During my day-to-day internet meanderings I came across the personal site of Ji Lee, pleaseenjoy.com.
One of his concepts in particular caught my eye. Nine Circles Numbers is a way of representing numbers visually using a grid of nine circles. In Ji’s words…
The Arabic numerals (1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,0) are a set of abstract symbols which requires the users to memorize each shape before using them.
Nine Circles Number is new numeral system based on a simple visual logic of arithmetic progression. Instead of relying on memorizing the elements, it relies on counting the elements. Like the Arabic numerals, Nine Circles Number is based on the decimal system.
NCN was designed to see the numbers in a completely new way: as a mysterious and beautiful puzzle.
I was inspired to code it with my new found Processing abilities to make it that little bit more tangible. I emailed Ji to show him and he really liked it. He designed and then I built a google gadget and simple website. Please enjoy.
The Griffin Community Trust is a charity that provides affordable accomodation for medical and dental students in the heart of London. The students in return help out and befriend the residents of Shaftsbury House Nursing Home, organising annual events like the garden party.
Their previous website was quite dated and they needed a way to update the content and add photos easily. They also needed a private section of the website where they could organise events and place information intended only for residents.
I used the Oulipo wordpress theme along with a few modifications of my own to better support image galleries and the charity’s own colour scheme. The password protection offered by wordpress meant the private section of the website was incredibly easy to add.
Chris Sutcliff is an artist and writer hailing from Burnley. He needed a website to start getting his artwork and thoughts catalogued and open to the public. I used the wordpress blogging platform and coded a custom theme for him taking influences from his favourite artists and designers – in particular David Carson. Carson is well known for eschewing the strict mathematical rules of the “International” or “Swiss” style such as grid systems and legibility and instead embraces the more evocative and subconsciously communicative grunge style.
I replicated Carson’s style in some ways with striking backgrounds, twisted typography and a disregard for a typical grid system and attempted to combine that with the psychedelic yet structured minimalism inspired by designers like Wolfgang Weingart. The latter is an element of my own tastes and influences which Chris was kind enough to allow me to express in the site design.
He blogs about his efforts to make a living from his artwork and the little things life throws at you that most of us dismiss without so much as a second thought. You’ll also find his sketches and commissioned works in the gallery. If you’re looking for an interesting someone who can write interesting copy for your website why not drop him an email.
Launch the website
Simon O’Rourke is an internationally renowned chainsaw carver having placed first in the English Open numerous times. His artworks have been sold to the likes of the Sandringham Estate aswell as to many very satisfied private buyers.
Simon provided the logo and background graphic and I designed and built the site using wordpress based on those.
If you were wondering he also happens to be one of my older brothers.
Back in March when I started playing with Processing.js I was making page after page of sketches and it quickly got tiresome. What happened next I guess you could say was “a moment of clarity” in the words of Samuel L. I knew exactly what I wanted to make and after 2 weeks of hacking in the evenings HasCanvas was born.
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