Different iPad Apps as Seen by the Smudges They Make

A used computer keyboard tells a story: Look at the keys and you can see if its user is a gamer by the worn WASD, an Excel monkey by the wear on the number keys, a QWOP jock by the Q, W, O, and P keys being ground to dust. But when it comes to iPads, all you’ve got is a touchscreen to look at.

That didn’t stop Design Observer‘s George Kokkinidis from running a clever little experiment/art project that attempts to portray what usage for different iPad apps looks like.

My method involved cleaning the iPad’s surface with a microfiber cloth, using an app for a short amount of time, then turning the screen off. Next, I photographed the iPad, positioning a light source and some black matte board to limit distracting reflections. I then brought the photographs into Adobe Illustrator, and created vectors of the iPad and the fingerprints to emphasize the data.

(Design Observer via FlowingData)