Name: Minimal Binary - Digital Watchface
Rating: 4.9 (89 reviews)
Author: edriessen-watchfaces

The Minimal Binary watchface is inspired by the book Snow Crash. One of the ideas in the book is that hackers can directly process information that is presented in a binary format. Because of this, and because I like to explore new technologies, I decided to design a binary watchface design for the Garmin smartwatches. Minimal Binary is the result.

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SUPPORT MY DESIGNS
I would like to dedicate more time to developing minimal watchfaces. You can help me by making a small donation or becoming a member for €3 a month. You'll receive automatic updates about new and existing designs. And it will increase the amount of new designs I make. Interested? Visit https://ko-fi.com/edriessen
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The design uses four rows of squares. You start counting binary numbers from the right. On each row, the right-most square represents 1, the one left to that 2, the one left to that represents 4, and the left-most square is 8.  When a square is filled, it is active and 'counts'. For example: when the square for 1 and 8 are active, the value for that row is 9. The watchface uses a separate row for each number in the 00:00 format:

X0:00 - the first row represents the first hour number.
0X:00 - the second row represents the second hour number.
00:X0 - the third row represents the first minute number.
00:0X - the fourth row represents the second minute number.

It might be hard to get without seeing it, so I added some explainer images. These are included in the images on this watchface page in a three-step 'how to read' guide. These should help you process the binary information that is presented in the watchface and read time in this unique format.

The design now supports three layouts:
- Partial grid that only shows squares that are used.
- Full grid that fills out unused sqaures for a balanced look.
- Instinct design optimised for those watches.
- AMOLED support: squares changes from fully filled to thicker outlined squares to reduce active pixels in low power modes.

Besides that, you can set it to show or hide the battery indicator. 

Based on your time settings (24h or am/pm) the design includes an indicator for PM. This is a small white bar in the top right corner (see screenshot 2).

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Beta features:
- Custom square size (beta): set your own value to use for the square sizes (0 = auto scaling)

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If you like the watchface, there are multiple ways you can support my work:

- Write a review :)
- Send me an image of your watch using the feedback form (I love those)
- Support my free designs at https://ko-fi.com/edriessen

If you have any idea or suggestion, feel free to reach out. 

Interested in developing your own watchface? I wrote a blog about my experience developing this watchface: www.edriessen.com/2022/06/21/developing-a-minimal-watchface-for-the-garmin-forerunner-55-and-other-watches/. 

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Known issues: after updating the watchface to a new version, the screen sometimes goes blank. This is easily fixed by moving into your watch menu and returning to the watchface. I currently don't know how to fix this. Not sure if it's just a developer issue I run into when testing.
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Ideas:
#1: Highlight square borders in a color when an alarm is set. 
#2: Add am/pm indicator for 12h setting (added in v0.5).
#3: Make battery display optional (added in v0.8).
#4: Slightly increase square sizes for watches with bigger screens (added in v0.6). 
#5: Split layout and use of battery indicator (added in v2.0).