Andy Allen
@asallen
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Making @notboring software / Co-Founder of FiftyThree (Paper) & @shortoftheweek / from Alaska, USA
Seattle
Joined May 2008
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I give you Vibes.
Your personal video game soundtrack to find focus and stay in the moment.
➔
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Gotta say, it feels like we missed an opportunity to reinvent social. Can you tell them apart?
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Software people learning that MVP doesn’t work in hardware.
NEW VIDEO - Rabbit R1: Barely Reviewable
This is the pinnacle of a trend that's been annoying for years: Delivering barely finished products to win a "race" and then continuing to build them after charging full price. Games, phones, cars, now AI in a box
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We’re working on a new (not boring) app. Rather than slowly tease it over months, let’s kill any hype right now…
It’s called Vibes.
It’s a personalized video game soundtrack for your life to help you focus, sleep, workout.
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A full year in the making…
I will not use any more boring apps.
I will not use any more boring apps.
I will not use any more boring apps.
I will not use any more boring apps.
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It's telling that every AI companion company is building their own hardware (Rabbit, Humane, Meta, Tab, Rewind). Current state of mobile is just too restrictive for big ideas.
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I made a clock!
Analog clocks are surprisingly hard for kids to read and require higher cognitive processing (it’s even a common test for dementia). I wanted a clock that my young kids could read and couldn’t find one that was both useful and beautiful, so I made one.
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"The UI doesn't matter. It's about the community."
The tools shape the behaviors which shape the community. Different tools will create drastically different communities.
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Color spills from nearby windows onto desktop widgets in MacOS Sonoma.
Nice detail 👌✨
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Sound design requires layering.
The !Habits checkmark sound is 10 sounds layered together each contributing a different component to the overall sound—build, punctuation, finish.
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10 years ago we released Paper and it forever changed how I see Design.
This is the untold story of how the app came to be…
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Dynamic Island may be the best design work from Apple in years.
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Sounds are annoying because most designers use one sample for a button and play it repeatedly.
Instead, you want to steal a technique from gaming and randomly select from a set of 8+ samples each with slight differences to create texture.
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Most compelling case for everyday use I've seen yet. And, of course, it's a simple timer :)
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Topics in Product Design that get way too much attention…
• Corners (how rounded?)
• App Icons
• Dark Mode
Things in Product Design that actually need our attention…
• Patterns & Mental Models
• Defaults & Incentives
• "Feel" & Well-being
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“Product Design” → “Software Design”
It’s time we make the switch.
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Did you know—the SONOS logo works so that you can mount their speakers upside down and it still reads correctly? And it's not just the name. Even the letterforms (typically bottom heavy) are balanced here when rotated 180.
Love it when product shapes brand.
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Hiring tip to avoid lengthy interviews and portfolio reviews… Just ask candidates to make a drop shadow that doesn't suck and you're hired.
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It's time we bury the word "skeuomorphic"
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Updating app icons across the (Not Boring) app suite away from simple lines to be more dimensional, more colorful, more fun.
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IT'S DONE!
Built-in shelving + window bench seat is complete and installed. This has been my biggest woodworking project to date but super gratifying.
👇Thread for more details & making of
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What happens when you're not versed in both brand + product…
Branding a suite of products is hard. I've been part of a few efforts (FiftyThree, WeTransfer, !Boring) and consulted for others. Beyond the formal challenges, it requires deep brand thinking to find the right balance…
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"Perhaps this is just the ideal design of a social app."
Maybe. But after 6+ years of broad awareness of social's pitfalls, we should hope for something better. Think of the rich variety of experiences we have in our social lives.
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Figjam is fun, but what Figma really needs to make is an image editor so that we can all ditch Photoshop (and Adobe) for good.
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How we used "game feel" to reimagine the design of a simple checkbox…
👇
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Working in tech should be more like filmmaking—artists jumping from project to project, collaborating with new creators across disciplines every few months, making magic happen.
Imagine a collab between your favorite designers/devs dropping like a Wes Anderson trailer.
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There's too much hate out here.
We should all love what Humane is doing. Ignoring the hype or product, they're at least turning VC dollars into explorations to push Design forward. That's something I'll always support.
First demo of the
@Humane
upcoming AI-powered wearable device. A phone call.
Thanks
@ZarifAli9
for sharing!
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Farewell, Apollo.
Your indie spirit shines on.
I wrote a short goodbye post on Reddit as we enter the last hours of Apollo. Just wanted to say thanks to everyone for the support over the years, it’s truly been the journey and dream of a lifetime building this app and meeting so many people. 🥰💙
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So I guess we have all the pieces now to bring this little sh*t to life.
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What's a controversial Design belief that you hold?
Me: Most companies (esp in tech) don't need Great design—it can even hurt a business. Most just need "good enough" design.
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I recently gave a talk at Push Conference '22 on why Designers should play video games.
A few highlights…
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This is
@notboring
yellow in sRGB vs P3.
I cannot understate how different these are to me.
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Anyone know who at Apple did this work?
Action Button on iPhone 15 Pro Max. This video shows how to change the action (to camera for example). Cool stuff.
#AppleEvent
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Refreshing to see someone in tech say fuck the business case, let's just dream a bit…
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There's a mind-blowing world outside of UI design tools.
They used 3D fucking software my god I've seen a dozen of these stupid ass engagement farming tweets all asking the same fucking question NO YOU CANT DO THIS IN FIGMA FOR FUCK SAKE ITS GOT A PARTICLE SYSTEM MY GOD OPEN YOUR EYES
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Grand Tour Legends by
@eranhill
&
@ioramastudio
is my new favorite game for the Playdate—beautifully fun.
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I generally prefer the workshop over the stage, but I'm honored to be sharing our process building
@notboring
software at Config this year.
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NEW ESSAY: The Sound of Software
We may be known for the rich visuals in our
@notboring
apps, but I’ve had a surprising number of people tell me that it’s the sound design that makes it for them. In most digital mediums like video games and film, sound is half the experience.…
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One of the most daunting aspects of designing something new is discovering what form it should take.
For Vibes, I was drawn to the idea of connecting music with spaces & movement.
This was the very first sketch.
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During the entire keynote, Apple never once uttered the words "metaverse" or "AI" instead using "spatial" "transformers" and "machine learning"
Avoid loaded industry terms and talk about your work on your own terms.
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The best reward is the one you didn't expect.
Guess I'm a YouTuber now.
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So proud of our tiny 2-person app studio… 🥹
Have to admit, it feels good to have our silly little apps listed for Best of… Weather, Habit-Tracking, Calculator, & Audio Focus… all at the same time.
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We did a lot at
@notboring
this year, but my proudest accomplishment may be hitting a career high for contributions (~2/day).
Not long ago I was managing teams and directing product decisions from a distance. Then I recognized that the creative people I admire most are not just…
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This is a game-changer for anyone looking to build 3D apps…
🙌 Introducing native 3D for the Apple Ecosystem!
🌟 3D Embeds for iOS, iPadOS, macOS
⚡️ Upcoming support for visionOS/Vision Pro
🎄 Native App Generation
✨ UI scenes for the 3D space
🎇 Particles
Spline is now multi-platform & multi-dimensional
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Meta is still Facebook.
X is still Twitter.
Sorry, your brand doesn't belong to you.
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Not in love with any of the AI wearables from a design standpoint. Missed opportunity?
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2012 vs 2022
It's been 10 years since I last attended WWDC.
A lot has changed.
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Did I need it? No.
Do I love it? Yes.
I'll come out and say Teenage Engineering (
@jugendingenieur
) is doing the strongest work in product design today—the Dieter Rams of our era.
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Sounds should reinforce relationships in software. Similar actions should sound similar. Inverse actions should sound opposing and reinforce directionality—in/out, open/close, prev/next
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When a young designer asks me about using data in their design process, I like to sketch this diagram…
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You become a creator the moment you realize everything around you was created and can be altered.
Bravo for unlocking this mindset for everyday folks using the web 👏
What if the internet...
was actually 𝑦𝑜𝑢𝑟 internet? 🎨
Introducing Boosts 2.0 — only in Arc
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I find I've become a lot less impressed with people who just design stuff and a lot more interested in people who design + build stuff.
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I got early access to the new Opal Tadpole and it's a gorgeous little camera with excellent materials, all-paper packaging, and nice details like how it fits perfectly over the MBP notch so you don't lose any screen real estate.
Nicely done 👌
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Clear 2 is here! Congrats to
@phillryu
@dlanham
@impending
Clear first landed in 2012 (1 month before Paper) and massively reshaped the future of mobile patterns.
There were no buttons at all in the app. Every action was a gesture. Swipe to delete, left swipe to go back,…
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Dropping something big in 12 hours that will challenge your perception of product design.
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I'm starting a new article about sound design in apps. Sound design is highly underutilized and misunderstood, imho.
What would you want to know?
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Required Reading: Read Write Own by
@cdixon
In the first 3 chapters, Chris puts up the cleanest diagnosis of the current state of tech and why, despite so much transformative tech over the past 3 decades, we're still waiting for the creator revolution we've been promised.
Even…
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Beautiful details, but I very much hope the mesh here is fake or it's really bad topology. The n-gons and wasted vertices, hurt me at a deep, deep level.
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If only we could break free of the aging files & folders metaphor…
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How you prototype hardware…
The r1 rabbit working on IOS 👀
This app utilizes device time, battery life, haptic touch, camera and more. Built in just a few hours and working as a PWA, IOS and Android (see thread)
This demo was built in
@FlutterDev
with
@FlutterFlow
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iOS 17 is out—All your
@notboring
apps just got leveled up!
+ Interactive widget (Vibes)
+ Standby mode
+ Mac desktop widgets (requires macOS Sonoma preview)
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Old school physical interfaces + new smart tech is a powerful combination.
Announcing our first product, Dot — an intelligent guide with incredible memory.
Read the full story here:
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Nice shirt ya got there ✨
Look I know you weren't wondering, but... somebody had to do it. I walked 1000 steps with all my smartwatches on to see which was most accurate.
The results:
Apple Watch Ultra: 955
Garmin Fenix 7: 964
Samsung Galaxy Watch: 994
Google Pixel Watch: 998
Cheap pedometer: 1168(??!!)
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Seems every AI tools is built around convergent assistance—getting you to the right answer, image, design.
Yet it's real superpower is divergent assistance—i.e. brainstorming & imagining outcomes never yet considered.
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Designing apps for today's multitude of devices, screen sizes, orientations, and screen modes can feel like trying to design a single pair of pants to fit 100 different body types.
It can be done, but you're likely to end up with something shapeless and generic.
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Love it or hate it, the
#cybertruck
has instantly moved the needle for every vehicle design from here forward.
Everything else now, even unreleased cars, suddenly look dated.
That's the power of strong, visionary design.
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I'm giving away my Opal Tadpole.
Delightful lil camera, but not something I need with my current setup. Reply below if it's a tool you'd like to own.
I got early access to the new Opal Tadpole and it's a gorgeous little camera with excellent materials, all-paper packaging, and nice details like how it fits perfectly over the MBP notch so you don't lose any screen real estate.
Nicely done 👌
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More and more software teams will soon have “Character Designer” roles
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The best time at a startup is when it’s just you and your co-founders around a kitchen table building great stuff.
It took me a couple startups to realize… you can stay that size.
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"Why doesn't this product have [basic feature]?"
The teams building these features aren't ignorant or incompetent. Most often, they know the issue and desperately want to fix it but their efforts are derailed by cross-team dependencies and general organizational disfunction👇
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New weekend woodworking project 🪵
Plywood Step Stool
Like most of my projects, it begins with what seems like a simple request…
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