Let’s build
something worth
remembering.

About Sharan

Sharan is a creative technologist based in India, working across two disciplines that most people keep apart: making films and photographs, and designing and building software. The portfolio side covers short films, documentary, photography, creative direction, brand campaigns, CSR work and editorial series. The software side is two desktop apps, Hangly and Vision, both written for macOS and both free.

The through line is attention to how something feels rather than only what it does. A cut that lands and an interface that feels right are the same problem approached from different ends — timing, restraint, and a willingness to spend a disproportionate amount of effort on a detail nobody will consciously notice.

That is also why the apps look the way they do. Hangly exists because a screen you stare at for nine hours is better with something small and pleasant on it, and for no other reason. There is no business model behind it.

What I build

The work divides into two practices that feed each other, and it is worth being specific about both so you know whether a conversation is worth starting.

Film and photography. Short films including Lapse, a Malayalam short, and trailer work. Documentary. Photography, with a selected portfolio published on Behance. Creative direction and brand campaign work, editorial series, and CSR films. The categories are listed on the portfolio with the published work linked where it exists — some of it is unreleased and is named without a link rather than hidden.

Desktop software. Native Mac and Windows applications, designed and built end to end: the idea, the interface, the code, the artwork, the site and the release pipeline. Both shipping products update themselves — Hangly through Sparkle on macOS and Velopack on Windows, Vision through Sparkle — which is a small detail that takes a surprising amount of infrastructure and is the difference between a hobby project and something people can rely on.

What Hangly is

Hangly hangs a decorative charm from the top of your screen on a cord, where it sways with real pendulum physics. It is click-through everywhere but the charm itself, and it never takes keyboard focus — which means it is safe during a meeting, a demo or a screen share, unlike a desktop pet that roams.

It ships 161 charms across 21 categories, takes any image of your own as a charm, offers several cord styles and adjustable sizing, and supports multiple charms and multi-monitor placement. It is free on macOS 14 or newer and Windows 10 or newer, including a native Windows ARM64 build — which almost nothing else in its category offers. Both builds are at 2.3.1 and are released together; the Windows build is not code-signed yet.

• Hangly product page
• Download HanglyMac, Windows x64 and ARM64
• How to install it
• Frequently asked questions
• How it compareseight honest comparisons

What Vision is

Vision is face recognition for the Mac with a native notch experience: you look at your machine and it recognises you. Everything happens locally. No face data is uploaded, no account is required, and nothing about the recognition depends on a server being reachable.

It needs macOS 15 or newer, is currently at version 1.1, and is free. It is the smaller and quieter of the two products, and the documentation covers how it works, what the Mac requirements are, and the privacy and security position in more detail.

• Vision product page
• Vision documentation
• Release history for both apps

Working together

There are four kinds of conversation that tend to be productive, and it helps to say which one you are starting.

• A commission. A film, a documentary, a campaign, a shoot, or a product build with a defined scope. Email with what it is, roughly when, and roughly what it is worth to you — the last part saves everyone a round trip.
• A collaboration. An idea that needs a second person rather than a supplier. Some of the portfolio started this way.
• Software. A bug, a feature request, or a question about Hangly or Vision. Email reaches the person who wrote it, which is the whole advantage of an independent app.
• Press and writing. If you are covering either app, everything published on this site is quotable, and the statistics and changelog pages carry specifications rather than marketing copy.

Email is the reliable route and is read daily. Instagram, LinkedIn and Behance are all live and all checked less often.

Elsewhere on this site

• Selected workfilms, photography, creative direction
• Both products
• The story so far
• GitHubopen repositories