--- title: Talking about gestures to Fast Company description: Presenting Ubuntu on phones last month caused a bit of a stir in the tech press. One of the main takeaways has been its assertion on an interface that’s based on direct and instant access to common functions via the edges of the screen. Since this is quite a disruption from traditional hard-key or soft-button […] url: https://canonical.com/blog/talking-about-gestures-to-fast-company?format=md --- 1. [Blog](https://canonical.com/blog) 2. Article --- [Canonical](https://canonical.com/blog/author/canonical "More about Canonical") 7 February 2013 # Talking about gestures to Fast Company [Design](https://canonical.com/blog/tag/design) --- Share the article Presenting Ubuntu on phones last month caused a bit of a stir in the tech press. One of the main takeaways has been its assertion on an interface that’s based on direct and instant access to common functions via the edges of the screen. Since this is quite a disruption from traditional hard-key or soft-button based UIs, it’s only fair that Ubuntu’s gesture-based design has awakened some curiosity. Fast Company’s Co.Design called our approach “aggressively gestural“ and asked for more details on the thinking that has gone into the phone interaction design. Ivo Weevers and I responded, and the feature is [now online on their website](http://www.fastcodesign.com/1671742/the-inside-story-of-ubuntus-gesture-centric-smartphone#1). It’s always nice when we get to discuss our designs in wider circles. Being able to do so in a world class forum like Fast Company makes us very happy indeed! [Get in touch Interested in running Ubuntu in your organization?](https://ubuntu.com/about/contact-us/form) ## Sign up for our newsletter Get the latest Canonical news and updates in your inbox. Work email: \*I agree to receive information about Canonical's products and services. By submitting this form, I confirm that I have read and agree to [Canonical's Privacy Policy](https://canonical.com/legal/dataprivacy). Sign up ## Share on --- ## Related posts [### Challenges designers face in open source (and how to fix them)](https://canonical.com/blog/challenges-designers-face-in-open-source-and-how-to-fix-them) Open source powers up to 90% of modern software, yet many projects lack usability. Canonical’s Design team surveyed 115 cross-functional professionals to uncover the 4 core... [Kola Ojoodide](https://canonical.com/blog/author/kola-ojoodide) 26 June 2026 [### Why web engineering is great](https://canonical.com/blog/why-web-engineering-is-great) Hi, I’m Johann! I’m an engineering manager in Canonical’s web team. For the larger part of my 15 years of work experience as engineer, I’ve been working in web development.... [Johann Wolf](https://canonical.com/blog/author/johannwolf) 27 April 2026 [### Canonical’s recipe for High Performance Computing](https://canonical.com/blog/canonicals-recipe-for-high-performance-computing) In essence, High Performance Computing (HPC) is quite simple. Speed and scale. In practice, the concept is quite complex and hard to achieve. It is not dissimilar to what... [Igor Ljubuncic](https://canonical.com/blog/author/igorljubuncic) 24 January 2024 [### Web team – hack week 2023](https://canonical.com/blog/web-team-hack-week-2023) Today, around 96% of software projects utilize open source in some way. The web team here at Canonical is passionate about Open source. We lead with an open-by-default approach... [Anthony Dillon](https://canonical.com/blog/author/ya-bo-ng) 25 October 2023