swatch this
I built a camera app for capturing colors and collecting photos. I want more people to get into photography, have fun taking photos, and notice the colors around them.
Six weeks after launch, Apple featured Swatch This on the App Store in its collection of apps trending among Gen Z and millennials, bringing in 500K+ organic impressions.
inspired by beauty
I get a lot of ideas from things I see in real life. For Swatch This, I liked the look of Polaroid photos and albums, and how sunlight falls on them.
I wanted people to enjoy taking photos and looking through them afterwards. So I put as much care into the library as the camera.
The photo on the left inspired the library. I loved how sunlight fell across the wall and the photos, making the whole scene feel warm and calm.
The Polaroids felt like little keepsakes. I wanted the library to feel that way too, with Polaroid frames, soft light, and shadows around the photos you collect.
I built a daylight and moonlight shader for the app, bringing that light into each screen. It falls across the interface and the photos you collect, just like the Polaroids on the wall.
I wanted your collection to catch the warmth of day or the quiet of night, with the light becoming part of the photos too.
I loved real Polaroid albums, so I made albums for the app too. A place to put your favorite photos together and make collections of your own.
This is one of my favorite parts of designing: noticing something in real life and wanting to bring it into the app.
crafted to feel alive
I spent a lot of time on the little interactions. The camera reacts when you take photos, and there are a few surprises as you use the app. I wanted taking photos to feel fun.
Deleting a profile sticker makes it go “poof” in a little cloud of smoke. I wanted the things you do again and again to have personality too.
wall of love
Six weeks after I launched Swatch This, Apple’s editorial team featured it on the Korean App Store. Over a month later, it’s still there, bringing in 500K+ organic impressions.
Its interactions are also featured on Spotted in Prod and 60FPS and it inspired an article about taking photos and collecting colors with the app.
try the app
I’m super grateful for all the kind words and positive feedback. Seeing people enjoy something I made means so much to me, and makes me want to do even better ^^
I’m still designing and building Swatch This. If it looks like your kind of camera, I’d love for you to give it a try.
