Linger: A Witty Line a Day

Linger is an app with a sense of humor. Every screen hands you one line worth a grin, and it stays with you longer than it took to read.

One line a day worth stopping for. Sometimes a joke that lands, sometimes a verse that has outlived everyone who ever quoted it. One line, one screen, set on a full screen of traditional Eastern color. Sooner or later one of them lights up your screen and stays with you.

ONE SCREEN, ONE GOOD LINE A single line gets a whole screen of color to itself. Clean, well set, and as quick to flick through as short video — except what you come away with is a better mood.

READ WHAT YOU FEEL LIKE READING Lines that are going around, jokes with a bit of bite, classical verse. The shelves keep filling up, so there is something here for whoever you are that day.

TYPESET PROPERLY Every language gets its own reading face: Chinese in WenKai, a Song serif or the system default; Japanese in Mincho or Gothic; Latin in serif or sans. Classical verse breaks by phrase, haiku set vertically, waka carry their kana readings. The text lightens or darkens with the background, so it stays legible on any shade.

250 TRADITIONAL EASTERN COLORS, FULL CODES Every line sits on a full screen of traditional color, and every color comes with its full set of values and its matching and contrasting neighbours — you could honestly keep this around as a palette tool. The name in kanji and romaji, plus HEX, RGB, CMYK and HSB, ready to drop into a design, a deck or a moodboard.

PASS THE JOY ALONG Keep the line that gets you and the screen of color it came on is kept with it, there whenever you want it again. When you want a friend to laugh too, what goes out is a card identical to what you saw: the line printed on its color with the color's name, ready to post anywhere. Delight, recognition, a good gripe — pass the joy along.

A WIDGET WORTH LOOKING AT Quote of the Day and today's color both go in a widget. Every time you unlock your phone, there is something to smile at.

EVERY LANGUAGE, ITS OWN COLLECTION Chinese, English, Japanese and Spanish so far, each with a collection of its own: English holds classical poetry and quotations; Japanese, the Hyakunin Isshu and Bashō's haiku; Spanish, Machado and Bécquer. Switching languages swaps the whole cabinet. Languages and collections both keep growing.