CleanCatCLEANCAT / PRODUCT STORY
A cat, and the magic it uses to sort memories
CleanCat grew from a few small, personal ideas. In time, they became a cat, a globe you can turn, and three portals leading photographs to different places.
The cat
A few years ago, a designer I worked with left me this cat. It was sweet, distinctive, and I became very fond of it. When I started making CleanCat, bringing it into the app felt natural: a companion for the long, sometimes difficult work of sorting through photographs and memories. Having a small cat nearby makes it feel a little lighter. One day, I hope people can bring their own cats into CleanCat. Being accompanied by the cat you know best would be even better.
The earth
I wanted choosing a language to feel immediate and a little playful. Most people know where their country sits on the globe, so instead of searching through a long list, you can simply turn the earth toward home and find the languages spoken there. CleanCat currently supports 14 languages across 114 countries and regions. Language becomes more than a line in Settings; it marks the place where you and CleanCat meet on this planet.
The portals
CleanCat offers three ways to handle a photo: delete it, hide it, or archive it. The first idea was not a set of portals, but three cat houses. An angry cat in the delete house would tear apart anything passed inside. A secretive cat would hide everything it received. In the archive house, a studious cat with glasses, rather like a librarian, would put everything neatly in order. Once design began, those scenes proved too detailed for such a small space. The cat houses became simple portals, and our cat naturally became a magical one, able to summon three different passages and send each photo where it belongs.