An Ode to the Tile

The thing with tiles is that they *fit* perfectly and naturally onto our rectangular screens. Whenever I interact with an interface that is ’tiley’, it just clicks, it just makes sense. Tiles are inherent to the device they’re sitting on. The bricks in our walls are rectangular. For a reason.

Try Flipboard, or MS Live Tiles, or Coast by Opera.

Interfaces should be virtually virtual, no skeuomorphism, no ornaments. Let’s do away with tabs, windows, trash cans. Let us enjoy a space of sleek unclutteredness and a long overdue postmodern minimalism (on the screen). Speaking of skeuomorphism – we shouldn’t say ’tiles’ (as in thin square slabs of glazed ceramic), but rather ‘quadrilaterals’.