3 Ways to Tidy Your Apps

Cluttered phone, cluttered mind

Luke Winkie
Forge

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Credit: Rob Hampson/Unsplash

WWe’re living in a post-Kondo world. Minimalism is no longer a novelty; it’s a way of life — or, more specifically, a way to live better. Don’t we owe it to our brains to apply the same care to our mobile screens that we give our carefully rolled-up socks?

Of course, there’s no one right way to organize a phone. Different people require different philosophies and have different needs. So, here are three different ideas: one for tired thumbs, one for the more visually inclined, and one for those who want to remove their phone from their life as much as possible.

For the ergonomically challenged

Designers will sometimes talk about the thumb zone, a term originally coined by the UX researcher Steven Hoober to describe the natural oval-shaped range of comfort for both left-handers and right-handers as they’re staring down at their iPhones. This zone starts at the base of the screen and curves upward toward the camera before tapering off at the corners.

If you want to make ergonomics your primary organizing principle, stack your apps toward the bottom of your phone. That’s where our thumbs are at their most natural and flexible. For me, as an Android user, that means dragging and dropping icons to my baseline; iOS users can compile…

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Luke Winkie
Forge
Writer for

writer and reporter - Red Bull, Sports Illustrated, PC Gamer, Vice, Rolling Stone, Daily Dot, Gawker Media, Buzzfeed, Verge etc - winkluke at gmail