Playful design tools
Earlier this week we launched Whorl 2.0 for iOS. Whorl is a playful app that makes it easy to create abstract art and to design unique graphic images. In fact, we’ve deliberately designed Whorl to ensure that the artistic play that drives creativity and expression remains the center of the app’s design experience.
We’ve focused on play because we know that playing makes creativity possible. And we know that integrating play into the tool is the best way to ensure productivity and the mastery that results in genuine creative expression.
Every tool, large or small, has a learning curve. You must learn how to use a powerful creation tool, but when you are required to focus too much on the tool you break your flow of creativity. A tool that empowers you to explore the realm of possibilities and supports you in the creative process is a different thing. As a result, you can focus on enabling your creative mind, not mastering the mechanics of a tool. Whorl is a humble beginning of how we think such a tool can work.
For us, the key is to make using whorl its own creative experience. In a typical creative process for example, if you wanted to discover the perfect shape for an illustration, logo, or typographic treatment you might produce many variations, often iterating on the shape you just created. In the process, you might discover endless permutations of the initial design, each with the potential to inspire further creation, all in real-time. Real designers know that that process is where the fun and the craft come together. And we know that this is exactly where creativity BECOMES play, and that this kind of play allows us to see and learn in a profound way.
At Whorl, we’re always working to make the design experience possible to everyone and now, you can have it yourself, on your iOS device. Visit the app store and see for yourself.
