Project Gamma

Gamma is an experiment in ambient computing. It lives in the corner of your screen as a soft field of color that changes slowly in response to what you're doing: typing, reading, pausing, stepping away. There is nothing to click. There is nothing to dismiss.

Designing for Periphery

Most software is designed to be looked at. Gamma is designed to be noticed. It works the way a window does — you're not aware of the glass until a bird flies past. The goal was to build something you could leave running for a week and forget was there, then miss the moment it was gone.

Every visual decision was tested against a single question: if I saw this in my peripheral vision thirty times an hour, would I resent it? The answer had to be no. Which meant removing almost everything.

The Hardest Part

Convincing ourselves that less really was more. The temptation to add a feature — a notification, a setting, a stat — was constant. Every feature we removed made Gamma a little more honest about what it was trying to be.