dark mode gorgeousness

I don’t normally post work related stuff here, but I couldn’t let this pass without a “cross-post” as I consider the Wikipedia app a work of art, since I think software is a medium. Certainly flawed in places, but a piece of beautiful, meaningful, culture emerging from a team’s shared craft, years of volunteer passion and labor, and the power of letting humans express themselves, together.

Below are images of dark mode “Explore” cards from the app. This is not planned. Editors pick content, our backend picks the image, iOS picks the focus point and crops the image, our designer (a talented one) picked the colors, graphic layout and fonts. And yet day after day, it is diverse, informative, and even beautiful. Its not an accident, and people are working hard to make it happen, but its not an intentional human process either. It emerges like this. And it is great software. Users love it. Apple agreed, naming us an Editor’s Choice, and making us one of 10 apps recommend for their new flagship iPhone X.