In digital design, friction has long been treated as a flaw — something to eliminate in the pursuit of seamless, effortless experiences. Positive Friction™ proposes the opposite: that intentional resistance in digital interfaces can restore emotion, agency and depth to online spaces. Written at the intersection of design practice and philosophy of technology — drawing on Pierre-Damien Huygues and Bernard Stiegler — the theory argues that the obsession with "smooth" design has drained the web of its capacity to move us.

Since its publication, the concept has resonated across very different communities: creative studios such as Mouthwash have adopted friction-as-intention in their practice; trend forecasting agencies including Foresight Factory and Raconteur have identified it as a defining trend of 2024–2025; Protein, a cultural intelligence platform trusted by Chanel, Nike and LEGO, dedicated its Brand Briefing of February 2026 to the concept, titling it Friction-Forward and declaring friction "cultural currency"; academic researchers in HCI and interaction design (NordiCHI 2024, arxiv) have formalised it as a framework; and behavioural economists have extended it into financial design and compliance strategy. The idea has found its name — in many places at once.

loadmo.re is the first curatorial platform dedicated to unconventional mobile web design — a continuously updated index of websites that refuse to follow the rules. Launched at a moment when mobile-first design had become synonymous with template thinking, it was conceived as a direct manifestation of Positive Friction™: a space where alternative approaches to digital interaction could be seen, shared and legitimised. Now an internationally recognised reference for the web design community, it reached 385 points on Hacker News in 2024 — most of its audience unaware of who was behind it.

New Ways of Seeing is an interdisciplinary festival bringing together artists, researchers, designers and performers to explore how technological shifts are reshaping perception, creativity and everyday life. Where most tech-adjacent cultural events orbit the industry, New Ways of Seeing starts from the other direction — from art, philosophy and lived experience — and asks what it means to see, make and exist in a world increasingly mediated by digital systems. The first edition took place in Paris in October 2025.