During last weekend the Ura team traveled to Brussels, Belgium to attend FOSDEM. We had the chance to be present at one of the largest conferences in Europe (and probably the largest Free Software/ Open Source one). Just like at CCC, we strive to be at events which promote collaborative projects and initiatives. In addition […]
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<p>During last weekend the Ura team traveled to Brussels, Belgium to attend <ahref="https://fosdem.org/2018/"target="_blank">FOSDEM</a>. We had the chance to be present at one of the largest conferences in Europe (and probably the largest Free Software/ Open Source one). Just like at <ahref="https://dev.ura.design/blogposts/2018/01/15/chaos-communication-congress-2017.html"target="_blank">CCC</a>, we strive to be at events which promote collaborative projects and initiatives. In addition to that, three members of the team were there as Mozilla Tech Speakers. It can be said that many of us wear various hats at the same time.</p>
<p>During last weekend the Ura team traveled to Brussels, Belgium to attend <ahref="https://fosdem.org/2018/"target="_blank"rel="noopener">FOSDEM</a>. We had the chance to be present at one of the largest conferences in Europe (and probably the largest Free Software/ Open Source one). Just like at <ahref="https://dev.ura.design/blogposts/2018/01/15/chaos-communication-congress-2017.html"target="_blank"rel="noopener">CCC</a>, we strive to be at events which promote collaborative projects and initiatives. In addition to that, three members of the team were there as Mozilla Tech Speakers. It can be said that many of us wear various hats at the same time.</p>
<p>As part of the <ahref="http://opensourcedesign.net/"target="_blank">Open Source Design community</a>, you could find us at the respective infobooth on both days. Members of our team were at the both along with other fellow designers. Together, we emphasized the importance of usability and user centered design in Open Source Projects. At the “Design Clinic” session, attendees could come to us and showcase us their project. By doing so, designers could advise them on the improvements their design would benefit from.</p>
<p>As part of the <ahref="http://opensourcedesign.net/"target="_blank"rel="noopener">Open Source Design community</a>, you could find us at the respective infobooth on both days. Members of our team were at the both along with other fellow designers. Together, we emphasized the importance of usability and user centered design in Open Source Projects. At the “Design Clinic” session, attendees could come to us and showcase us their project. By doing so, designers could advise them on the improvements their design would benefit from.</p>
<p>At the Open Source Design booth, apart talking about our Design philosophy, we also had the chance to tell people about the way we operate and why we are focused on Free and Open Source Software, We were also happy to introduce “Logobridge” our side-project which helps us contribute back to the community as a whole.</p>
<imgsrc="/images/blog/Elio-FOSDEM2018.jpg"alt="Elio during his presentation at FOSDEM 2018"><br/>
<imgclass="lazy"data-src="/images/blog/Elio-FOSDEM2018.jpg"alt="Elio during his presentation at FOSDEM 2018"><br/>
<i>During the presentation – By Mariana Balla (Creative Commons – Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International)</i>
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<p>On the 2nd day, Elio, the founder of Ura presented <ahref="https://identihub.co/"target="_blank">Identihub</a>. He presented a live <ahref="https://demo.identihub.co/"target="_blank">demo</a> of the latest version we are launching. During his presentation all attendees had the chance to watch in real time how they could host their visual assets and how to use some of its features, like format conversion of a certain file. Elio emphasized the importance of SVG as the “middleman” between developers and designers and how exciting it can be if in the future we would be able to have a similar version control powered by Git which would be tailored for designers and developers alike.</p>
<p>On the 2nd day, Elio, the founder of Ura presented <ahref="https://identihub.co/"target="_blank"rel="noopener">Identihub</a>. He presented a live <ahref="https://demo.identihub.co/"target="_blank"rel="noopener">demo</a> of the latest version we are launching. During his presentation all attendees had the chance to watch in real time how they could host their visual assets and how to use some of its features, like format conversion of a certain file. Elio emphasized the importance of SVG as the “middleman” between developers and designers and how exciting it can be if in the future we would be able to have a similar version control powered by Git which would be tailored for designers and developers alike.</p>
<p>Further the attendees were introduced to more technical details of the project. Identihub development and discussion happen on GitHub and contributions from everyone are welcomed. Having said that, everyone who is willing to contribute to the project can do so by either contributing with patches, reporting bugs, suggesting usability improvements or creating mockups. Last but not least you can support the Identihub development financially by signing up for a monthly contribution at our dedicated Patreon.</p>
Quite some time has passed since we first got in touch with the Open Source Design community. While being an utopian idea in the beginning, it has become clear to us that bringing Open Source values to Design and vice versa requires more of a culture shift than anything else. Having this mantra in mind, […]
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<p>Quite some time has passed since we first got in touch with the <ahref="http://opensourcedesign.net/"target="_blank">Open Source Design community</a>. While being an utopian idea in the beginning, it has become clear to us that bringing Open Source values to Design and vice versa requires more of a culture shift than anything else. Having this mantra in mind, we tried to apply these principles in all communities we were part of. While Ura has a global audience, we care about our roots as well, which are in Tirana, Albania. We were happy to bring young designers in town more information about Open Source Design and the efforts the community is putting into improving Free Software/ Open Source projects.</p>
<p>Quite some time has passed since we first got in touch with the <ahref="http://opensourcedesign.net/"target="_blank"rel="noopener">Open Source Design community</a>. While being an utopian idea in the beginning, it has become clear to us that bringing Open Source values to Design and vice versa requires more of a culture shift than anything else. Having this mantra in mind, we tried to apply these principles in all communities we were part of. While Ura has a global audience, we care about our roots as well, which are in Tirana, Albania. We were happy to bring young designers in town more information about Open Source Design and the efforts the community is putting into improving Free Software/ Open Source projects.</p>
<imgsrc="/images/blog/Inkscape-Workshop-1.jpg"alt="During the workshop"><br/>
<imgclass="lazy"data-src="/images/blog/Inkscape-Workshop-1.jpg"alt="During the workshop"><br/>
<i>During the workshop</i>
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<p>Consequently, we organized another <ahref="https://discourse.opensourcedesign.net/t/tirana-albania/573/1"target="_blank">Design workshop</a> at the local <ahref="https://openlabs.cc/en/"target="_blank">Open Labs Hackerspace</a>, this time with a deep dive into Inkscape. While there have been a few designers who worked with Adobe tools, everyone was new to Inkscape, so we went all the way from explaining basic tools, to designing a poster and making it production ready. The attendees were free to pick a main topic for their poster and design it themselves. Towards the end things were becoming interesting as people debated on colors, typography and other design rules.</p>
<p>Consequently, we organized another <ahref="https://discourse.opensourcedesign.net/t/tirana-albania/573/1"target="_blank"rel="noopener">Design workshop</a> at the local <ahref="https://openlabs.cc/en/"target="_blank"rel="noopener">Open Labs Hackerspace</a>, this time with a deep dive into Inkscape. While there have been a few designers who worked with Adobe tools, everyone was new to Inkscape, so we went all the way from explaining basic tools, to designing a poster and making it production ready. The attendees were free to pick a main topic for their poster and design it themselves. Towards the end things were becoming interesting as people debated on colors, typography and other design rules.</p>
<imgsrc="/images/blog/Inkscape-Workshop-2.jpg"alt="During the workshop"><br/>
<imgclass="lazy"data-src="/images/blog/Inkscape-Workshop-2.jpg"alt="During the workshop"><br/>
<i>During the workshop</i>
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<p>The workshop was great fun and we learnt new things as well! Who said that giving workshops does not teach you something too? We are looking forward to host another workshop soon.</p>
<p>[Photos during the event] <ahref="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/"target="_blank">CC BY SA 4.0</a> Andis Rado</p>
<p>[Photos during the event] <ahref="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/"target="_blank"rel="noopener">CC BY SA 4.0</a> Andis Rado</p>
Starting now, Ura will be providing Usability and Design Services to Internet Freedom projects as part of Open Tech Fund’s Usability Lab. The Usability Lab aims to increase user safety and promote practical internet freedom by working with developers and technologists to improve the usability of open source circumvention and digital security […]
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<p>Starting now, Ura will be providing Usability and Design Services to Internet Freedom projects as part of <ahref="https://www.opentech.fund/lab/usability-lab"target="_blank">Open Tech Fund’s Usability Lab</a>.</p>
<p>Starting now, Ura will be providing Usability and Design Services to Internet Freedom projects as part of <ahref="https://www.opentech.fund/lab/usability-lab"target="_blank"rel="noopener">Open Tech Fund’s Usability Lab</a>.</p>
<p>The <ahref="https://www.opentech.fund/lab/usability-lab"target="_blank">Usability Lab</a> aims to increase user safety and promote practical internet freedom by working with developers and technologists to improve the usability of open source circumvention and digital security tools. There are many open source software projects that aim to help people around the world – activists, journalists, and everyday citizens – communicate in privacy and security.<br/>
<p>The <ahref="https://www.opentech.fund/lab/usability-lab"target="_blank"rel="noopener">Usability Lab</a> aims to increase user safety and promote practical internet freedom by working with developers and technologists to improve the usability of open source circumvention and digital security tools. There are many open source software projects that aim to help people around the world – activists, journalists, and everyday citizens – communicate in privacy and security.<br/>
Unfortunately, few of these software development teams have the capacity or expertise in-house to make tools that are truly usable. These usability challenges hamper tool adoption, or may cause misunderstandings for users about tool functionalities, and subsequently may give users a false sense of security.</p>
<p>To provide the above services, <ahref="https://www.opentech.fund/"target="_blank">Open Tech Fund</a> (OTF) is working together with four different Usability Lab partners (among them also Simply Secure with whom we have collaborated in the past). As Ura we are proud to be involved in the Usability Lab and contribute to the improvement and accessibility of Internet Freedom projects.</p>
<p>To provide the above services, <ahref="https://www.opentech.fund/"target="_blank"rel="noopener">Open Tech Fund</a> (OTF) is working together with four different Usability Lab partners (among them also Simply Secure with whom we have collaborated in the past). As Ura we are proud to be involved in the Usability Lab and contribute to the improvement and accessibility of Internet Freedom projects.</p>
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<p><strong>About Open Tech Fund</strong></p>
<p>The <ahref="https://www.opentech.fund/"target="_blank">Open Technology Fund</a> utilizes available funds to support Internet freedom projects that empower world citizens to have access to modern communication channels that are free of restrictions, and allow them to communicate without fear of repressive censorship or surveillance.</p>
<p>The <ahref="https://www.opentech.fund/"target="_blank"rel="noopener">Open Technology Fund</a> utilizes available funds to support Internet freedom projects that empower world citizens to have access to modern communication channels that are free of restrictions, and allow them to communicate without fear of repressive censorship or surveillance.</p>
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@ -47,4 +47,4 @@ Unfortunately, few of these software development teams have the capacity or ex
<li>Assistance developing secure usable <strong>Style Guides</strong>, which outline user interface and graphical elements, rules and guidelines to ensure a cohesive and consistent user experience across different aspects of a tool.</li>
</ul>
<p>If you are interested to request help from the Usability Lab, you can <ahref="https://www.opentech.fund/lab/usability-lab"target="_blank">file a request via OTF</a>.<br/>If you are specifically requesting Ura’s services and believe that your project or tool and meets the criteria, you can also contact us directly and we will help you frame a scope of work proposal.</p>
<p>If you are interested to request help from the Usability Lab, you can <ahref="https://www.opentech.fund/lab/usability-lab"target="_blank"rel="noopener">file a request via OTF</a>.<br/>If you are specifically requesting Ura’s services and believe that your project or tool and meets the criteria, you can also contact us directly and we will help you frame a scope of work proposal.</p>
We aim to iterate our processes continously based on the feedback and experiences we have with projects we are lucky to work with. With this in mind, we noticed that some of our partners prefer to use Paypal and others bank transactions, which has been for many years the standard process of payments for services similar to what we offer. As a design studio which highly values decentralized platforms, we have been positively surprised to see growing demand for payment integration of different **cryptocurrencies**. This is the reason that starting from today, we accept payments with some of the most established cryptocurrencies at the moment such as **Bitcoin**, **Ethereum** and **Litecoin**. If none of the above works for you, [let us know](mailto:hello@ura.design) and our team will be happy to find an alternative.
Anxhelo Lushka
6 years ago