multiverse
A spatial, file-centric operating system concept.
Instead of having to click, scan for the folder you're looking for, click again, scan again, you just scroll over to where you put a group of files. Everything stays exactly where and how you leave it.
Instead of having to pull your files between apps, dealing with proprietary file formats, and having the same thing open in multiple apps at once, you change the tool palette around the file itself.
An image is just an image, a text document is just a text document, and you can manipulate them however you want. There are no specific filetypes, just generic ones that developers can build tools around.
Modern operating systems are a mix of app-centric and file-centric concepts, with some apps that store files inside hidden folders you never see and others that you have to make your own folder to put its files in. This can cause files to be over the place - maybe you have a set of notes for a project, but also a PDF that you have to put alongside other project files. Now everything lives together except your notes, and you have to open the notes app as well as the project folder and find the note if you want to reference it, instead of just having it alongside the rest of the project. You don't need to worry about converting between filetypes and apps that don't even have filetypes you can access.
Palettes are the heart of multiverse, and are essentially what the concept of apps has been replaced with - except instead of taking a file into different apps, you have a single file that you change palettes around to have different tools. Changing palettes lets you have a more streamlined workspace when doing things like editing photos. You can use color adjustment tools and then seamlessly switch to other kinds of tools, like film emulation, all without having to take the photo into another app like you typically would in a traditional os.
Spaces help you compartmentalize different parts of your life into different canvases,
similar in concept to virtual desktops but with entirely different sets of files. you can take files from
one space to another, like a group of photos that you imported into the Media space.
Media and
Communication
are preset spaces, and you can create as many as you want depending on how much you want to compartmentalize
your files.
The communication space contains windows for email and texting, and this is generally where you would add web browser windows for other communication services you use.
Emails and text conversations can be split off and dragged into other spaces to live alongside the files they're related to - if you have an email chain for a work project, you can drag that conversation to the Work space right alongside the files for that project.
A painting is just a photo, but with a palette of painting specific tools.
any photo
can be
edited with painting tools, and can still be edited with other tool palettes after (maybe you want to do
some in-depth color correction), and then switched back to painting to keep working.
Focus mode blurs
out any
distractions and gives you your full canvas to work on without scrolling away, which helps solve the problem
that an infinite canvas causes of everything feeling ephemeral because of how easy it is to swipe away.
A text document can be edited with word processor kinds of tools, or layout tools, or anything else a developer might create a palette to do.
Everything, including the background can be marked up and annotated with the system markup tools, useful when writing following notes you've taken, but also is used to group files by drawing boxes around them.
Once you're done, you can share files to other multiverse users, or in the same panel, convert multiverse's files to any standard filetype and upload to places like cloud storage or a drive to transfer to another computer.
The bottom toolbar has all your device level controls like brightness/volume, screenshots, wifi, etc. There's also a search bar that lets you search for anything on your device, which lets you zoom over to the files, or drag and drop them into whatever you're actively working on to not pull you away.
The toolbar is also where your calendar and todo list live, as well as things like contacts, calculator, and timers. These tools generally function closer to traditional apps because there isn't any kind of file that would be applicable for them.
The nature of an infinite canvas means that traditional wallpapers don't work very well - either they scale up and look bad or they tile forever which also looks bad. But personalization is such an important part of computers, making them look and feel like our own. multiverse includes settings for completely changing the interface theme, including designing or downloading your fully custom themes, as well as changing the accent colors of interface elements and your background, which also has patterns you can apply.
The buttons, sliders, and other controls have subtle depth and tactility, with heavy use of an accent color on all the primary elements. File icons are playful, colorful, and bubbly, also with subtle depth. Palette icons are styled the same way, though this is something that would be up to the developer. Glyphs are rounded but minimalist, to help the interface recede around the content.
File icons are playful, colorful, and bubbly, also with subtle depth. Because they almost always appear very small, they generally have distinct silhouettes as well as color. Palette icons are styled the same way, though these are something that would be up to the developer to create.
Glyphs are similarly rounded and bubbly but more minimalist, usually a single stroke, to help the interface recede around the content.
shown through a student using multiverse, going throughout their day working on assignments, jumping between different classes as people tend to do.
