What Screens Want by Frank Chimero

November 21, 2013

design

Just like any material, screens have affordances. Much like wood, I believe screens have grain: a certain way they’ve grown and matured that describes how they want to be treated. The grain is what gives the material its identity and tells you the best way to use it. Figure out the grain, and you know how to natively design for screens.

And we’ve tried. Oh god, we’ve tried. Unfortunately, the discussion around screen-native design feels a bit stunted in its current form. We’re stuck in a pendulum swing.