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.