Eight frames for the same machine
UX experiments for tententoon — the engine is identical in all of them (the project's real GPU pipeline, demo photo preloaded); only the frame around it changes.
Each card states the hypothesis the prototype is testing. They are sketches, not products: judge the framing, not the polish.
Home page rewrite proposals (/experiments-3/)
Both proposals keep the ten·ten·toon dictionary card, use a single bespoke generated workshop image
(/contest-hero.webp, with an ornate celestial majolica, clockwork & botanical wreath rim inspired by the
contest winners),
delegate the deep derivation to the 3Blue1Brown video, and guide the reader warmly through the two widgets.
Triptych & Guided Tour
3-panel opening hook · 3b1b video · playground → 4-step pipeline
Opens with a side-by-side triptych (1 · picture, 2 · Droste, 3 · tententoon spiral) with shared Zoom and Twist sliders before handing the derivation to 3Blue1Brown and walking through both widgets.
Try: scrub the Twist slider from 0° to 12.1° · hit Play zoom · drag the unrolled wreath in panel 1.
Workbench First, Video Beside
4-panel pipeline hero · side-by-side 3b1b theatre · complex plane warm-up
Puts the 4-panel spiral pipeline right below the dictionary card so visitors immediately see the ornate celestial & botanical wreath unroll into vertical friezes, tilt, and curl into a spiral, with Grant's video right below.
Try: drag panel 1 · pull the lean slider & hit snap · unroll panel 3 from flat to spiral.
Earlier tool-framing experiments
See also: three explorable introductions →
The Loop Is the Hero
instant gratification · zero chrome
The app greets you with an empty tool and asks for work before showing any magic. Flip it: open inside the finished spiral, full-bleed; the UI exists only when summoned.
Try: do nothing for 5 s · move the mouse · drop a photo anywhere.
Three Steps
guided wizard · one decision per screen
The pro-tool layout shows ~20 controls at once for a flow with exactly three decisions. A full-screen wizard — photo, frame, loop — should get a first-timer to a result without thinking.
Try: complete it on a phone · skip with the demo photo · go back a step.
The Lens
direct manipulation · single surface
The split view forces eye ping-pong between cause (rect) and effect (spiral). Keep one surface: the photo fills the screen and a floating spiral lens shows the result where you're already looking.
Try: drag the frame and watch the lens react · move/resize the lens itself.
One Knob
single parameter · playable poster
Buried in the current UI is the one number that makes this tool special: degrees of twist per copy. Make it the entire interface — a giant dial from straight Droste fall (0°) through Escher's spiral.
Try: sweep the dial slowly through 0° · flick it and let it settle.
The Scroll
scrollytelling · explanation as onboarding
The tool and its explainer are two separate pages today. Merge them: scrolling is the timeline — the photo nests, unrolls into the log strip, leans, and rolls back up into the spiral as you read.
Try: scrub up and down slowly · read it top to bottom on a phone.
Darkroom
camera metaphor · familiar mental model
Nobody knows what "set the nest rectangle" means; everybody knows how to aim a camera. Frame the gesture as a viewfinder with a shutter, two lenses (DROSTE / TENTENTOON), and a filmstrip of developed shots.
Try: aim, shoot, develop · switch lenses · reshoot from a filmstrip frame.
Twin Infinities
comparison · the concept is the home screen
The product's core idea — same recursion, two geometries — is invisible in the app (views hide behind a toggle). Show both infinities zooming in lockstep, with one slider morphing straight fall into spiral.
Try: drag the morph slider mid-zoom · tap a side to focus it.
The Print Gallery
museum frame · output as artwork
A file you export from a tool is a throwaway; a print hanging lit on a gallery wall is something you made. Present the result as the exhibition Escher named the trick after — wall text, brass plaque and all.
Try: step closer · read the plaque · hang your own photo.