Building Complexity from Simplicity: An Interactive Web Experiment

Have you ever looked at something visually complex and wondered, "How in the world did they do that?" What if I told you that behind some of the most mesmerizing visual interactions, there’s often just a handful of simple rules?

Recently, I crafted a simple web experiment called Snake Eyes, aiming precisely at that, transforming basic, straightforward rules into something surprisingly beautiful and engaging. Let’s dive into how this works.

The Foundation: Simple Rules

Imagine a grid of squares, each containing a smaller circle. Here are the rules governing each square:

1. Attraction: The circle within each square moves slightly toward your cursor when you move your mouse around.

2. Scaling Animation: When you click anywhere on the screen, the circles scale up briefly, creating a wave-like animation.

3. Color Cycling: Every click also cycles the colors of the circles and the background in a coordinated manner, producing vibrant visual feedback.

These rules, individually, are easy to grasp. There’s nothing complicated here, just position tracking, scaling animations, and color changes.

How Each Square Behaves

• Circle Movement: Each circle calculates its distance from your cursor. The closer your cursor, the more significant the pull towards it. Farther circles barely move, while nearer ones noticeably shift.

• Wave Effect: When clicking, circles animate outward from the click position. This animation delay is directly proportional to their distance from your click, creating a fluid, rippling wave effect.

• Dynamic Colors: With each click, the circles change color in sequence, and the background shifts subtly to a complementary shade, ensuring harmony and contrast.

Turning Simplicity into Complexity

Here’s the magic: When you multiply these simple interactions across dozens or even hundreds of elements, complexity emerges naturally. The interplay of movement, timing, and color creates visually captivating patterns far greater than the sum of its parts.

Lessons Learned

• Less is More: Even minimal rules can produce rich, engaging visuals.

• Timing Matters: Smooth, carefully timed animations create appealing interactions.

• Harmony in Design: Complementary colors and coordinated animations enhance the overall visual experience significantly.

Try It Yourself

Exploring these interactions first-hand is not only fun but also inspiring. By experimenting with simple rulesets and basic animations, you'll discover just how powerful and creative simplicity can be.

So, next time you marvel at something visually complex, remember: complexity often starts with simplicity, just scaled, repeated, and beautifully orchestrated.

link to the experiment - https://daviddodda.com/experiments/snake-eyes.html

link to the code - https://github.com/daviddodda1/developer_portfolio_minimal/blob/main/experiments/snake-eyes.html