'We Look At Functional Aesthetics As North Star', Says Nothing's Software Creative Director On OS Designing

Curious about how Nothing handsets have such an aesthetic OS design? Read this article to know how the company focuses on designing to enhance users' experience.

Nothing phones might soon see a new camera widget that acts like a shortcut which will remember your presets.

Source : X/@HoyssMladen

Nothing phones usually feature a transparent back design, a Glyph interface with gamified customisations, and an Operating Software unlike any other. Some people might already have an idea of how Nothing's OS plays a role in enhancing users' experience. It strikes a balance between offering a stock Android experience and customisations while remaining bloatware-free. You will come across functional widgets on the Nothing handset which play a significant role in making the aesthetics. 

Do you know who is the mastermind behind the OS? Mladen Hoyss, the mastermind revealed things about Nothing OS in an exclusive interview with India Today. Hoyss has a background in industrial design. During the interview, he said, "We look at functional aesthetics as the North Star to whatever we are designing. It has to be functional, but the functionality needs to have the same aesthetic as everything else we are doing. It could be a wallpaper or something system-wide."

He added, "The biggest challenge of Nothing OS is to give users that same experience that they have from unboxing our phone when they see the hardware, as when they turn the phone around. This goes line in line with transparency being such a big part of our aesthetic, so how do we make this really transparent and bring that design language from the back of the phone to the front?”

A huge part of the Nothing OS aesthetics is the monochrome design, and Hoyss’ passion for photography was a big inspiration behind it. India Today quoted Hyoss' elaboration on this, “I'm a very passionate photographer. And I'm inspired by black-and-white photography because it does a good job of isolating compositions, isolating forms, and isolating the story. There's less colours, so there's less distraction. So I thought, why don't we just create software that gives you the same amount of focus?”

Keeping Nothing Bloatware-Free

While talking about keeping the handsets bloatware-free, Hyoss said, “Not having any bloatware in our software is a major, major thing. We have zero interest in doing something like that. We really want to keep it a clean, fast and smooth experience as we have done so far. We're not going to give in on any of these terms from third-party companies or apps. It's really up to the user. We want to give users out of the box experience when it comes to apps and software that they use. But, if there is some amazing productivity tool, and it works with our OS functionality-wise, productivity-wise, design-wise, and if it can bring a better experience to the user, then why not? But it needs to be perfect, it needs to be very smooth and it needs to check all the boxes. But again, this is not about money. This is just if we think there is something that's going to improve the user experience.”

For photography enthusiasts, Hyoss said that a new widget will soon be coming. India Today quoted him as saying, “You will soon see a camera widget that will act like a shortcut that will remember your presets.”