Six rules, and why each one is here
Most communities for designers turn into a feed, then into an argument, then into nothing. These are the rules we think stop that. If one of them is wrong, we'd rather hear it than keep it.
Answer the question that was asked
If someone asks what to charge, give them a number or a way to find one. Not a lecture on knowing your worth.
A vague answer costs the reader more time than no answer, because they still have to go and ask someone else.
Say where your number came from
A rate, a salary, a timeline: say whether it happened to you, to someone you know, or you read it somewhere.
Half the reason this place exists is that African designers negotiate without data. Unsourced numbers make that worse, not better.
Critique the work, and be specific
Name the screen, the sentence, the decision. "Feels off" helps nobody. "The outcome is in the last section, move it to the first" is something a person can act on.
Designers ask for feedback here because they cannot get it at work. Vague praise wastes the one chance they had.
No pitching, no recruiting in threads
Do not sell your agency, your course or your tool in someone else's question. Roles go in Jobs, where they carry an eligibility label and a pay range.
The moment a community becomes a lead list, the people worth asking stop reading it.
What is said about pay stays here
People name real numbers in these threads, sometimes with a company attached. Do not screenshot it, do not repeat it with the name.
Someone can be fired for telling you what they earn. That risk is the only reason the number reached you.
Assume the person is trying
The junior with three case studies and no interviews is not lazy. The person asking about a contractor of record is not naive.
Most people here are the only designer in their company, or the first in their family to do this work. Contempt is cheap and it clears the room.
What happens when someone breaks one
Three steps, in order. Rare, and never for disagreeing with someone, including us.
We ask you to edit it, and say which rule and why. Most of it ends here.
The post comes down and you keep posting. We tell you it happened rather than deleting quietly.
You lose Community for thirty days. Rare, and never for disagreeing with someone, including us.
You keep your profile, your work, and your saved roles either way, because your career isn't ours to take.
Report something
Every post and reply has a report control. It goes to a person, not a filter.
Disagree with a rule?
Say so in Community. We've changed rules before because someone argued well.
Start a thread →