Using Origami to Create Paper

Mark Wilson, writing for CoDesign:

Origami is a powerful counterpoint to Photoshop, just as Paper is a powerful counterpoint to Facebook’s standard app. It allowed the designers to mock up one of Paper’s most complex animations — something you’d never traditionally associate with Facebook UI — a booklet unfolding to reveal a news article. What’s important to note is that this animation isn’t precanned in Origami. It’s truly interactive, always anchored to your thumb and tracking it in real time, while a 3-D lighting system adds depth to the image. Not bad for a piece of software Facebook teaches its designers to use in just an hour and a half.

Origami is largely the child of Walkin, along with fellow product designer Drew Hamlin. Its development started around nine months ago, in conjunction with their work on Paper.

Paper presents an extraordinary experience. Maybe they could have gotten the same results without Origami as a design tool, but it makes sense to me that designers can better explore animated and interactive designs using tools that aren’t based on static images. Photoshop can only give you a look; Origami can give you a feeling.

★ Monday, 3 February 2014