a time when there was no “programming” involved in designing something.
No you're not that old :D, I still don't ship designing a product with actual "under-the-hood" functionality.
That's where I make the distinction between designing vs. building something.
work in something related to your personal interests, something if it's sports, or music, or food, or whatever you find interesting in your life!
Look into some of your personal interests first. There are plenty of local charities, non-profits, and other organizations that most likely are seeking out help.
For example, I'm very interested in helping those with PTSD and found a non-profit in my area that helps through counseling, peer discussion, and writing therapy. Much of it was design, but I'm sure there are organizations out there that need a mix of different skills.
A few months ago Raffaello Sanzio posted a link to Design Gigs for Good, a project put together by Mollie Ruskin and Sarah Fathallah; it's DEFINITELY worth a look regularly to see whats available and if there are remote (or local) positions available. It runs the gamut from internships and contracts to full time employment. So there's always a good mix of things there to peruse.
Hope it helps!
Visiting https://www.FindASideProject.com will help.
You can always launch a blog or a podcast. I wrote about my side project stories here: http://hackingui.com/product-hacking/side-projects/
I usually work on something that I would want to use. So whenever I get some idea that I think should be out there, the first thing I do is add it the list so I don't forget it.
For example, I like Safari's new tab page in which it shows bookmarks in grid, I wanted to have something like that on Chrome. So I wrote a new tab page extension for Chrome which lists bookmarks in a minimal UI.
After that I have worked on Dark mode for Quora. I read on Quora a lot and their design is just too uneasy and bright for eyes, so I wrote another Chrome extension to override the CSS and make the UI dark and easy on the eyes. Since this is personal use, I didn't release it. Also it needs more work. This is how it looks.
Right now, I'm working on my personal website.
Some stuff I've done in the past: - Creating prints and selling them in local shops - Designing gig posters for local promoters - Starting a physical product (I run Wax & Stamp. Was a hell of a lot easier than I thought...)
Those are the design related things, although I find side projects that tap into your passions are super good for flexing your creative muscles. I've had bands, produced and directed theatre, ran a club night and loads of other stuff as side projects. Anything to help keep the juices flowing
The way you talk about and present your idea will attract the right developers. Also, you can yourself pitch to developers you like and convince them about the benefits of doing this side project. Putting together a good team is tough but fruitful if you do it right :)
Writing blog posts about whatever topic you want to learn.
Should designers code?
Good question!? Perhaps we can ask on Twitter or DN.
Maybe someone will write a blog post about it on Medium.
I'm not sure if anyone has ever thought about this.
Nowadays there are many plug-n-play tools like Wordpress plugins or Zapier that allow building things without code. I think you can get some ideas just by researching what these tools can do.
Look for places you can volunteer to make an impact, check out http://catchafire.org. We are not ready yet but will be looking for volunteers for our non-profit, Design Mentors at http://designmentors.org pretty soon
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