Interactive Processing Sketches

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Quadrants

An exploration of mirroring, the Mouse X/Y position and subtracting it from the width and/or height to create a quadrantic mirror image. Colors are also designated by Mouse X/Y position (with a few edits for aesthetics). Right click to reset.

Interactive version and source code on OpenProcessing

Chaos Colors

A study of the Sierpinski triangle, a fixed-set fractal that subdivides equilateral triangles recursively. Clicking will change the color of the event sites, which gradually fade into the overall shape.

Interactive version and source code on OpenProcessing

Poke

A fun little piece of interaction. You tap at the sketch, it taps back randomly.

Interactive version and source code on OpenProcessing

Personal Interactive Theory

As a part of the assignment, we were asked to write a "personal interactive theory", you can view my abstract ramblings below:

Isaac Newton’s third law of motion states that every action has an equal and opposite reaction. Two objects will always, and are constantly, acting upon each other. When you sit on a chair, you exert a downward force on the chair, and the chair exerts an upward force on you. This is, in essence, an interaction – two things responding to eachother. Let’s take a look at the root words – Inter, and Action. Clearly, action describes any process intended to “do” something; an activity, movement, or exertion of some sort. Inter implies connectedness, reciprocity, and the idea of going between or through. When put together, they create a theory that defines the synergy of every species on the earth.

Newton was right in saying that every action has a reaction, and that should be valid everywhere – except for where it isn’t. Many forms of digital media remain clumsy, broken. Drag and drop websites from free builder platforms that confuse and react sluggishly, rather than provide and delight. Slow hardware that lags and buffers, unable to keep up with the advancements of the modern web. It’s no secret that our world is advancing at an exponential rate, and our ideals of interaction need to keep up. It’s always been my belief that interactions should be simple – less invasive, more inviting. Less like a screeching mother, more like a cooing significant other inviting you back to bed. Push notifications have become the magnum opus of Mobile interaction, and I find that it detracts from the overall experience. Instead of being a slab of metal and glass in your pocket that can tell you what you want when you want it, it becomes a vibrating hodge-podge of horror that commands your attention every 5 minutes. Every single app asks if it can send push notifications, and if you say no, it redirects you to settings to make you. Not exactly user “friendly”.

If you want to make something interact, it needs to have a reaction. It all started with blue links turning purple – you click it, and you know you clicked it, because it’s “clicked”. That clicks with people. Hover states and animations are changing the way we interact – it makes you feel like you did something, like you won. Win-teraction! It’s that sense of delight, that idea that anything you do can be enjoyable and feel genuine, that motivates users to use. It’s incredibly important that we as designers be mindful of this as we move forward. But tread carefully – an overdose of reaction that outdoes the action can be detrimental – nobody wants to click something and have a 5 minute fireworks display that follows.