iOS Roman Empire edition

If the Roman Empire had never fallen. A lot would be different. I’d probably be named Sorenius Maximus or something like that. Also, history would have had a completely different arc. Laptops might not exist.

But let’s suspend disbelief for a moment. What if essentially everything stayed the same, but we never departed from the Roman numeral system? First off, writing code would be weird (binary wouldn’t exist?), but also, notifications and the affordances we have for them would be completely different. Playing this tape forward a bit, I went ahead and mocked up what your screen might look like if you had unread notifications. The system breaks quickly and feels much less elegant than the world we live in today.

It’s an interesting thought exercise to look at small decisions and the ripple effects they have over time. The departure from Roman numerals impacts pretty much everything we touch from the apps we use to budgeting when we go to buy groceries.

I’ve been reflecting on this lately as I’ve realized my work played a small role in popularizing “mockup culture” as a way for brands and individuals to put a high-fidelity visualization of an idea into the world for discussion. Small actions over a long enough timescale can have significant impacts.

Have a friend who is fluent in Latin? Send them this newsletter.

https://sorens.beehiiv.com/