XYZ

The site was created for The Remedi Project, an exhibition produced by Josh Ulm that aims to break down our preconceptions about communicating on the Web. XYZ brings together three separate narrative structures for three scenes: a horizontal axis (x) runs “Hey Diddle Diddle,” which pays homage to storybook pioneer Randolph Caldecott; a vertical axis (y) plunges into ruins at the bottom of the sea; and a depth axis (z) looks back at earth from the curving grid of deep space. These three Cartesian-based axes come together not as a group of stories, but as ways to discover how a story is told. XYZ is an investigation into user navigation and how a story’s responsiveness impacts audience experience. Users can select any of the three triptych panels from a menu screen that merges three Cartesian coordinates. In one story, a linear narrative is explored along the x-axis. In another, users can navigate a different narrative through both the x- and y-axes. The third story lets users zoom in and out of the z-axis. The site allows for seamless responsiveness between the user and the story. Such reactivity creates a continuum of interactivity, where the story reacts to the user without requiring a proactive mouse click.