Phase 2: #47282 Improving Contributor On-Boarding Documentation

changelogs/unreleased/#47282-Improving-Contributor-On-Boarding-Documentation.yml

+title: First Improvements made to the contributor on-boarding experience.
+merge_request: 20682
+author: Eddie Stubbington
+type: added

doc/development/contributing/design.md

+<!-- START doctoc generated TOC please keep comment here to allow auto update -->
+<!-- DON'T EDIT THIS SECTION, INSTEAD RE-RUN doctoc TO UPDATE -->
+**Table of Contents**  *generated with [DocToc](https://github.com/thlorenz/doctoc)*
+
+- [Implement design & UI elements](#implement-design--ui-elements)
+- [Style guides](#style-guides)
+
+<!-- END doctoc generated TOC please keep comment here to allow auto update -->
+
+## Implement design & UI elements
+
+For guidance on UX implementation at GitLab, please refer to our [Design System](https://design.gitlab.com/).
+
+The UX team uses labels to manage their workflow.
+
+The  ~"UX" label on an issue is a signal to the UX team that it will need UX attention.
+To better understand the priority by which UX tackles issues, see the [UX section](https://about.gitlab.com/handbook/engineering/ux) of the handbook.
+
+Once an issue has been worked on and is ready for development, a UXer removes the ~"UX" label and applies the ~"UX ready" label to that issue.
+
+The UX team has a special type label called ~"design artifact". This label indicates that the final output
+for an issue is a UX solution/design. The solution will be developed by frontend and/or backend in a subsequent milestone.
+Any issue labeled ~"design artifact" should not also be labeled ~"frontend" or ~"backend" since no development is
+needed until the solution has been decided.
+
+~"design artifact" issues are like any other issue and should contain a milestone label, ~"Deliverable" or ~"Stretch", when scheduled in the current milestone.
+
+To prevent the misunderstanding that a feature will be be delivered in the
+assigned milestone, when only UX design is planned for that milestone, the
+Product Manager should create a separate issue for the ~"design artifact",
+assign the ~UX, ~"design artifact" and ~"Deliverable" labels, add a milestone
+and use a title that makes it clear that the scheduled issue is design only
+(e.g. `Design exploration for XYZ`).
+
+When the ~"design artifact" issue has been completed, the UXer removes the ~UX
+label, adds the ~"UX ready" label and closes the issue. This indicates the
+design artifact is complete. The UXer will also copy the designs to related
+issues for implementation in an upcoming milestone.
+
+## Style guides
+
+1.  [Ruby](https://github.com/bbatsov/ruby-style-guide).
+    Important sections include [Source Code Layout][rss-source] and
+    [Naming][rss-naming]. Use:
+    - multi-line method chaining style **Option A**: dot `.` on the second line
+    - string literal quoting style **Option A**: single quoted by default
+1.  [Rails](https://github.com/bbatsov/rails-style-guide)
+1.  [Newlines styleguide][newlines-styleguide]
+1.  [Testing][testing]
+1.  [JavaScript styleguide][js-styleguide]
+1.  [SCSS styleguide][scss-styleguide]
+1.  [Shell commands](../shell_commands.md) created by GitLab
+    contributors to enhance security
+1.  [Database Migrations](../migration_style_guide.md)
+1.  [Markdown](http://www.cirosantilli.com/markdown-styleguide)
+1.  [Documentation styleguide](https://docs.gitlab.com/ee/development/documentation/styleguide.html)
+1.  Interface text should be written subjectively instead of objectively. It
+    should be the GitLab core team addressing a person. It should be written in
+    present time and never use past tense (has been/was). For example instead
+    of _prohibited this user from being saved due to the following errors:_ the
+    text should be _sorry, we could not create your account because:_
+1.  Code should be written in [US English][us-english]
+
+This is also the style used by linting tools such as
+[RuboCop](https://github.com/bbatsov/rubocop),
+[PullReview](https://www.pullreview.com/) and [Hound CI](https://houndci.com).
+
+---
+
+[Return to Contributing documentation](index.md)