Show HN: A global database of mental associations to spark ideas

Show HN: A global database of mental associations to spark ideas(seenapse.it)

4 points by rafaeljimenez 11 years ago | 8 comments

RickS 11 years ago |

While the idea seems cool, as far as the home page is concerned, I found the colors jarring, the illustrations unsettling (especially that first one), and the text mostly empty of meaning.

There are 4 paragraphs spread out over something like 1600 vertical pixels.

When I saw that the video was not only in that same "clown on acid" visual style, but 2:45 long, I bailed hard.

Pairing mental associations seems like the kind of thing that should be demo'd on the home page, not buried behind a signup wall.

In other words, you need to provide value upfront. By upfront, I mean within the first 500 pixels of page height.

edit: I'm not affiliated with these guys, but they showed up on HN recently and I found their site compelling. http://www.timeful.com/

rafaeljimenez 11 years ago | |

Thank you, good point.

fiatjaf 11 years ago |

Awesome thing. I really liked the idea when I read it.

But when I looked at, it wasn't so great. I don't know what is missing or what is wrong, maybe the ideas I saw weren't mine. Or maybe the transition between "anything you think about" and the paper is not that easy.

groundhog 11 years ago | |

I agree--I am very impressed by your splash page (both design and copy) but I feel like it wasn't consistent with what you get once you sign up. For me, I was expecting something similar to Brian Eno's "Oblique Strategies" from the description (i.e. more vague, abstract suggestions), but it turned out to be more like Random Wikipedia.

rafaeljimenez 11 years ago | | |

Thanks for your comment. Did you search for something specific? Your comment on randomness totally applies to the home page, but not to the connections, we think.

Fun fact: Brian Eno played with an early prototype of Seenapse and gave us some feedback too :)

rafaeljimenez 11 years ago | |

Thank you for taking the time to look at it. It's still in its early days, so there are many things we're still tweaking/building. Your feedback is greatly appreciated.