Ripple Art — Arc Co.

I wanted a canvas where every tap sends ripples—different shapes and colours, layered until it feels like art. No account, no gallery: tap, play, then screenshot or record when you're done.

A side project over a couple of weekends in July 2024, still getting updates. Below: the tool, the launch trailer, and sound and export updates from December 2024 and May 2026. Try it at ripple-art.vercel.app.

Role: Designer & Developer
Focus: Interaction Design, Development
Team: Me, myself, and I
Timeline: July 2024; then May 2026

The tool

Built in a couple of weekends in 2024, then tuned in the open. Pick from six shapes—circle, soft triangle, soft square, eight-point star, clover, peanut—and twelve saturated colours. Tap the canvas and ripples stack on top of each other. Each shape has its own synthesized tone; it retriggers on every ripple pulse, not only the first tap. Mute is one tap away in the footer.

Works on a phone; on desktop, screenshots and screen recordings both look better. You can record the tab—with ripples and sound baked in—for sharing or reel-style posts. Recording uses browser tab capture and works best in Chrome; on mobile, tapping still feels best and stills are the easiest share.

Ripple Art canvas with colourful stacked ripples — The Ripple Art canvas.

Shape picker open with Handpan sound tooltip on the peanut shape — Hover a shape to see its sound—Handpan on the peanut.

Shape picker open with Low swoop sound tooltip on the eight-point star — Low swoop on the star.

Shape picker open with Didgeridoo sound tooltip on the square — Didgeridoo on the square.

Capture button popover showing Screenshot and Record options — Screenshot or record—export from the footer.

Recording in progress with the stop control visible on the canvas — Stop from the capture control, or press Escape.

Launch video

I wanted a trailer to launch the project. I’m not an animator, motion designer, or video editor—that didn’t stop me. I prototyped animations in Figma, polished them in Rotato, and stitched everything together in Apple iMovie.

The video is grainy and imperfect. I shipped it anyway rather than wait for a redo. The tool has picked up shapes, sound, and recording since then—the trailer still shows the 2024 version.

Launch trailer for Ripple Art.

Sound

Update (10 Dec, 2024): Shapes and ripples now play sound on tap—another layer of feedback on top of the visual ripple.

Update (May 2026): Each shape now has its own synthesized voice—guitar-like chords, crackle, didgeridoo-ish lows, swoops, flute, handpan-style bells. The shape picker labels what you’ll hear. You can also record the canvas as a short video: choose Record, count down from three, share the browser tab, and ripples play with the same sounds mixed into the file. Stop from the capture control or press Escape; the download lands as .webm or .mp4.