Material. In context.
Specimen / A library for the decisions between the sample and the specification.
Always request a physical sample.
Honed finish
A warm, matte finish for interior joinery and low-traffic work surfaces.
- Thickness
- 18 mm
- Sheet size
- 2,400 × 1,200 mm
- Application
- Interior surfaces
Sample data. Nothing is ordered or sent.
A place for the page.
Offprint / Reading, browsing and buying should belong to the same world.
we shareA room
of our
own.Mara Ellison
Offprint editions
Architecture / Collected essays
The places
between places.
Doorways, landings and shared tables. Six essays about the small spaces that make room for other people.
At the top of the stairs there is a window, a chair and just enough space to stop. Nobody calls it a room. Yet it is where the longest conversations happen.
Original sample book and text.
Can a material library answer the practical question without making the sample disappear?
- Focus
- Selection & specification
- Deliverable
- Interactive product concept
- Scope
- Original sample content
The detail that
changed the decision.
The first material browser looked complete. It had a name, a colour and a download. It still made a designer leave the page to answer the most basic question: can I use this here?
- Constraint
- Make technical information useful without turning the library into a spreadsheet.
- Decision
- Keep application and dimensions next to the sample. Let the colour change while the specification stays in the same place.
Clay MC—04
Warm mineral composite. Download the technical sheet for dimensions and application notes.
MC—04 / Technical sheet
18 mm · 2,400 × 1,200 mm
Interior surfaces only. Honed finish.
Clean with pH-neutral soap.
Clay
MC—04 · Honed mineral composite
- Use it for
- Interior surfaces
- Thickness
- 18 mm
- Sheet size
- 2,400 × 1,200 mm
The information needed to compare a finish is visible before downloading.
Revised: the application and dimensions stay beside the sample.
Read the alternative and the outcome
Why not a comparison drawer?
A drawer could hold several finishes, but it would also hide the most useful facts until someone had already chosen a candidate. The revised interface answers the single-material question first. A comparison tool can follow when the library grows.
What this prototype establishes
Changing a finish updates the name, surface, application and dimensions together. Saving keeps the selected specification visible. These are observable improvements to the prototype, not measured business outcomes or claims about a real client.
Material. In context.
Specimen / A library for the decisions between the sample and the specification.
Always request a physical sample.
Honed finish
A warm, matte finish for interior joinery and low-traffic work surfaces.
- Thickness
- 18 mm
- Sheet size
- 2,400 × 1,200 mm
- Application
- Interior surfaces
Sample data. Nothing is ordered or sent.
A place for the page.
Offprint / Reading, browsing and buying should belong to the same world.
we shareA room
of our
own.Mara Ellison
Offprint editions
Architecture / Collected essays
The places
between places.
Doorways, landings and shared tables. Six essays about the small spaces that make room for other people.
At the top of the stairs there is a window, a chair and just enough space to stop. Nobody calls it a room. Yet it is where the longest conversations happen.
Original sample book and text.
Let the book
set the pace.
A publisher’s website can feel like a catalogue of things to buy. For Offprint, I started with the experience of opening a book: a cover, a passage, a reason to keep reading.
The cover and the sample text share a spread. The reader can move between three excerpts without losing the title or the surrounding context. On a narrow screen, the cover leads and the reading column follows.
What I chose to leave out
No carousel of tiny covers, no invented bestseller label and no countdown. The prototype earns attention through the work itself. A real store would add pricing, stock and fulfilment once those facts exist.
A good handoff
starts much earlier.
The work moves through three concrete questions. Choose a stage to see what it leaves behind.
What decision is difficult?
Look at the real task before drawing the interface. Name the uncertainty, the available evidence and the thing a person needs to decide.
“I like this finish. Can it be used for the reception desk?”
Required context: application, sheet dimensions, thickness, care.
Can someone use the idea?
Build the smallest complete path. Include the difficult states: a different choice, an empty result, a mistake and a way back.
- Choose another material and see its full specification.
- Save a finish, leave it, and return to the saved state.
- Complete the same path with a keyboard.
What does the next person need?
Deliver the behavior with the visual system. Record why the design changed, which states exist and what remains a prototype assumption.
- Interface
- Responsive components and state examples
- Reasoning
- Constraint, alternative and decision
- Boundary
- Sample materials, no ordering service
Care is visible
in the ordinary parts.
The label beside a field. The page after a search returns nothing. The moment an edit becomes a commitment. I’m interested in the parts of a product that people notice only when they stop working.
This portfolio is a fictional, independently authored template. The projects are original interface studies, not client engagements. Replace this introduction with your own work and experience.
Bring a question to the tableSelected work
Independent concept studiesNo matching project.
Try another name, or return to both concept studies.
2 projects shown