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.

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.

The app is fairly simple. It allows you to write and share Processing.js sketches on the web without the need for the java plugin. I won’t explain it in full here – hopefully the app itself is intuitive enough. I will however offer a few tips:

• When you declare the size() of the sketch leaving it with no arguments will give you a full screen canvas
• To get rid of the interface cruft when linking to a sketch you can add ‘/embed’ to the end of your URL

Thanks to all those people who have made some great feature requests, such as downloads, the resizable and lockable code window and the ability not to have your sketches appear in the browse section. I’ve had many more requests but I feel that I’ve taken HasCanvas as far as it can go in it’s current state. I want to start on a new version as a ground up re-write at some point however the nice folks behind Bespin are working on adding a Processing.js IDE. Chances are it will be better than anything I come up with so I may take the opportunity to work on some other ideas I’ve had.

Credit Where Credit is Due

I built the app on the back of the hard work of others.

• Code Igniter (PHP Framework)
• jQuery (Javascript Framework)
• and of course Processing.js