Format Shifting

“Eventually everything connects - people, ideas, objects. The quality of the connections is the key to quality per se.” - Charles Eames

You probably have a primary screen where you do everything: write, work, and play.

This screen may be your Smartphone, tablet, laptop, desktop computer, or even a physical notebook.

You may even shift freely between devices depending on which is closest. Every experience or piece of data should be transferable across formats.

However, you probably interpret content differently across devices.

An image uploaded to Instagram looks different than it does on Flickr, mostly due to the crop. I read quicker and comprehend better on a mobile phone. This is probably because you can only view one window at at time, harnessing focus. BUT I’m better at catching my own writing errors on a computer screen. This could be due to the simple fact that the larger screen allows me to see text more broadly.

Switching screens also benefits creativity. If you ever get stuck on an idea, a sentence, an image, and want to see your work from a different perspective, simply move to a different screen; even a different platform. For instance, write on Tumblr itself instead of a Word document, write in a notebook instead of a digital screen, or view an image on web and print before you publish it to a book.

Format shifting is a great way to ensure content is universally understandable across any medium.