A cartoony drawing of my long wavy-haired self, on a pink background.

I love to build products, and teams.

Hey there, I'm Laurent. Since 2006, I help people do more with their computers. I try to build things that are useful, ethical, and beautiful.

The MRjs logo, a 3d pink and purple bowtie.

MRjs, the spatial library

MRjs, the spatial library

We launched MRjs 0.1!

MRjs is a spatial UI library designed to help developers get started building for the spatial web. Its repo is open and available to the public.

The MRjs logo, a 3d pink and purple bowtie.
The MRjs logo, a 3d pink and purple bowtie.

Bootstrapped

MRjs comes with foundational features already implemented, such as hand gestures, physics, and high-fidelity text rendering.

Extendable

MRjs comes with a built-in ECS, implemented using Web Components and vanilla JavaScript. Developers can extend the Entity class, or any other element to create their own 2D or 3D UI elements, and implement custom logic by extending the Systems class.

Under the hood

Built on top of already well established libraries such as THREE.js, WebGL, and Rapier.js, seasoned WebXR developers can quickly dive in to take full advantage of all MRjs has to offer.

A photo of Laurent and Michael in San Francisco, on the patio of a coffee shop.

Building Volumetrics

Building Volumetrics

Mixed-reality, spatial computing, “the metaverse”; regardless the name, Apple and Meta are coming in hot with new hardware, new app stores, and not-new 30% taxes.

But what about the web? How do we create a thriving ecosystem of apps for those devices?

A photo of Laurent and Michael in San Francisco, on the patio of a coffee shop.
A photo of Laurent and Michael in San Francisco, on the patio of a coffee shop.

Laurent (on the left) and Michael (on the right), in a coffee shop in San Francisco.

We started building tools for the next generation of spatial apps. Currently, to build for mixed reality, you need expensive hardware, and to learn Unity or Unreal (those are made for games, not apps). The dev experience is exhaustive: write code on your computer; put on your headset; test; take-off your headset; repeat.

Imagine being anywhere, with just a headset and a bluetooth keyboard, to build your app, on an opensource framework, directly in mixed reality? This is what we are building.

A grid of color swatches, with names like Slate Blue, Dark Orchid, Peach Puff, or Sky Blue.

CSSColors.app

CSSColors.app

CSS has a set of 148 colors that are named, like SkyBlue or HotPink.

But how do you find the color that is like Moccasin but a bit darker, for a pressed state? (the solution is obviously BurlyWood!)

I couldn’t find a tool that shows similar named colors based on a picked color, so I built it, as a side project.

A screenshot of article on the Smashing Magazing website.

Design tips

Design tips

It’s easy for beginner designers to get overwhelmed and lose confidence when creating presentations, landing pages, app mockups, and even cards.

A triangle (a play button) in a circle, with circle-based centering on the left (which looks centered) and box-based centering on the right (which looks off-centered).
A triangle (a play button) in a circle, with circle-based centering on the left (which looks centered) and box-based centering on the right (which looks off-centered).

I shared with Smashing Magazine’s readers a few simple guidelines and practical tips to help in such situations.

A group photo of all the Glue employees (about 50 people), all wearing a bright mint-colored tee-shirt, in the lobby of an hotel.

PopStage joins Glue

PopStage joins Glue

Excited to announce that PopStage (well, technically With Labs) is joining Glue (well, technically Mystery), through an acquisition of the team, and the intellectual property.

As a remote employee myself, I always found it super challenging to create meaningful connections with people I work with. I’m so excited to get the opportunity to solve some fundamental problems for the future of work.

A PopSpace room with people in fun avatars working and chatting on a Piet Mondrian painting in the background.

A virtual space for everybody

A virtual space for everybody

Screenshot of a PopSpace room. People in fun avatars chatting on a hand drawing, chill background.
Screenshot of a PopSpace room. People in fun avatars chatting on a hand drawing, chill background.

We just re-released Tilde as open-source on Product Hunt. It is now called PopSpace! You can now host your own virtual space, on your own terms, with total control.

The Popstage logo, floating among soft colored bubbles.

Introducing PopStage

Introducing PopStage

The Popstage logo, floating among soft colored bubbles.
The Popstage logo, floating among soft colored bubbles.

Bring your workshops to life! PopStage aims to close the gap between online and in-person by adding space and interactivity to your workshops.

PopStage gives your training program the feeling of being in the same room by offering flexible layouts for each activity type: lectures, polls, breakout, whiteboards, and more.

The With logo, an abstract, mid-century modern inspired set of shapes, on a vibrant red background.

With Labs

With Labs

The With logo, an abstract, mid-century modern inspired set of shapes, on a vibrant red background.
The With logo, an abstract, mid-century modern inspired set of shapes, on a vibrant red background.

With was founded in 2020 by Chris Bourdon and I to help people connect, play and learn. from across the world.

We built two products: With (later renamed PopSpace) and PopStage. We were funded by Urban Innovation Funds, Fusion Fund, and Betaworks Ventures. The company was sold in 2023.

The AirDrop’s application icon in the center, with the iMessage icon on the left and the Maps icon on the right.

Apple stories

Apple stories

The AirDrop’s application icon in the center, with the iMessage icon on the left and the Maps icon on the right.
The AirDrop’s application icon in the center, with the iMessage icon on the left and the Maps icon on the right.

Some stories behind the products I designed while working for Human Interface.

The bowtie icon. Literally a Compact Disk wearing a tuxedo and a bowtie, in front of red velvet curtains.

{13bold}

{13bold}

In 2010, developer Matt Patenaude and I founded the {13bold} collaborative with one simple mission: to create great software for the Macintosh platform.

Screenshot of the app preferences, with red velvet curtains in the background.
Screenshot of the app preferences, with red velvet curtains in the background.

Bowtie, the original themeable music controller, and its myriad of available themes.

We are still very proud of the community we built around our apps.

Screenshot of an old twitter client for macOS. On the right, a hatched blue egg, which used to be the application icon.
Screenshot of an old twitter client for macOS. On the right, a hatched blue egg, which used to be the application icon.

Bluebird, the themeable Twitter client

Our products are no longer maintained, but can still browse the archive.

A screenshot of Fontcase, a grid of tiles representing fonts, and the logo, a suitcase lined with red felt, and silver letters inside

Fontcase, a font manager

Fontcase

A screenshot of Fontcase, a grid of tiles representing fonts, and the logo, a suitcase lined with red felt, and silver letters inside
A screenshot of Fontcase, a grid of tiles representing fonts, and the logo, a suitcase lined with red felt, and silver letters inside

I used to be a big user of Suitcase on MacOS 9, and I never thought that the default font manager on OSX was that good.

I always dreamed of a “iPhoto for your fonts”, and I knew I would call it Fontcase. When I reached a point in my career where I was “reputable enough”, I started to push this this idea among the developers I know. I pitched the idea to Sophia from Sophiestication, but she was afraid that Apple would come up with a better Font manager soon enough.

A podium with a large screen behind showcasing the app, and two small people in front of it, one of them being me. In the foreground, shadows of participant’s heads.
A podium with a large screen behind showcasing the app, and two small people in front of it, one of them being me. In the foreground, shadows of participant’s heads.

Me, receiving the award at the WWDC 09’

I then pitched the idea to Pieter Omvlee, and he immediately liked the idea, which was also a good match with his other designer-focused app called DrawIt. We started building Fontcase together, and finally released the version 1 in 2009.

Fontcase won an Apple design award this year.

A screenshot of DrawIt, an image editor, with a layer sidebar, an inspector, and a canvas showing a pink crystal.

The beginnings of Sketch

The beginnings of Sketch

A screenshot of DrawIt, an image editor, with a layer sidebar, an inspector, and a canvas showing a pink crystal.
A screenshot of DrawIt, an image editor, with a layer sidebar, an inspector, and a canvas showing a pink crystal.

Around 2007, after being really fed up with using Photoshop as a UI design tool, I decided to look for alternatives. Eventually, I found the website of Pieter Omvlee, who was working, on his own, on a cool software called DrawIt. I started using DrawIt, but soon realized that it could benefit from some visual design and usability improvements. Interestingly, Pieter had a “Chat with me on AIM now” button on his website, which was showing him online. I decided to contact him and offer my services as a UI and visual designer. We worked for months together on a new version of DrawIt, that we released with some good feedback from the community.

During the development of Fontcase, another app I worked with Pieter on, I traveled to San Francisco for vacation, and ended up getting an interview (and a job!) at the mothership.

As an Apple employee, I could no longer work with Pieter on DrawIt or Fontcase, so I introduced him to a dear friend of mine, Emanuel Sá, who took over work on both apps. It was not long after that they released a new version of DrawIt, with a new app icon, a new rendering engine, new UI elements, and most importantly, a new name, Sketch.

email à lobau.io

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Talk soon 👋