Too many hearts

Just a little foot-stamping. Like many designers I use Dribbble for quick jolts of inspiration. Visual espresso. If I need to make a tag cloud, I search ‘tag cloud’ on Dribbble and blink through 200 different renditions to see what people are making.

But I see a lot of the same results. Images that appear in search after search. By default the search returns the most popular shots. It’s a small detail, but I think the default should be ‘latest’ shots listed first. By featuring the most popular shots, Dribbble’s search reinforces group opinion. The most liked logo becomes the first logo you see, every time. 

As a barometer of ever-changing aesthetic taste, it’s useful to see what’s popular. But I’d prefer the default search to bring back everything that matches my term, unfiltered by popularity - I want to see it all.

Search

or Explore?

Without search, the internet would be impossible to navigate. Google has perfectly evolved to slice through the dross when you’ve got a specific goal in mind - when looking for information relating to an idea you already have. But search lacks serendipity.

I have a set of sites I visit regularly. If I need to fix something around the house I check Lifehacker. I might search first, but if Lifehacker’s in the results, I go there - it’s a reliable source. Google cuts through the chaff but how do we find things accidentally?

Occasionally I’ll stumble on a blog that I’ve never read before - and following the links in that blog opens up a whole new little loop of the internet. I’ll find not one, but 15 or 20 sites I’ve never seen before, that have amazing and related content. It’s like discovering a little neighborhood online.

That organic discovery is what I’m hoping to create with the Trivium Project. Neighborhoods of information that relate to each other naturally, by artist, era, and theme. From our analytics I know that people usually arrive with an artwork in mind - but I want to show them the ideas that flow out of that artwork, connecting it to a myriad others. The ideas that are paths to explore.

I’d like to introduce people to art based on what they’ve already shown interest in. Suggested content isn’t a new idea, but maybe it can become a trail to follow. “Here’s where you left off, now jump back in and dig further - here’s a peek at what’s around the next corner.”

Maybe I can show people their own exploration through art history - the route they’ve taken to get where they are. A sense of accomplishment is rewarding. Visualizing the entirety of Trivium’s library and showing your path through it would make progress tangible. Even this small amount of motivation could promote exploration - because there’s joy in exploration - joy in finding that new neighborhood online and meeting all kinds of new ideas for the first time. It’s a beautiful moment - and maybe it’s possible to architect something like that.