Simplicity is usually undervalued. Something that is easy is commonly seen as the results of laziness or as one thing trivial. But there are numerous situations when simplicity could be very helpful. Consider brand design, for instance. Many of probably the most well-known logos are those designed to be easy and simply reproducible. Think in regards to the Signal brand, the LibreOffice brand, or the KDE brand. They use primary shapes, should not cluttered, and are recognizable.
Even the Firefox brand, which started as a reasonably complicated illustration, has been revised and simplified over time.
Sometimes, simplicity additionally means memorable. And that is the case with the easy little utility Dot Matrix, described by its developer as a “glyph playground of creativity.” Dot Matrix is a minimalist illustration program that locations extreme limitations on what instruments you’ve obtainable, what shapes you may make, what colours you should utilize, and way more, and it is a lot enjoyable. It’s enjoyable due to the way it limits you. Being a easy app forces you to assume in easy phrases as you draw. You cannot over-design an thought with Dot Matrix since you merely haven’t got the power to try this.
What you do have is an easy, primary house to attract easy types that recommend ideas to its viewers. With Dot Matrix, you might be an summary artist, a superb brand designer, a UI and UX designer, or simply an idle doodler, and you are able to do all of it with no expertise.
Install Dot Matrix on Linux
On Linux, you may set up Dot Matrix as a Flatpak from Flathub.
Alternately, you may download its source code and compile it.
Drawing with Dot Matrix
There’s not a lot to Dot Matrix, and that is the purpose.
For me, a part of the enjoyable of Dot Matrix is discovering how its instruments operate. As you might be able to inform from the picture, there aren’t many instruments to select from. Your default drawing instrument is a straight line instrument, which you employ to actually join dots collectively. Once you have linked dots, you may make your path everlasting by making use of a stroke impact:
You can regulate the thickness of paths with the combo field widget within the lower-left nook of the Dot Matrix window. By default, traces are 5 pixels thick.
Alternately, you may apply a fill:
Colors can be found from the colour swatch on the backside of the Dot Matrix window.
You may apply a curve impact:
Export and clear your canvas
Dot Matrix exports to SVG, a scalable vector format you could view in any internet browser and illustration functions like Inkscape.
You can clear your canvas and begin a brand new drawing with the New Glyph button within the high left nook.
Play the sport
There are delicate guidelines to how Dot Matrix chooses what to curve and in what path, what to fill in and what to go away empty, what so as to add and what to subtract. For me, the sluggish discovery of those guidelines was a part of the inventive course of, and it inspired me to discover and experiment with new shapes and new concepts. I do not know of every other drawing utility that warrants spoiler warnings, however that is that drawing app! If a part of your creativity is discovering the sport in an expertise, Dot Matrix is what you have been searching for. And should you’re a designer by nature, chances are you’ll effectively admire the compelled minimalism of this minimalist utility.
Resolve to offer it a strive for 5 minutes. If you look over on the clock and discover that two hours have handed, then that Dot Matrix is for you.