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As part of a University project I was briefed to develop an ‘organism’. In a technical sense, this organism should grow on its own whether determined by automation or outside user input.

Working in web design I realised the importance of APIs and how much they will be used in the future so I thought it would be a good idea to start using an example of one to get to grips with what they offer.
I used the Digg.com API to produce the data needed for my organism to grow.

After being inspired by generative art and visualisations, I decided to use a spirograph effect to create the visualisation.

As you can see, each pattern that is created is different and unique. This is because of the data driven from the Digg API will be unique each time it is called. The output is in an XML format, which allows me to parse the data into string variables, which were then used within the equation that creates the pattern, distorting values such as the height, width, colour, speed, trajectory, projected angle and sides of the pattern.

I really enjoyed creating this project as it allowed me to experiment with something that I am interested in which wouldn’t have been achieved with a less open brief. It was also a great project to work on as the technologies used are very versitile and can be used in many other types of work and projects.

Update: It seems like Digg have made changes to their API which means the pattern never changes colour, although the shape is still generated. I will look into this as soon as I can

Client: iDAT