Grid by Binary Thumb

Improving the feel of a multimedia spreadsheet

Grid was an iPad app for collaborating on an infinite canvas of photos, video, and text. I joined after the first version shipped, initially as Lead iOS Developer and later as CTO. My work focused on interaction and performance, working alongside lead designer Josh Leong.

Moving the canvas to Cocos2D

Scrolling and animation in the original app felt slow. For a product built around moving through visual content, that responsiveness was central to the experience.

I built a prototype in Cocos2D to explore whether a game engine could give us smoother interactions. We targeted 60fps, and the prototype felt noticeably more responsive. We decided to move the app from UIKit to Cocos2D.

The improvement came with a development cost: we had to recreate much of the standard iOS interface in the new engine. The work extended beyond rendering the canvas to rebuilding the controls around it.

Making room to place content

Backpack was a panel for bringing content from Photos, Dropbox, and Evernote into Grid. It made that content available to drag onto the canvas, but the panel also covered part of the area where someone might want to drop it.

I experimented with the transition and implemented a quick fade when an item was dragged out of Backpack. The panel faded back in when the person released their finger. This kept the content picker available between drags while exposing the canvas during placement.

Lead Designer: Josh Leong