Penpot GSoC 2025

Google Summer of Code with Penpot 2025 join please :sweat_smile:
Penpot to join Google Summer of Code (GSoC) could involve developing innovative project ideas that align with both Penpot’s mission and the goals of GSoC. Here’s a draft proposal outline that could serve as a strong starting point for submitting Penpot as a GSoC organization:

  1. Introduction to Penpot

About Penpot: Penpot is an open-source design and prototyping platform that caters to designers and developers. It’s browser-based, collaborative, and focuses on inclusive, flexible design solutions.

Mission: Penpot aims to democratize design tools by providing a free, open-source, and accessible alternative to proprietary design software.

Goal for GSoC: Penpot sees GSoC as an opportunity to further enhance its platform by supporting students in developing tools, features, and integrations that push the boundaries of open design and collaboration.

  1. Benefits of Penpot for GSoC

Student Impact: GSoC gives students a unique chance to contribute to an emerging design platform, empowering them to work with modern technologies and real-world challenges.

Community Growth: By participating in GSoC, Penpot can grow its community by attracting new contributors and advocates who share the vision of an open design ecosystem.

Enhanced Features: The collaboration can lead to advanced features in Penpot, benefiting both the users and the open-source community.

  1. Project Ideas for GSoC Students

A. Plugin System for Penpot

Objective: Develop a plugin architecture for Penpot that allows developers to extend functionalities through custom plugins.

Description: This project would involve creating a robust and flexible plugin system, similar to what is available in Figma or Adobe XD. It would include defining an API for third-party plugins, a plugin manager, and sample plugins to showcase the system.

Skills Required: JavaScript, React, WebAssembly, API Design.

B. Real-time Collaboration Enhancements

Objective: Improve the real-time collaboration capabilities of Penpot to support multi-user interaction, comments, and version history.

Description: This would focus on building features that enhance collaborative workflows, such as adding comments with tagging, an activity feed, and undo/redo options for group editing.

Skills Required: WebSocket, Backend Development, User Interface Design.

C. Advanced Prototyping and Animation Tools

Objective: Implement advanced prototyping features, including custom animations and transitions, to elevate Penpot’s interactive capabilities.

Description: This would include features like timeline-based animation editing, preset animations, and interactions for mobile and web prototypes.

Skills Required: JavaScript, CSS Animations, React, UI/UX Design Principles.

D. Accessibility Checker

Objective: Build an accessibility checker within Penpot to help designers ensure their designs are accessible to all users.

Description: The accessibility checker would analyze elements within a design for color contrast, text readability, keyboard navigation, and more, providing actionable suggestions for improvements.

Skills Required: Accessibility Standards (WCAG), JavaScript, React, UX/UI Testing.

E. Penpot API Integration with Developer Tools

Objective: Develop integrations between Penpot and popular developer tools like GitHub, GitLab, and Visual Studio Code.

Description: The project would involve creating integrations to facilitate design handoff, allow export to code snippets, and provide live previews in developer environments.

Skills Required: JavaScript, REST APIs, OAuth, Backend Integration.

F. Design System Manager

Objective: Create a design system manager within Penpot to allow teams to build, maintain, and share their own design systems.

Description: This feature would let users define reusable components, typography, colors, and layouts, as well as organize and share their design systems with their team.

Skills Required: JavaScript, UI/UX Design, State Management.

  1. Mentorship and Community Involvement

Mentorship: Penpot’s team would provide dedicated mentors to guide students through the development process, from onboarding to the final evaluation.

Community Involvement: Students would be introduced to Penpot’s community of designers and developers, where they can receive feedback, support, and encouragement.

  1. Expected Outcomes

Enhanced Feature Set: Penpot would benefit from new or improved features, making it a more powerful tool for users.

Expanded Community: GSoC can introduce new developers to Penpot, fostering a growing community that continues beyond the program.

Long-term Vision: These projects aim to set a foundation for future development in areas like extensibility, accessibility, and collaboration.

  1. Conclusion

Summary: Penpot’s inclusion in GSoC would align with the program’s mission by providing meaningful, challenging projects for students while enhancing Penpot’s capabilities as an open-source design platform.

Call to Action: Penpot is eager to collaborate with Google Summer of Code and offer innovative, impactful projects for the next generation of open-source contributors.

This outline could be adapted to align with Penpot’s organizational goals and the latest GSoC requirements, ensuring it highlights both the technical potential and the learning experience GSoC offers to students.

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Hi @M_s thank you so much for the well thought out and outlined proposal. This is absolutely amazing!

As far as I’m aware, the application windows are now over. However, we’re happy to take on these suggestions and hey, maybe find ways to bring them to life in other ways. :wink:

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