Barton Smith

@svlleyy And then, what’s your favorite feature and why? And what feature would you like us to build next?

@svlleyy Hey, great to hear - thank you! Which would you prefer and why? 1. A more compact view just for North 2. Support for dynamic text size that is set in iOS settings

@bartonsmith can i have the option to reduce the size of the display / font on North? love the app overall

@shubhshaniwar Custom cut of a font from Hvnter!

@bartonsmith which font is that its so yummy

It's very gratifying to hear members in our early access community recognize the attention to detail we're injecting into every moment. Our sign-in slider, which is an expression of the larger brand, has been particularly loved ☺️ Request an invite to North at northmail.app

@NugrahaRM17 Thanks for the feedback! Can you help me understand why?

@bartonsmith But it doesn't feel intuitive for me.

@rohang98 @handheld_proj The very first prototype was actually as a set of really complex syntax queries in Gmail ✨ I saw your submission come in—we’ll get another batch of invites out soon! Maybe the custom list views will win you over 😊

@handheld_proj Looks so interesting! I use my Gmail app a lot for reading newsletters. I organize my emails into labels with rules so not a lot of emails reach my inbox so I have notifications for those

Exactly two years ago, we formed Handheld Projects to build slow products for easy living. Today, we are excited to announce North—a personal email app designed for taking it easy. Now available in early release. northmail.app

@tomventimiglia Ah yes, I couldn’t agree more. We intentionally set out to create a small, nimble business that builds bespoke products. Many great consumer email apps have died because VC investment eventually forces them towards B2B customers. We look forward to growing a small community!

Email apps cater to people who want to be more productive. They help you triage faster and search harder so you can keep on top of it all. But what if the problem is with the underlying structure? What if we could avoid that work altogether? We’re building easy-going email for everyone else. For the people who don’t treat life like a to-do list and aren’t swiping their way to inbox-zero. If that sounds like you, we’d love to invite to our early release. Sign up below ❤️

@tomventimiglia Can you explain more what you mean here?

@bartonsmith This looks lovely but gtm for ‘personal productivity’ is gnarly

So glad you found the roll of stickers 😀

@kahntweets Thank you!! Oof unfortunately probably not. We’re using the Gmail API, so it would be a big lift to add more providers.

@bartonsmith Looks so cool. Gutted it’s Gmail only. Will you add support for hotmail?

@JonRoth Thank you Jon! Going to write about the brand at some point as it was a really fun (and oh so difficult) process to go through.

@bartonsmith Super thoughtful vision for email. Also love the confident and human brand. That wacky serif is sick

People seem to be increasingly designing for the algorithm, with vibecoding only accelerating it—more effects, more motion, more flashes. A community that loves to tout Dieter Rams as their design hero are creating software designed to stand out on store shelves.

@elisealix22 Including the legal text?

Also @bartonsmith this is the shirt I would like pls. Goes perfectly w my tigerbob pfp

The goats @bartonsmith and @adamalix are chilling out your mail 🥶 easy living and email, i sure hope they can do it

@vanlancker @handheld_proj ❤️ You got that big boy iPhone🫸 🫷

@handheld_proj swoon

@adamalix and I came up with our next business idea. I think we’re onto something.

I've had many people (men) provide advice for how to manage and delegate to other people. It usually comes in the form of being strong and pushing people for maximum return. I've worked with 10 contractors over the last two years, and I've always thought about their perspective and needs first. Everyone has responded positively and overdelivered on what we agreed upon. People want to work and join along on things that feel good. They want to know that they are being heard and care for. Kindness ≠ weakness.

@yesadok Some run out after being a sustainable businesses for some time ✨ Others run out from burning really bright 💫

@bartonsmith Runway always runs out eventually

IMO too many people in our industry are focused on building a VC-backed company. At some point, it becomes a disservice to society when so much talent is chasing after lofty ambitions that will never come to fruition. All that time, money and effort could be spent on more humble ideas that still need to be solved after the runway runs out. Sometimes the best progress happens in small, compounding steps, not giant leaps.

@ViralManager Completely agree! It can also be a luxury to find other ways to fund a project, so I don’t mean to be naive to that. More the culture of defaulting to large VC investments for incredibly ambitious ideas.

@bartonsmith Some problems genuinely require the needs of VC capital. I genuinely did not want to raise until I realized how regulations and timing would affect my abilities to keep going. Most companies dont need to raise or raise too early.