Hex Appeal: 6 examples of why hexagons are best
It’s not just Typewise’s honeycomb keyboard (the only keyboard with #HexAppeal) that takes advantage of the hexagon’s superior shape. Hexagons are seen widely in nature, in man-made products, and even beyond planet earth. Read on to see why hex really is best…
1. Typewise Hexagonal Keyboard App
When looking for ways to improve upon the legacy QWERTY keyboard and its old-fashioned, space-wasting rectangular shaped keys, we found that hexagonal keys were vastly superior. Not only do they look pretty hexy, but they offer a larger area for your fat fingers to hit, making our honeycomb keyboard the easiest and fastest smartphone keyboard ever made. Wanna try out those hella-good looking hexagons yourself? Download Typewise keyboard app for free on iOS or Android.
2. Honeycomb
Bees have known that hexagons are bestagons for a very long time. The hexagonal shape of the cells which they build inside their hives, enables them to get the maximum amount of honey-storage, with the minimum amount of wax – optimising their effort to impact ratio. Pretty sweet eh?
3. Saturn’s Polar Hexagon
Even beyond planet earth, we see the mighty hexagon in existence. Gas giant Saturn has a giant hexagon situated at its north pole. This hexagon is made up of persistent clouds and is so large that the earth could easily fit inside it. This massive hexagon has even been observed to change colour from blue to gold.
4. James Webb Telescope Mirror
While we’re on the space theme, let’s take a look at the rather attractive golden hexagons of the James Webb telecope's primary mirror. Each hexagon makes up a giant golden surface which will allow the measurement of light from extremely distant galaxies, billions of light-years away.
5. Volcanic Columns
When hot magma is spewed forth from the earth and cools over time, it crystallizes into rock columns with a distinct hexagonal shape. Giant’s Causeway in Northern Ireland is perhaps the most famous example of this hexagonal outcrop but there are numerous other locations where these columns can be seen, including Russia's Cape Stolbchatiy, the Basaltic Prisms of Santa María Regla, and the Devil’s Postpile National Monument in California, USA.
6. Snowflakes
Snow, that most glorious cold, white substance that transforms any drab landscape into a beautiful winter wonderland, is made of billions of tiny hexagons. And not just a standard hexagon duplicated, but billions of very slightly different hexagons. Why are snowflakes hexagonal? It comes down to chemistry: water molecules that form the flakes are made from two hydrogen atoms bonded to one oxygen atom. When these molecules come together in the sky they naturally arrange themselves in a lattice of hexagonal rings. The result is a vast array of beautiful, cold hexagons that fall from the sky each winter.
This is just a few of examples of hexagons; there are of course many more (dragonfly eyes, the molecular structure of carbon, pencils). We hope you can now see why hexagons really are best and therefore why we created a keyboard that uses their hexy shape for easier, faster typing on your phone. Convinced? Download our free honeycomb keyboard and try it yourself.
