Rich Themes: Make the Notch Feel Like Home

When I first got the notch interaction feeling right, a new reality hit me: you see this thing all day.

If the top of your screen feels “off” — too loud, too cold, too out-of-place — you’ll notice it again and again. And then a tool that was supposed to reduce friction becomes friction.

That’s the real reason I built Rich Themes. Not for decoration. For comfort.

“Default style” becomes a problem when something is high-frequency

The notch area is special. Your eyes pass it constantly. Your cursor lives around it. It’s basically prime real estate.

So I stopped thinking about themes as “skins” and started thinking about them as “workspace states”.

Themes as states, not skins

InspireDrop themes are meant to help you match a mood without turning it into a project:

Some days you want it to disappear (minimal, quiet).

Some days you want a bit of atmosphere (soft motion, gentle glow).

Some days you want something that feels playful or cozy.

The point is: the Island should feel like it belongs to your desktop, not like an overlay that fights it.

Who this helps

Rich Themes are for anyone who keeps InspireDrop running daily:

heavy MacBook users who stare at the screen for hours

creators who are sensitive to UI (writing, design, building)

people who want less distraction, not more tools

If you’ve ever used a “helpful” widget that slowly became annoying, you’ll know what I mean.

Themes are how a high-frequency tool stays livable.