I’m not well versed with Japanese culture, but from the limited explanation, I gather that Yoritsuki is a simulation of a Japanese hot spring inn. It’s a view, from inside of your room, showing you a peaceful pond with trees surrounding every inch of it. I don’t know what it is about this app that makes it so heartwarming. Whether it’s the intricately drawn artwork (absolutely stunning on a retina display), or that the environment feels alive, or that the user interface is superbly drawn, with brilliant icons explaining all of the app’s ornaments. Drag around the shades, add some green pillows, tea cups—sounds stupid and childish, but there’s some joy in doing all that. The app also has a sleep timer, so it will automatically quit itself after a certain period, or even a clock mode.
You probably don’t want to spend $1.99 on a purely ornamental app, but the good news is that there is a lite version of the app offering the same UI, only less ornamental functionality. You can even download the ornaments as icons for use on your Mac. I can’t wait for an iPad version.
Nib Clock
The second app, Nib Clock, is a clock. A clock like no other. Sporting a spartan black and white user interface, you can do some minimal customisations to the fairly basic clock. But, the twist is that the minute hand could by any one of the 50 odd animated icons. These are smooth vector like shapes, but each with its own story to tell. And oh so smooth. There’s a duck which swims around the clock, or a man running across, and even a dramatic shark chasing a drowning man scene. Nib Clock costs $1.99, and there’s no lite version. But it’s good, and again, stunning on an iPhone 4.
From my brief interaction over email, he comes across as a timid designer, but Masaki Hoshimo certainly isn’t lacking in talent. The sole designer and programmer of both stunning apps. Every pixel in his user interfaces, icons, and illustrations, is absolutely stunning. Unfortunately Hoshimo doesn’t have any internet presence, so it’s hard to keep track of his work. Perhaps someone could get him on Dribbble.
