You don't eat shellfish.
WhatsApp · 2 Feb 2024
Quivy · design10
Aperture, an editor's light table
Rationale
Quivy's memory is made of pictures, so Aperture treats the whole product like a picture editor's desk: a bone-grey light table, prints dropped onto it one at a time, contact-sheet frames for anything that comes in multiples, and a chinagraph-red pencil for everything the agent has noticed. The agent never wears a face. It shows its work the way an editor does, by circling the frame that matters and writing in the margin.
Deliberate risk
Photo-heavy UI can drown the message. Justified by strict editorial discipline: one hero image per moment, generous bone margins, and red ink only ever means the editor's hand. Buttons are plain ink, so the thread stays legible and the pencil keeps its meaning.
Muse
Photography annuals and the contact sheet: grease-pencil circles, frame numbers, prints on a lightbox, captions in pencil on the back of a print.
Motion personality
Lightbox. Prints drop onto the table and settle (260–480ms, slight overshoot), pencil circles draw themselves on, and waiting looks like a print slowly gaining contrast in developer fluid.
First contact
earning the ask, one print at a timeQquivy
Your life, in focus.
Quivy reads your messages, email, calendar, photos, contacts and files, then acts before you ask.
Everything stays on a small box in your home, or right here on this phone. Nobody else's computer.
Nina's kitchen, Tuesday, 06:55
Takes about four minutes. Nothing leaves the house.
Connect the sources
FR 04/08
Gmail
Connected
Google Calendar
Connected
WhatsApp
Connected
Telegram
Connected
Photos
Connecting
Contacts
Tap to connect
Lr
Lightroom
Tap to connect
N
Notion
Tap to connect
Gmail took eleven seconds. Photos is a bigger library, give it a moment.
Here's what I found
Keep what rings true. Discard the rest, correct me anywhere.
M·08
You and Marco drifted. Eight months since you last talked.
P·23
You promised Priya the Lisbon photos. That was 23 days ago.
T·40
Thursday evenings are usually yours. Forty weeks and counting.
You don't eat shellfish. Your own words, WhatsApp, February 2024.
Q
Two hundred and fourteen contacts, sorted into the people you actually know. Anything wrong? Tap a card and tell me.
09:51
The thread
cards are message types, not destinationsThu 24 Jul
Q
Morning. Three things before nine: Dan on Thursday needs the Q3 drawings, Priya is still waiting on the Lisbon photos, and Marco is in Cape Town next month. All three are below.
06:47
Coffee first. Then the drawings.
06:52
Q
Sensible. The drawings are packaged; they leave at 09:00 unless you say otherwise.
06:52
Message
Tue 12 Aug · midday
Q
Priya replied. The photos made her week.
11:58
Good. Remind me to call her this weekend.
12:01
Q
Noted, Saturday morning.
12:01
0:19
Bongi can do Saturday 09:00 or Sunday 16:30. The coffee has been pending two months, so I checked.
R1 800
Salt & Stone · deposit
Paid
L·01
L·02
L·03
Salt & Stone, Thu 19:00
Four of you · deposit
Message
Q
Morning brief
Tue 12 Aug
Dan Weiss, Thursday 10:00Brief ready. You last met 4 March.
Q3 drawings for DanFive days outstanding. He hasn't chased.
Lisbon photos for PriyaTwenty-three days. Three are already picked.
Marco is in town, 12 to 20 AugustThree times suit you both. Say the word.
Coffee with BongiTwo months pending. She's free Saturday.
That's the lot. Nothing else needs you before nine.
Message
The reconnection
the soul moment, circled in pencil
Camps Bay, summer 2013
FR 12
You and Marco used to talk most weeks. It's been eight months. He's in Cape Town 12 to 20 August, and three times suit you both.
Message
Q
Three times, three places. I've circled my pick in pencil. Nothing is held yet.
Thu 1419:00your night
Sat 1612:30
Tue 1919:30
Salt & Stone
Kalk Bay · R450 each · R1 800 for four
Marrow
Bree Street · no deposit
Pier 42
Waterfront · R300 each · R1 200 for four
↳Salt & Stone works out at R1 800 for the four of you. Linefish for you, the shellfish platter is Marco's.
Hold on, before you book anything.
10:04
Q
Listening.
00:19
…and ask Marco if Ana can do the Saturday instead
Q
Marco's not on Quivy, so there's no agent on his side. I messaged him on WhatsApp at 09:14. Waiting on a human.
In the trayElapsed 12 min
09:14WhatsApp sent. Delivered.
09:40Read. No reply yet.
NextTomorrow 08:00, I nudge him if he's quiet.
Nothing's booked yet. Thursday stays pencilled in until he answers.
Message
Q
He said yes. Salt & Stone, Thursday 14 August, 19:00. Four of you, R1 800 deposit. Bookings are set to suggest and approve, so this one is your call.
Salt & Stone
R1 800deposit · R450 a head
On your authority: bookings set to suggest and approve.
Linefish for Nina. The platter is Marco's.
Held
Booking receipt
Salt & Stone
Thu 14 Aug · 19:00 · four people
DepositR1 800 paid
ConfirmationSS-1408-1900
CalendarHeld for you and Marco
GuestsMarco, Ana, plus one
Table noteNo shellfish on Nina's plate
Full refund until 13 Aug, 18:00. After that the deposit is Salt & Stone's.
Message
Q
One snag with the Marrow idea.
Phone onlyMarrow, Bree Street
I can't hold Marrow from here. They only take group bookings by phone. I can call them when they open at 09:00, or hold Pier 42 right now.
Pier 42, V&A Waterfront
R300 each · R1 200 for four · holds online
Loose ends
no shame, just the fix in the same breath
Q
The Lisbon photos have been sitting for 23 days. I've picked three. Say the word and they're with Priya.
08:15
1
L·01
L·01
2
L·02
L·02
3
L·03
L·03
Message
Dan, 4 MarchDan Weiss
Today, 10:00 · two hours away
His studio, Woodstock
You last met 4 March. He brought the good wine, you said you'd return the favour.
You owe him the intro to Hendrik. One line from you does it.
Rosa started school in January. Ask how it's going, he'll light up.The Q3 drawings are still open. He's not worried. Send them today anyway.He likes you. This is a nice meeting to have.
Message
The archive
people, memory and rope, filed properlyDrifting
Marco
8 months quiet
In town 12–20 Aug
In town 12–20 Aug
Ana
Marco's partner
Paediatrician, Milan
Paediatrician, Milan
You owe
Priya
Lisbon photos
23 days
23 days
Dan
Hendrik intro
Meeting Thu 10:00
Meeting Thu 10:00
Bongi
Coffee
2 months pending
2 months pending
Steady
Thandi
Talks every week
Never lapses
Never lapses
Everything I know
Where each fact came from, and a way to forget each one.
Marco moved to Milan.
Email · 14 Mar 2025
Thursday evenings are yours.
Calendar · 40+ instances
Ana is a paediatrician.
WhatsApp · 8 Jun 2025
These live on the box in your study. Forget one here and it's gone everywhere. There is no other copy.
How wide should I open?
Set per area. Changes apply straight away.
Messages & replies
Calendar & scheduling
Bookings & spending
Files & photos
Ask me first. I prepare it, nothing leaves.
Suggest and I'll approve. I do the work, you tap once.
Just do it. I handle it and tell you after.
The lockscreen
two classes of event, visibly different
07:12
Tuesday 12 August
QQuivy · morning brief
Five things, batched: Dan Thursday, the Q3 drawings, Priya's photos, Marco in town, coffee with Bongi. Nothing on fire.
QMarco replied
He's in for Thursday, and Ana's coming. Your approval is the only thing outstanding.
You asked to be woken for anything from Marco.
Swipe up for the thread
The box
priced honestly, no pressure mechanicsKeep it at home.
One small box next to your router holds everything. Your messages never sit on anyone else's computer.
The box, on a bookshelf, actual size
Quivy Lite
Stays on your phone. No box.
$12a year
the obvious one
Quivy Home
The box, always on. Holds everything.
$279+ $24 a month
Your own hardware
Same software, your machine.
$24a month
No trial clocks, no countdowns. Cancel whenever.
Token legend
lift verbatim, both palettesColour · light
surface-base
--surface-base #EFEDE8surface-raised
--surface-raised #FAF9F6surface-sunken
--surface-sunken #E5E2DAink-primary
--ink-primary #1F1F1Eink-secondary
--ink-secondary #5D5A53hairline
--hairline #DCD9D1fog (film-edge text)
--fog #8A8781mark · chinagraph
--mark #D22E2Emark-ink (small red text)
--mark-ink #B91F1Ffilm
--film #141414success
--success #3E7A57Colour · dark (darkroom)
surface-base
--surface-base #141414surface-raised
--surface-raised #1E1E1Csurface-sunken
--surface-sunken #262624ink-primary
--ink-primary #E8E6E1ink-secondary
--ink-secondary #A6A29Ahairline
--hairline #2E2E2Bfog
--fog #8A8781mark
--mark #E04438mark-ink
--mark-ink #EA6A62film
--film #0C0C0Csuccess
--success #7FB894Type · roles
Your life, in focus.--font-display · 800 30px/1.08 · -0.03em
Salt & Stone, Thursday--font-title · 700 20px/1.18 · -0.015em
Hold a table--font-headline · 700 15px/1.3
He's in Cape Town 12 to 20 August.--font-body · 400 17px/1.42
Delivered, not yet read.--font-caption · 500 13px/1.35
FR 07/24 · Roll A--font-frame · 700 10px/1.2 · +0.16em · caps
call him--font-note · Spectral italic 400 14px/1.45
That's the lot.--font-note-l · Spectral italic 500 17px/1.4
Spacing · radius
space-1
4pxspace-2
8pxspace-3
12pxspace-4
16pxspace-5
20pxspace-6
24pxspace-7
32pxspace-8
48pxradius-print
2pxradius-card
8pxradius-sheet
14pxradius-pill
999pxMotion · lightbox
Press
--dur-press 110ms · ease-fadePrint drops
--dur-drop 340ms · --ease-drop cubic-bezier(0.22,1.28,0.36,1)Ceremonial land
--dur-land 480ms · ease-dropPencil draws
--dur-draw 680ms · --ease-draw cubic-bezier(0.6,0.04,0.3,1)Fade
--dur-fade 280ms · --ease-fade cubic-bezier(0.23,1,0.32,1)Developing (patience)
--dur-develop 7200ms loop