First published on Substack

Imperfection inspires invention, imagination, creativity. It stimulates. The more I feel imperfect, the more I feel alive. - Jhumpa Lahiri

First of all! Thanks for continuing to be great supporters in readership and I hope you are always finding something new and interesting to read or learn.

Programming Differential Growth

Program amazing, complex, and chaotic patterns via differential growth. Differential growth creates a chaotic system that can be used to model biological processes. Learn about vectors, ArrayLists, and how to program forces in Java (Processing) while creating beautiful, organic images.

Does a really nice job showing how differential growth works and how to implement it in Processing. There are other resources.

Design Against AI (John Maeda)

In this 30-minute 2024 Design and Tech Report, “Design Against AI,” the evolving dynamics between AI and design are explored, highlighting the uncertainty of whether to compete with, protest against, or collaborate with AI. The report delves into the complexities and rapid evolution of AI, the significance of computational understanding, the transformation of work influenced by AI, and the crucial role of design in ensuring ethical and fair practices. It also examines the historical context of AI in design, the impact of conversational interfaces, and the importance of critical thinking in this new era. The report concludes with insights on the importance of responsible AI in design and its impact on customer satisfaction, emphasizing the need for a continuous learning mindset in the face of ever-evolving AI technologies.

I hadn’t heard this talk before but apparently it happens every year. I think there is alot of inspiration that can be gained in what Maeda speaks of throughout this lecture.

This happened now a number of weeks ago, but I think that John has a healthy take on AI and creativity in the design space. Worth listening to as a number of interesting products he highlights.

Babylon.js 7.0 Released

Our mission is to build one of the most powerful, beautiful, simple, and open web rendering engines in the world, and we are excited to announce that mission takes another step forward today, with Babylon.js 7.0.

Some interesting new features such as procedural geometry (definitely been digging into this one), Gassian Splat Rendering, State of Art WebXR support to name among of the interesting new features.

vvvv gamma 6.0 release

vvvv is a visual-first live programming environment for the .NET ecosystem. Its language VL combines metaphors known from dataflow, functional and object oriented programming.

If you are a C# developer and windows fan, this is the place for you. Think TouchDesigner but different due to its Node based programming systems.

How To Generate Color Palettes for Design Systems

It used to be easy to pick colors for design systems. Years ago, you could pick a handful of colors to match your brand’s ethos, or start with an off-the-shelf palette (remember flatuicolors.com?). Each hue and shade served a purpose, and usually had a quirky name like “idea yellow” or “innovation blue”. This hands-on approach allowed for control and creativity, resulting in color schemes that could convey any mood or style.

It’s a lengthy read, but not only helpful for building design systems but how you may go about create a color palette. Definitely learned some interesting things here.

Strange Attractors

The term ‘Strange Attractor’ is used to describe an attractor (a region or shape to which points are ‘pulled’ as the result of a certain process) that displays sensitive dependence on initial conditions (that is, points which are initially close on the attractor become exponentially separated with time). The most famous strange attractor is undoubtedly the Lorenz attractor - a three dimensional object whose body plan resembles a butterfly or a mask. The Lorenz attractor, named for its discoverer Edward N. Lorenz, arose from a mathematical model of the atmosphere [5].

AI Movie Hackathon

What kind of space do you call home? Is it defined by the décor and furniture that make living comfortable, the cherished memories with family, the environmental and cultural symbols, or simply a sense of belonging and peace? The short films created during the second MIT AI for Filmmaking Hackathon offer insights into this question. This hackathon, held at the MIT Media Lab on February 17–18, showcased and celebrated the latest advancements in generative AI tools, including image, video, 3D content, music, and voiceover generation.

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