What it takes to Redesign an Open Source Website: Lessons from an AsyncAPI Maintainer

Open source redesigns are rarely just about visuals or code. Behind every major redesign is a large amount of coordination, communication, review cycles, contributor onboarding, architectural decisions, and maintaining consistency across a distributed community.

This talk shares practical lessons from leading the redesign of the AsyncAPI website — from collaborating around design decisions and translating Figma concepts into implementation, to coordinating contributors, handling reviews at scale, resolving blockers, and maintaining momentum in a fast-moving open source environment.

The session will explore the often invisible work involved in redesigning an open source platform:

• balancing design vision with engineering realities,

• creating contributor-friendly workflows,

• maintaining consistency across multiple contributors,

• handling communication and decision-making,

• reviewing and scaling contributions effectively,

• and acting as a bridge between maintainers, contributors, and design direction.

Rather than focusing only on the final output, this talk focuses on the process, collaboration patterns, and lessons learned while redesigning a community-driven project in the open.

Attendees will leave with practical ideas for managing redesign initiatives, improving contributor experience, and building healthier collaboration workflows in open source communities.

• Understanding the coordination work behind open source redesigns

• Practical strategies for managing contributors during large collaborative initiatives

• Lessons on balancing design consistency with contributor flexibility

• Ways to improve communication, reviews, and contributor workflows in OSS projects

• Bridging the gap between design and implementation in open source communities

• Lessons from redesigning the AsyncAPI Initiative website, part of the Linux Foundation ecosystem, and coordinating a large-scale community-driven redesign effort