How Darkroom is building the next-generation of mobile first photography tools

Darkroom, an app developed by a team of former Facebook colleagues and experienced app developers, is bringing both amateur and pro users an intuitive editing experience — expanding from iPhone to iPad, Mac, and now Vision Pro. We had the chance to sit down with Jasper Hauser, three-time Apple Design Award winner, co-founder and product designer at Darkroom, to explore the app’s journey, the design philosophy behind it, and how they use Sketch to bring their ideas to life.

Can you tell us about the team and inspiration behind Darkroom?

Darkroom was a vision from my co-founder Majd. As former colleagues and close friends from our days at Facebook, Majdʼs passion for mobile photo editing sparked the initial idea. He began building Darkroom for the iPhone, designing the app with a split interface: the top half for viewing photos, particularly with Instagram in mind, and the bottom half for accessing powerful editing tools. This setup made it easy for users to create their own presets effortlessly. Today, we’re a small team of four core members: Majd, Joe, Jeff, and myself. Over the years, we’ve had additional full and part-time contributors, and many others have lent their talents to the project in different ways.

Since its launch in 2015, Darkroom has seen several key developments: expanding from iPhone to iPad in 2018, making our debut on the Mac in 2020, and introducing advanced masking tools in 2022. Our dedication to quality and user experience has been recognized with an Apple Design Award, and from those early days to now, our goal has always been to empower users to bring their creative visions to life in the easiest and most efficient way.

How did the first designs for Darkroom come together?

The very first designs were prototype iPhone builds created by Majd. From the start, his idea was to make an intuitive and efficient mobile workflow by counting the taps needed to edit a photo — and to provide tools like curves and color on mobile (for the first time) so people could create preset looks that were hard or impossible to do before.

From my perspective, the real “breakthrough” so to speak, was the editing interface layout. Majd had come up with a simple but unique layout where there was space for a square photo at the top and the rest of the space below for tools. Remember the good old square Instagram and tiny iPhone 5 days? This setup allowed for great ergonomics and the ability to navigate and basically edit with just your thumb. Swiping was also used to dismiss the photo and navigate to previous and next shots.

All I really did in those early days was applaud and confirm his intuition that this was a solid approach. Once I officially joined as product designer in 2016, I started contributing more: optimizing workflows, making them even more intuitive and easy to use, growing the business, and expanding to other platforms.

Could you tell us about Darkroomʼs approach to design?

One of the key aspects of mine and Majdʼs approach to design is the strong overlap in our understanding and skills in design, photography, and engineering. Even though Majd is my technical co-founder, heʼs equally a design thinker and partner. We work closely on product and interaction design and expect everybody on the team to be able to have loosely held strong opinions on these subjects. I often lead market research, create design mockups, and build prototypes to facilitate discussions and implementation planning. We do our homework before kicking off, iterate several times, and I keep detailed notes to track our progress. Additionally, I create prototypes with video walkthroughs to showcase workflows and use cases, which helps generate valuable feedback from the team.

Once we have a clear understanding of the scope, phasing, and challenges, we prefer to start building sooner rather than later.

Once we have a clear understanding of the scope, phasing, and challenges, we prefer to start building sooner rather than later. This helps us uncover real-world implementation complexities and address any remaining questions about the product and design. To us, the second half of designing a product happens when we start building it. During this phase, we conduct detailed product reviews, discuss ideas freely, and iterate while having the product in hand. We invest a lot of time in moving from prototype to feature-complete, continuously refining and improving along the way. For larger features, we also tend to invite some outside opinions to weigh in on what we are building.

Was the ADA something you were set on from the early days or did it just come as part of Darkroomʼs evolution?

Winning the ADA wasnʼt on my radar, especially since Iʼd already experienced the joy of winning Apple Design Awards with my previous ventures at Made by Sofa, Versions and Checkout. However, seeing Majdʼs enthusiasm and our teamʼs dedication, winning the ADA became a major testament to our commitment to excellence.

Having been in the industry for over nine years, are there any insights you could share on how Darkroom has managed to thrive over the years?

Iʼve learnt that listening to users and prioritizing their needs is unsurprisingly impactful :) Darkroomʼs success is built on this principle: constantly iterating based on feedback to create a great user experience. Staying ahead in tech means continually evolving, and with Darkroom weʼve embraced new platforms, technologies, and trends, ensuring we remain relevant while maintaining our core simplicity.

Whether itʼs performance, stability, or user support, maintaining high standards has built trust and reliability.

Weʼve never compromised on quality. Whether itʼs performance, stability, or user support, maintaining high standards has built trust and reliability. Perseverance has also been key — not giving up in the face of challenges and maintaining a constant effort has driven our success and growth over time.

What did the process of expanding Darkroom from iPhone to iPad, to Mac and then Vision Pro look like?

Expanding Darkroom across platforms was a strategic move to meet our users wherever they are and grow our business. Today, iPhone still accounts for about half of users and iPad and Mac now equally account for the other half. Initially, on the iPhone, we focused on optimizing for taps and swipes, creating a streamlined, touch-based interface. The transition to the iPad allowed us to rethink the user experience entirely. We leveraged the larger screen to introduce a more comprehensive workspace, and enabling landscape orientation layout, which made it possible to use the app with two hands and even a keyboard.

When we moved to the Mac, we began by adapting our iPad version but soon started to embrace Mac-specific design language and features like deeper keyboard shortcuts support, better drag-and-drop, etc. This approach allowed us to slowly cater to more serious photographers and users who prefer the desktop environment for detailed editing.

For the Vision Pro, we quite simply made our iPad app available on the platform with some minor alterations, leveraging its capabilities to provide an immersive editing experience. As the platform hopefully grows and matures, weʼll start tailoring our experience more — I already have many Artboards full of ideas.

How do you maintain consistency across all platforms?

It’s an interesting balancing act. At the core, we ensure that our color schemes and iconography remain consistent. Most of our view colors are closely aligned with system colors, but without any color hues, unlike Appleʼs, to avoid impacting the appearance of photos. We have our trademark red key color and a completely custom library of hundreds of icons.

Wherever possible, I tend to design our core views to be reusable across platforms. Our album list, editing toolbar, and tool views are mostly consistent across devices. If they arenʼt, it’s because there’s a space constraint or opportunity for which we designed a different experience, like the ‘Transform’ and ‘Color Grading’ tools. However, we adapt navigation patterns and control sizes to match native platform conventions, ensuring everything feels familiar and easy to use. This means that while there might be some purist design inconsistencies, embracing platform-specific conventions helps us maintain an overall sense of coherence and strike a balance between a unified brand identity and a user experience that’s tailored to each platform.

As pioneers of AI-powered masks, weʼre curious to know how did that decision come about and what have been some of the challenges?

Our AI-powered masks have further empowered photographers to precisely edit their photos with just a few taps, enabling them to bring their vision to life in ways that were previously a lot harder. Historically, tools like brushing, linear, and radial masks have helped somewhat in making this process easier. However, AI-powered masks, especially those that can accurately select a background, subject, or detailed elements like hair or sky, have a major impact on how efficient a workflow is.

Fortunately for us, both Apple and several others made Vision Machine Learning models freely available, which was crucial for a small bootstrapped company like ours. This meant we were able to technically prototype, judge, and create a production-ready implementation within a very reasonable time frame.

The biggest challenges in making our AI-backed masks a reality were surprisingly not related to the AI itself, but rather to the productʼs usability and simplicity. Our goal was to integrate these features in a way that users would benefit from the power of AI without feeling overwhelmed by complexity — we wanted to ensure that these tools were super easy to use and discoverable. Adding too many modalities and menus could feel intimidating, especially on mobile, so we focused a lot on simplifying the interface as much as we possibly could. What we eventually shipped was the result of the fifth major design revision I undertook over a two-year period. This iterative process was essential in balancing advanced functionality with user-friendly design.

The biggest challenges in making our AI-backed masks a reality were surprisingly not related to the AI itself, but rather to the productʼs usability and simplicity.

What’s the story behind the multiple icons and variants for Darkroom?

The evolution of Darkroomʼs app icon mirrors the appʼs growth and innovation. Initially, the icon featured a minimalist design inspired by the Norwegian mountains near Bergen, symbolizing the essence of photography. When I fully took over the design in 2017 with the 2.0 release, I aimed to update the icon while retaining its core essence. We wanted the icon to reflect Darkroomʼs dynamic and creative capabilities, drawing inspiration from brands like Nike and Apple that creatively evolve their logos while maintaining their core identity.

Each major update brings a fresh look to the icon, serving both practical and aesthetic purposes. For example, Version 3ʼs neon lights referenced the safelights in analog darkrooms, while Version 4 simplified the design for better iPad integration. The Mac appʼs icon adopted a bold Aqua visual style, and with the addition of AI-powered Masks in Version 6, we introduced a segmented gradient inspired by atmospheric perspective. We also embraced icon customization, allowing users to personalize their app experience. This approach has helped us balance consistency with innovation, ensuring that our icon remains recognizable yet fresh.

We canʼt wait to share the next major version and its accompanying variants (which I’ve already been working on for a while!). We’ve written a blog post that covers this topic in depth in case you want to know more.

Is there a particular feature that surprised you for being an unexpected hit with users?

For the most part, weʼve managed to align our users’ needs with our ability to understand and build features they want. However, there have been some surprises. Frames was an interesting one. Initially, we decided to remove it due to its underwhelming performance but our inbox exploded with user requests to bring it back, so we redesigned and rebuilt it, and it became a differentiating feature — just goes to show that there can be value in removing certain features at times. AI-backed masks, which we just talked about before, are also a big hit.

And lastly, we’ve noticed a massive uptick in people using and exploring community presets. Itʼs wonderful to see how engaged our community is with this feature, and it highlights the collaborative spirit we aim to foster within Darkroom.

What role do presets play in creating community?

Presets play a considerable role in fostering a sense of community within Darkroom by enabling users to share their creativity, helping others and making the overall user experience better. We listen closely to our community through platforms like Nolt and social media, and we conduct interviews several times a year to gain an up-to-date understanding of their needs and preferences. This feedback is invaluable in shaping Darkroomʼs evolution and product decisions.

What specific Sketch features have helped you the most designing Darkroom?

Having been in this business for 25 years and transitioning from Photoshop to Sketch, itʼs fascinating how we often highlight the latest fancy AI-whatever features without acknowledging the groundbreaking tools that set the stage in the first place. Sketch was the first real product designer tool, and many of its features are now taken for granted.

Artboards revolutionized the way we organized our designs, that was already a significant shift from our Photoshop days. The vector tools enabled performant, precise, and scalable graphics essential for high-quality design. Just like P3 color space support, crucial for designing an app like Darkroom. I also like using Sketch while flying and traveling, and the fact it’s a native app makes designing more enjoyable overall. While collaborative and rich prototyping tools are great, as a small team, we are far less reliant on them. The foundational features of Sketch, however, have been indispensable.

Whatʼs your history with Sketch? Can you tell us about other projects youʼve used it for?

As a fellow Dutch Mac enthusiast, Iʼve known founder Pieter Omvlee from the good old Fontcase days, even before he started working on Sketch! I remember him showing me the first beta of Sketch 1, during my Made by Sofa days, and how much potential it showed so early on. Sketch 2 was a huge milestone, especially when it won the Apple Design Award in 2012. I experienced the big industry switch at Facebook, where we transitioned fro Photoshop to Sketch, where I used it for nearly all the projects I led, including Facebook Pages and Facebook Events. Since then, Iʼve kept using Sketch for everything Darkroom.

Are there any upcoming features that youʼre excited about and can share with us?

Ha, so many! As the lone Darkroom designer, I continually have designs on hand for the next five years of features for Darkroom :) So there is a lot to choose from. Iʼm most excited about releasing our new render engine, which is a massive improvement in performance and stability. It resolves nearly every remaining issue weʼve had in Darkroom and will allow us to build all the features weʼve wanted to but were held back from. Iʼm thrilled about finally being able to add brushing and retouching tools, more photo management and selection options, new editing features, and extending our work with community presets.

You can find Darkroom for iPhone, iPad and Vision Pro on the App Store. If you’ve made something in Sketch that you’re proud of, we’d love to hear about it! Share it with us in our community forum.