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Art

Dichromatic Steganography

I’ve always loved the Ishihara tests (pages printed with patterns of coloured dots, used to diagnose different forms of colour vision deficiency, or CVD). They’re beautiful works of graphic design. Years ago I bought a used copy of a complete set of tests, and framed some of them to hang …

Generative Zellij

Procedurally generated Zellij compositions. Click on the drawing and press the space bar to generate a new composition. Press the ‘s’ key to download an SVG file. Yes, I am somewhat ashamed to admit that a couple of years ago, I experimented with NFTs. Look: I was younger then, and …

Genuary 2023

I haven’t written anything on this site for a long time. That seems particularly unconscionable after a such a consequential year. And while the medium of blogging continues to decline in popularity, it still seems to hold some value for me as a means of disseminating ideas (just this morning …

Beyond the Great 96

The challenge when designing around a large star is to reconcile its high order of symmetry with the field of more standard shapes that surrounds it. The goal is to make the complete design appear natural and seamless. That’s an exceedingly difficult design challenge, one that increases in difficulty as …

Animated Map Colourings of Hinged Squares

Tilings like these, based on alternating arrangements of squares and rhombs, are ancient. And in the twentieth century, a few people experimented with this hinged motion. I particularly like the essay by Duncan Stuart, then a student at the UNC School of Design, though the most famous use of this …