Client
Modular™
Year
2023 (WIP)
Location
London
(UK)
Role
Digital identity,
Product design,
UX / UI
Category
Design System,
Product
Modular is a digital design system inspired and conceptually guided by principles of 'Le Modulor’, which is an anthropometric scale of proportions devised by the Swiss-born French architect Le Corbusier (1887–1965). Modular helps to transform design templates into Elements, Components and Modules, ready for production.
The Modular system focuses its spacial, scale, grid and sizing ratios on the average human fingertip. An MIT Touch Lab study of Human Fingertips to investigate the Mechanics of Tactile Sense found that the average width of the index finger is 1.6 to 2 cm (16 - 20 mm). 1.6 cm converted into pixels is approx 60px, being the ideal circumference for touchscreens.
Using 60px as the base rule, this size is divisible and multipliable to allow for spacial, scale, grid and sizing properties. Since touchscreen devices are also pressed with the thumb, which is slightly larger in width than the index finger at 2.5cm or 72px, the base rule works as a ratio of 3:2 = 72 : 48 (equal to 60 : 40).
The 'Golden Ratio' is also utilised in the system, 1 : 1.618 - as a ratio is also approx 3:2. The Modular system assists digital production teams in developing consistent, coherent and scalable digital products. This experimental research project is currently in progress, and will become an open-access resource for anyone to use and customise.
