Monogram by Moo lies in the same realm of networking and résumé-building, so it’s not too surprising of a move. The iOS app lets people showcase their work in a visually pleasing, square-pattern format — it resembles placing letter tiles in the board game Scrabble.
You can add square tiles left, right, up, and down, and these can be images, texts, or links. You will be greeted with an example Monogram from photographer Alex Ford when you first install the app. Clicking on it will bring you to the start, where he has his name and a logo. Swiping to the left brings out a card from the right that says, “Hello!” Going down, Ford writes, “My name is Alex, I’m a photographer from San Jose,” and swiping to the left on that row gets you a tile that says to look below for his latest collection of photographs.
There was also a tile with links to his Instagram and Twitter profile.
Ford groups his photos with subjects, so when you swipe down, the first is “Patterns,” and all the following tiles in that row after you swipe right are photographs that represent patterns. The same continues with the following subjects when you swipe below, with subjects in architecture and aerials. The photographs replaced the tile but retained the same size, but you can click on them to view the full image. Ford used a monotonous turquoise for his tile colors, which you can also customize.
It’s dead-simple to follow, and it’s clearly a visual medium to showcase artwork or photographs. Moo says it’s a great “pocket portfolio” for photographers, illustrators, designers, Etsy sellers, agencies, and more. Each Monogram is saved onto your device, so you don’t need Wi-Fi or data to view them — which is the point. It’s meant to be something you can casually pull up to quickly show people examples of your work, where it’s too cumbersome to connect to Wi-Fi and pull up a website on your phone or laptop.
You can also share Monograms via links, and it will still look and work the same way in a browser on any device. You can also link your Monogram in your other social networks, like in your Facebook or Twitter bio.
The app is a blend of a business card and your portfolio, and you don’t need to get Moo business cards to download it on iTunes. The company says it has no plans for an Android version yet.
