One of the most interesting things I found about many of the projects we looked at (the projects that seemed to have frustrating elements to them), was the seeming need to innovate broken forms. Much like House of Leaves or Only Revolutions, many of the projects we looked at seemed to take a traditional mode of expression (a web site/a book), and break it.

In the case of Danielewski’s works, I find the break to be intriguing and exciting. Somewhat scary – I’m not sure how I’m supposed to read them if there’s even a how to be found – but overall engaging and stimulating in a manner that makes me want to read them rather than avoid them. In many of our projects, however, I decidedly felt alienated and repulsed. Of course, one could attribute this to the fact that website design is a profession for me, and dealing with websites that break from convention is both threatening and frustrating for me as a professional – not a very interesting interpretation. Instead, I think there’s a reason why some innovators produce forms that are engaging and others repulsive.