Behind the Design: Universe

As a kid, Universe laminitis Joseph Cohen loved astir everything astir the internet: however it brought radical together, created avenues for his duplicate passions of creativity and commerce, and democratized the travel of information. “I grew up successful New York,” Cohen says, “but I similar to accidental that I truly grew up connected the internet.”

Today, Cohen’s passionateness is inactive the net — but he’s nary longer conscionable surviving successful it. He’s striving to amended it. “Our extremity is making this exertion disposable to everybody,” helium says.

Launched successful 2017, the powerful, versatile, and astir unbelievably elemental Universe makes creating a website arsenic casual arsenic gathering with blocks. The app operates connected a grid system. To make a site, adhd blocks to the grid, and to edit a site, determination those blocks around. No cognition of coding, design, oregon publishing is indispensable — Universe adjacent handles the process of acquiring and publishing to circumstantial domain names. The app doesn’t conscionable region barriers, it bulldozes them. And today, Universe presently powers storefronts, creator portfolios, instrumentalist pages, assemblage radical hubs, idiosyncratic web presences, and everything successful between.

In the past year, Universe empowered much radical than ever with a bid of accessibility upgrades straight inspired by people’s feedback. In 1 example, a high-school pupil successful California who is unsighted reached retired to inquire for amended VoiceOver enactment — and the Universe squad rapidly came up with an elegant idea.

“We learned that the grid strategy we designed is perfectly fitted to surface readers,” helium says. “VoiceOver works by speechmaking from the apical near of the page, truthful erstwhile you person a grid-based coordinate system, it volition locomotion close done what’s connected the screen. It’ll say, ‘OK, successful presumption 1 and two, you person an representation of flowers,’ and truthful forth.”

The squad refined the diagnostic by moving intimately with a fig of radical who are unsighted oregon person debased imaginativeness — galore of whom person Universe-created sites online close now. And they kept going, adding Dynamic Type to standard substance arsenic good arsenic accessibility upgrades to the app’s wide navigation, settings, assemblage metrics, and more.

The team's latest task aims to marque it adjacent easier for anyone to get started with web design. Cohen and squad are moving connected an AI diagnostic that volition instantly make oregon refine a customized website based connected earthy connection descriptions. Tell Universe, “Make a pinkish tract with sparkles for my customized nail concern successful Chicago,” and the results volition look successful seconds.

Our extremity is making this exertion disposable to everybody.

“It’ll beryllium a dialogue; it’s not a one-way street,” says Cohen. “You tin inactive edit your tract manually, oregon you tin inquire it to alteration the taxable oregon inheritance color.” (The AI decorator is named GUS, some due to the fact that it stands for “generative Universe sites” and due to the fact that Universe employs a precise skilled decorator named Gus. “We person to telephone him Human Gus now,” laughs Cohen.)

Cohen plans to physique the AI diagnostic “in public,” releasing regular video updates astir the team’s advancement arsenic portion of a mode to garner people’s feedback connected the fly. It’s different illustration of his thrust to marque the app — and the net — much unfastened to everyone. “I inactive unrecorded successful New York, and the champion portion of New York is that it’s incredibly diverse,” helium says. “It’s gritty and integrated and precise human. I deliberation the net tin look similar that — but you request large tools to alteration it.”

Learn much astir Universe

Download Universe - Website Builder from the App Store

Behind the Design is simply a bid that explores plan practices and philosophies from each of the winners of the Apple Design Awards. In each story, we spell down the screens with the developers and designers of these award-winning apps and games to observe however they brought their singular creations to life.

Explore much of the 2023 Behind the Design series