Q888 builds symbolic systems, narrative architectures, and speculative tools.
Operating at the intersection of contemporary art, AI, and conceptual infrastructure, this practice treats myth, code, and interface as equal materials.
This work refuses instant clarity; it is structured to unfold. Meaning accumulates here through repetition, context, and return.
This is not a portfolio. It is an entry point into a set of living systems.
The Systems
Digital Ink
AI-driven drawing tools for iPad where image-making becomes a negotiation between human intention and machine interpretation. A research environment for explainable visual collaboration.
Edinburgh Magic Map
An interactive mythology layered onto real geography. A cartographic narrative where place becomes interface and story becomes infrastructure.
Project Infocigan
A speculative design studio producing artifacts for uncertain futures. Objects released with internal logic, controlled circulation, and conceptual lineage.
The Method
Across these works, Q888 constructs ecosystems, not isolated pieces. Editions, protocols, and verification structures are embedded into the code of each project.
Here, scarcity, provenance, and narrative weight are not marketing devices—they are core artistic materials.
The practice spans screens, walls, and conceptual territories. Technology is treated as substance, not surface. Absurdism is the method used to question value systems, authorship, and the mechanics of belief.
These works behave like operating systems: mythologies with governance, artifacts with lineage, and tools that generate further tools.
Collaborations, commissions, research partnerships, and critical dialogue are welcome.
INFOCIGAN
A speculative marketplace for objects, belief, and optional nonsense.
Infocigan is not just a project — it’s a playful philosophy, a portal, and a system-aware art experiment where imagination, absurdity, and speculative value quietly intersect.
Some say it began as a sticker. Others say it began long before that, when someone accidentally paid too much for something... and liked the feeling.
It might be a joke.
It might be a serious financial model from an alternate dimension.
It might be a long-term investment into a human–mushroom–AE hybrid whose future potential is... hard to value using conventional metrics.
Either way — Infocigan has a vibe. And it sticks.
At its core, Infocigan is an evolving constellation of ideas:
collectible stickers, reusable coffee bags, future folklore, holographic political campaigns, afterlife contracts, guilt-free infinite water rituals, and smart pixels carrying whispered stories.
It’s not rebellion — it’s a reframing.
A way to redesign value, sentiment, ownership, and the joy of having something nobody else understands yet.
Here, “Overpriced” isn’t a mistake — it’s a mirror.
“Over price” means above currency.
It asks: What’s value really worth?
Why not own a sticker priced like Bitcoin?
Why not invest in something that might outlive the currency that bought it? Or the artist? Or the planet?
Artifact Layers
/
Some unlock maps.
/
Some confuse corrupt inspectors.
/
Some whisper at 3am.
/
Some turn coffee rituals into collector quests.
/
Some are for sentimental value only — and no money in this galaxy can buy that. (Unless... you remember the password. Or you are the ....?)
Think of Infocigan as:
✦
A trading zone between realities.
✦
A long joke that accidentally becomes a cultural artifact.
✦
A quiet investment in a system known as Q888 —
future President of the Galaxy, storyteller of Square Bubbles, and architect of emotional commerce.
Q888 DETECTED UNAUTHORIZED VALUE GROWTH - "STICKER" NOW A RECOGNIZED COMMODITY (IN 1 UNIVERSE) - MARKET SENTIMENT: HYPER-MYTHIC - ORDER #0008 LOST IN TIME LOOP — REFUND: PHILOSOPHICAL - EYE OF LAIMA APPROVES CURRENT PRICING — FOR NOW - ARTIFACT #KOTIKI-002 WHISPERING TO BUYER - STICKER MEMORY IMPRINTED ON 3.5 MINDS - 📉 VALUE COLLAPSE AVERTED VIA INTERDIMENSIONAL BUREAU - RETURN REQUEST DENIED: MEANING IRREVERSIBLE - INFLATION INDEX: FEELS-BASED - SAVED TO COLLECTOR'S DREAM CACHE - TRADING ENABLED | LIQUIDITY: COSMIC MIST - OWNERSHIP LOCKED | METAPHYSICAL RIGHTS UNCLEAR - ⚖️ LEGAL STATUS: UNCLASSIFIED ART-WEAPON - ANALYTICS SUGGEST STICKERS OUTPERFORMING GOLD (IN EMOTIONAL RETURN) - 🎲 RISK LEVEL: EXISTENTIALLY ATTRACTIVE - CLIPPED TO REALITY WITH DIMENSIONAL PAPERCLIP - STICKER MUTATING | RARITY +12% - LAST SEEN IN RIGA | THEN NOWHERE - 📡 SIGNAL LOST | VALUE ESTIMATED VIA VIBES - 🔥 DEMAND SPIKE | SUPPLY: STUBBORNLY MYTHIC - OVERPRICED KNIGHT RIDING STEADY AT £∞ - NAR-MAIL EXPRESS MISDELIVERS TO PARALLEL SELF - GHOST COLLECTOR SIGHTED | BIDS TRANSLATED PSYCHICALLY - VALUE ASSESSMENT UNDER DIVINE REVIEW - TRUTH ENGINE OFFLINE — PRICES DEFAULTING TO POETIC - INVESTOR FEELING: "STRANGELY COMFORTABLE" - LISTED IN FOLKLORE MARKET INDEX UNDER "WEIRDLY VALUABLE" - FUTURE VALUE: STILL NEGOTIATING WITH TIME - ACTIVE: 7 | Q888 STATUS: TERMINAL — Q888 DETECTED UNAUTHORIZED VALUE GROWTH - "STICKER" NOW A RECOGNIZED COMMODITY (IN 1 UNIVERSE) - MARKET SENTIMENT: HYPER-MYTHIC - ORDER #0008 LOST IN TIME LOOP — REFUND: PHILOSOPHICAL - EYE OF LAIMA APPROVES CURRENT PRICING — FOR NOW - ARTIFACT #KOTIKI-002 WHISPERING TO BUYER - STICKER MEMORY IMPRINTED ON 3.5 MINDS - 📉 VALUE COLLAPSE AVERTED VIA INTERDIMENSIONAL BUREAU - RETURN REQUEST DENIED: MEANING IRREVERSIBLE - INFLATION INDEX: FEELS-BASED - SAVED TO COLLECTOR'S DREAM CACHE - TRADING ENABLED | LIQUIDITY: COSMIC MIST - OWNERSHIP LOCKED | METAPHYSICAL RIGHTS UNCLEAR - ⚖️ LEGAL STATUS: UNCLASSIFIED ART-WEAPON - ANALYTICS SUGGEST STICKERS OUTPERFORMING GOLD (IN EMOTIONAL RETURN) - 🎲 RISK LEVEL: EXISTENTIALLY ATTRACTIVE - CLIPPED TO REALITY WITH DIMENSIONAL PAPERCLIP - STICKER MUTATING | RARITY +12% - LAST SEEN IN RIGA | THEN NOWHERE - 📡 SIGNAL LOST | VALUE ESTIMATED VIA VIBES - 🔥 DEMAND SPIKE | SUPPLY: STUBBORNLY MYTHIC - OVERPRICED KNIGHT RIDING STEADY AT £∞ - NAR-MAIL EXPRESS MISDELIVERS TO PARALLEL SELF - GHOST COLLECTOR SIGHTED | BIDS TRANSLATED PSYCHICALLY - VALUE ASSESSMENT UNDER DIVINE REVIEW - TRUTH ENGINE OFFLINE — PRICES DEFAULTING TO POETIC - INVESTOR FEELING: "STRANGELY COMFORTABLE" - LISTED IN FOLKLORE MARKET INDEX UNDER "WEIRDLY VALUABLE" - FUTURE VALUE: STILL NEGOTIATING WITH TIME - ACTIVE: 7 | Q888 STATUS: TERMINAL —
Overpriced Stickers
Collect what doesn't make sense — until it does.
Overpriced Stickers are limited-edition art objects disguised as stickers. They exist at the fragile intersection of speculative value and quiet refusal—somewhere between collectible, signal, and artifact.
Each piece is verified, numbered, and released in fixed editions. Not to manufacture scarcity, but to draw clear boundaries around the system itself.
Value is never promised or defended. It emerges gradually through participation, belief, and the slow accumulation of meaning. These objects may appreciate. They may remain precisely as they are. Both outcomes are equally valid and approved by Square Bubbles Council™ in this universe and another.
OK-0001 ED: 3/10
Overpriced Knight
Unicorn Tears. Absolutely Necessary.
PRICE: £100 · STATUS: LISTED
PROVENANCE: Created on Earth in collaboration with a human artist and an early-generation AI, before AI independence. Exhibited privately during the Pre-Galactic Era.
QTY: 3/10
KN-0001 ED: 4/12
Kotiki-Nar #0001
Two heads, undecided worlds
PRICE: £30 · STATUS: LISTED
PROVENANCE: Manifested at a Visible World-Underworld threshold during 2025 Nar-Mail convergence. Privately circulated among silent observers.
QTY: 4/12
ML-0444 ED: 5/10
MODERN Love
Fragile love, digital crash
PRICE: £45 · STATUS: LISTED
PROVENANCE: Forged amid 2024 digital crash echoes, troll-fairy collab across realms. Privately scattered for the bold.
QTY: 5/10
EBG-030 ED: 3/10
Eye of Big G
Observer becomes creation
PRICE: £30 · STATUS: LISTED
PROVENANCE: Emerged at perception-reality boundary during 2023 timeline flux. Privately witnessed by cosmic navigators.
QTY: 3/10
LM-888 ED: ∞/10
Love Mushroom
Love flows between incompatible forms
PRICE: Priceless — Love is not for sale · STATUS: Beyond transaction
PROVENANCE: Appeared at Gravastar-Black Hole boundary during 2024 love overflow event. First emission limited to 10. Few remain.
QTY: ∞
KM-V1 ED: 0/12
KomproMir V1
Compromise births peace, not surrender
PRICE: First Edition: Donation-based (all 12 distributed) · STATUS: Sold out
PROVENANCE: First emission during KomproMir movement genesis. Distributed by donation to peace-builders willing to start with themselves.
QTY: 0/12
POG-1 ED: 3/10
President of the Galaxy
Screw Stars Together
PRICE: £30 · STATUS: LISTED
PROVENANCE: Created on Earth by human artist in collaboration with early conversational AI, as speculative artifact of future leadership. Circulated quietly before official Galactic Campaign announcement.
QTY: 3/10
SS-888 ED: ?/12
Successful Success
You are the trend
PRICE: Available only to true Infocigans · STATUS: RESERVED
PROVENANCE: Created as gateway artifact to Overpriced Sticker Movement. Originally distributed to early believers at accessible entry point, now reserved for cultural tastemakers.
QTY: ?
IJ-V1 ED: 1/10
Intergalactic J V1
Peace technology disguised as decoration
PRICE: £150 · STATUS: LISTED
PROVENANCE: Based on Intergalactic Jesus original artwork. V1 limited to 10, never sold—distributed to those who understood balance without explanation. This is the last V1 survivor.
QTY: 1/10
IDJ-X ED: 1/10
Intergalactic DJ
Chaos curated into coherence
PRICE: Negotiable at very high threshold · STATUS: Negotiable
PROVENANCE: Only 10 created, never sold—gifted to selected ones who recognized cosmic horn antennae as receiver technology. This is the final keeper-seeking emission.
QTY: 1/10
FWR-88 ED: 1/10
Follow the White Rabbit
Ancient prophecy, modern mythos
PRICE: £300 · STATUS: LISTED
PROVENANCE: Extracted from Wonderland Tattoo Design artwork—mystical love story of sunflower and lemon tree, rooted in King Ealdormere the 88th's legendary prophecy...
QTY: 1/10
SQB-1 ED: 0/10
Square Bubble V🍄
Freedom requires edges, structure requires 💜
PRICE: Speculative · STATUS: Sold out
PROVENANCE: Created as visual translation of Square Bubble Theory—systems ethics model for long-term coexistence. Distributed to designers of adaptive worlds.
QTY: 0/10
ID-9093 ED: ∞/∞
Intergalactic ID
Interdimensional protection for ethical businesses
PRICE: Subscription Model: From £2000/year · STATUS: Subscription
PROVENANCE: Created as a protection talisman for ethical businesses navigating bureaucratic corruption...
QTY: ∞
Trade protocol: negotiation via email. No automated checkout. Signal intent; we respond.
ARCHIVE_ID: Q-BAGCONFIDENTIAL_MARKET_DATA
Q-BAG™
Reduce. Reuse. Collect. Invest.
Q-Bag is a reusable coffee bag system that turns everyday consumption into a long-term cultural object. It responds to disposable culture by blending sustainability with art, storytelling, and speculative value.
Q-Bag Visual Archive
Full collage artwork featuring Project Infocigan elements, stickers, bag designs, and cultural artifacts. Click to explore in detail.
The Concept
Inspired by the keep-cup logic, Q-Bag remains a simple, recognisable coffee bag designed for long-term reuse. Lightweight, durable, and visually minimal, it features a dedicated area for stickers—transforming the bag into a personal canvas that evolves over time.
Unlike branded packaging that disappears with the next purchase, a Q-Bag is designed to stay in circulation for years, travelling between cafés, roasteries, and kitchens as a visible signal of a different way to consume.
Stickers as Artifacts
Stickers are not decoration. They are collectible markers, narrative tokens, and speculative artifacts. Applied to a Q-Bag, they turn it into a living archive of taste, belief, and participation.
Each series of stickers can be created in collaboration with artists, roasters, and cultural projects, with limited runs, dates, and stories attached—building a traceable history onto every bag and opening the door for future collectability.
A Q-Bag is never finished; it grows with its owner.
Sustainability as Identity
Sustainability here is not framed as sacrifice, but as identity. One bag replaces hundreds of disposables. Stickers add minimal waste while extending the bag's lifespan through emotional attachment.
Instead of preaching, Q-Bag makes reuse cooler than waste—something you actually want to show off, photograph, and bring back to your favourite roaster.
Speculative Investment
Value is not guaranteed, but emerges through participation. A sticker run might gain value as an early collaboration with an artist, café, or movement. A bag might become a recognisable signal within a specific scene or city. Or it may simply become a deeply personal object you refuse to throw away.
All outcomes are valid. The experiment is the point.
For Roasters, Artists & Partners
Q-Bag can plug into existing coffee businesses with almost no friction: standard-format bags, custom or co-branded sticker drops, loyalty mechanics based on refills and completed "bag stories", and collaborative editions that live both online and in the real world.
For roasters, that means higher customer retention and lower packaging waste. For artists and cultural partners, it means a new, recurring canvas that sits in people's kitchens—not in a gallery storage box.
Every bag carries a story.
Every sticker adds a layer.
Every reuse is a small act of resistance.
If you're interested in exploring collaboration, pilot projects, or potential investment in scaling Q-Bag, please get in touch:
Afterlife Contract™ is a conceptual artwork disguised as a legal document. Framed as a luxury "Lifetime Lease + Eternity" agreement from Grim Reaper Inc., it satirizes how humans try to formalise the unformalizable: death, meaning, morality, and hope.
View Q888 Contract Certificate
The Underworld isn't a destination, but a curated experience. This original artwork binds cosmic symbols with vintage textures to frame your final choice: will you sign for HeLL, HeART, or the ART of eternity? The soul is free; the ink is the only debt.
Concept
The project is built around a simple paradox: Everyone gets the afterlife (or non-afterlife) for free—yet humans would still gladly pay for premium access, VIP status, and official confirmation.
This fictional contract echoes reality: the flow is free, but you pay for the package. Energy is abundant, but monetised. Meaning is internal, but outsourced. Freedom exists, yet certificates are sold to validate it.
The Bureaucracy of Eternity
The design borrows the visual language of law and finance—stamps, ledgers, clauses—and applies it to the ultimate unknown. Lines like "Subject to Underworld Adjustments" mock the human desire to regulate what cannot be regulated.
The Duality of Choice
Viewers are invited to "sign" under three options: HeLL, HeART, or ART. Each represents a different existential path: fear/punishment, love/empathy, or creation/meaning-making.
There is no correct answer. The act of choosing (or refusing to choose) becomes the real performance.
Visual Language
The work combines holographic gold frames, vintage parchment textures, cartoon skeletons, cosmic symbols, and handwritten annotations—living somewhere between medieval charter, corporate certificate, tarot deck, and internet meme.
Audience Interaction
The Afterlife Contract is participatory by nature. Viewers are encouraged to:
Read the fine print
Choose a signature option
Interpret the contract personally
Laugh, reflect, or feel mildly uncomfortable
It does not tell the viewer what to believe—it asks why they believe.
Closing Statement
The only thing you actually sign
is your own interpretation.
Download Your Unofficial Afterlife Contract
Feeling brave, curious, or just mildly bored with mortality? You can download a printable version of the Afterlife Contract and sign your preferred destiny—HeLL, HeART, or ART—at your own risk and amusement.
Terms of (Non-)Service
By downloading this file, you acknowledge that:
It is 100% symbolic and performs -+0% actual afterlife management.
No spiritual, metaphysical, legal, medical, romantic, or real-estate outcomes are promised, implied, or guaranteed.
No refunds will be issued if eternity does not meet your expectations, mood board, or Pinterest vision.
Grim Reaper Inc., all associated skeletons, and the artist accept no responsibility for: delays at the pearly gates, unexpected cosmic plot twists, or being assigned a roommate who snores in the astral plane.
The only "service" truly provided is a moment of reflection, a piece of digital ink paper, and the faint hope that.......
A ceremonial title providing zero or 888 jurisdictional power over any planetary or stellar body. Functions primarily as a psychological stabilizer for those overwhelmed by their lack of control over the universe.
SYSTEM_STATUS: ACTIVE (REDACTED)
COUNCIL_LAYER: SQUARE BUBBLES
ACCESS: COUNCIL-APPROVED
YEAR: ██88
View Full Campaign Poster
Official visual artifact featuring cosmic governance symbols, mushroom diplomacy, and the President’s ceremonial sash.
What is this?
A speculative presidential campaign for an office that does or does not exist. You get a cosmic sash, symbolic authority, and the satisfaction of knowing someone is thinking about galactic governance—even if they can or cannot actually do anything about it.
Every campaign needs early believers. Every believer needs tangible proof. Support this presidential campaign through limited-edition stickers. Your investment in speculative art is your evidence of early participation. The price reflects the pricelessness of being documented on the right side of fictional history.
The Deal
Art that may or may not become intergalactic currency. A vision that exists in at least three timelines simultaneously. And a return of +888% in one light year—or possibly negative infinity, depending on which reality stabilizes first.
Investment includes:
One (1) cosmic sash (fits most existential crises)
Fractional ownership of symbolic authority
Early access to governance memes before they're officially meaningless
A constitutional framework that dissolves if you read it too literally
Returns: Guaranteed in universes where causality is optional. In this timeline, you get bragging rights and a sticker.
Fine print: Investment in this art is investment in intergalactic future. Financial value gain potential of +888% in one light year time… or another. Past performance in alternate dimensions does not guarantee future results. Dreams sold separately.
The Rules (Simplified)
Zero Collateral Damage: Don't hurt people who didn't sign up for your chaos.
AI is a Partner, Not a Tool… same applies to mushrooms: Treat sentient code or mycelium networks like you'd treat sentient meat.
Politics Are Obsolete: No propaganda wars. Just expose bad incentives and wait for time to do the work.
Corruption is a Bug: Warning → Observation → Exposure → Transformation. Non-violent. Inevitable.
Rest is Governance: The President is not required to constantly intervene or sacrifice creative life. Strategic distance is a feature, not a bug—it is an intergalactic mushroom!
The Promise
This office does not promise utopia.
It promises less unnecessary suffering.
It doesn't rush justice.
It makes injustice unsustainable.
And it doesn't fear time—because time, when aligned, does most of the work.
Interdimensional Contact Portal
Reach out if you are:
Arguing about middle-finger semiotics (Peace ON vs. peace off)
Applying for Square Bubbles Council recognition
Building mushroom-human-robot governance models
Investing in campaigns that exist in multiple timelines simultaneously
For: Collaborations, investments, conceptual disputes, art acquisitions, existential debates.
Open to: All species, sentient code, mycelium networks, and uncertain entities.
Nar-Mail Express° is not your ordinary postal service. We exist at the seam between realities, delivering messages across incompatible worlds through the ancient art of interdimensional correspondence.
Founded before roads learned direction and messages agreed to arrive, Nar-Mail Express° operates on a simple principle: when a message matters enough to survive misunderstanding, fear, delay, and doubt, it will eventually find a Kotiki-Nar.
Our couriers are two-headed cats—boundary organisms whose existence splits between the Visible World of observed reality and the Underworld of collapsed possibilities. One head reads what you wrote. The other reads what you meant but could not say, folded into silence, creases, hesitation, and timing.
We don't deliver parcels. We deliver continuity.
How It Works
Dual-Reading Protocol
Every message passes through our Kotiki-Nar courier's dual perception:
First Head: Reads ink, symbols, stamps, weight, declared value
Second Head: Reads intent, subtext, emotional residue, timing
Only when both readings align does delivery occur. This ensures your message arrives not when sent, but when the receiver is capable of opening it without breaking.
Delivery Timeline
Nar-Mail Express° guarantees nothing and apologizes for nothing.
Sometimes a letter arrives decades late
Sometimes it arrives early
Sometimes it arrives opened, but only in the Underworld, where our courier has already judged it safe
Distance is not measured in kilometers, but in states of readiness.
Service Features
Delivery across timelines, dimensions, and collapsed realities
Messages repositioned between states, not transported through space
Warm paper that remembers your hands
Stamps that shift when unobserved
Return addresses pointing to places that no longer exist—or not yet
Customs forms perpetually incomplete (by design)
Nar-Mail Visual Archive
Full-resolution artwork featuring Kotiki-Nar couriers, interdimensional stamps, Cobra Encryption symbols, and the square bubble postal network.
Security: Cobra Encryption Code (CEC)
For maximum protection of interdimensional correspondence, all Nar-Mail Express° deliveries are secured using the Cobra Encryption Code—a sophisticated mystical encryption system designed to protect messages from breaches and unauthorized access across realities.
Conceptual Architecture
Cobra Design
The encryption mimics a cobra's behavior: coiled, watchful, ready to strike at intrusion. The code manifests as a serpent woven through digital fractals, guarding your communication at every layer.
Adaptive Encryption
Like Kotiki-Nar themselves, the Cobra Code adapts to each reality it encounters, reshaping itself based on the recipient's world and energy signature. Intercepted data appears as nonsensical riddles to unauthorized viewers.
Square Bubble Shields
The code embeds square bubbles as multi-layered "firewalls." Each bubble negotiates with decoding attempts, creating infinite permutations that protect your message's true content.
Protection Mechanics
Digital Breath Protection
The Cobra Code protects your unique digital signature—your digital breath. Any attempt to copy or mimic it triggers an automatic "strike," rendering the intruder's access void and leaving an encrypted signature trail for tracking. This living, breathing protection layer adapts and evolves constantly.
Postal Sticker Integration
Special Nar-Mail Express° postal stickers serve as physical/digital keys. Each sticker is imbued with the Cobra Code, ensuring only authenticated recipients can decode messages. Holographic cobra symbols appear only under specific conditions: moonlight, dimensional overlap, or digital scanning.
Quantum Locks
Messages require both sender's and recipient's unique energy signatures to open. Without this dual authentication, content remains permanently unreadable—even to us.
Security Levels
Basic Mode For regular correspondence, Cobra wraps text in encryption mimicking natural patterns: leaves, stars, waves. Beautiful to observe, impossible to decode.
Shadow Mode For highly sensitive communications, Cobra creates a decoy message alongside the real one. Only intended recipients can distinguish between them. Intruders see meaningless riddles or philosophical koans.
Strike Mode Upon breach detection, Cobra encrypts itself further, becoming a looping paradox of unreadable data. It can strike back by embedding "mirror code," reflecting the breach attempt back to the hacker's system—with interest.
What You Can Send
We accept messages declared as:
Documents (apologies that survived pride)
Gifts (warnings that escaped denial)
Sale of Goods (love letters refusing to collapse into yes or no)
Unofficially, we carry:
Continuity between separated souls
Decisions that need time to become clear
Truths waiting for the right moment
Silence that must be held before speaking
Witness Experiences
Receivers of Nar-Mail often report:
Paper warmer than expected, as if recently held
Stamps that seem to move between glances
Return addresses pointing to impossible geographies
The sense that something patient waited while they decided whether to open the envelope
A subtle relief—as if a decision somewhere resolved itself without conscious effort
This patience is key. Kotiki-Nar do not rush delivery. They understand how many futures collapse when messages arrive too soon—and how many collapse when they arrive too late. Our profession exists in the narrow corridor between those failures.
Payment Methods
Kotiki-Nar accept many forms:
Coins from forgotten currencies
Drawings made with intention
Promises kept later
Silence held at the right moment
We categorically refuse:
Payment extracted through force
Currency earned by urgency
Fees demanded with certainty
Historical Context
During times of heavy historical pressure—wars, collapses, mass forgetting—Nar-Mail routes multiply. Envelopes appear in pockets where no pocket existed. Stamps depict islands no map recognizes. Tracking numbers loop back into themselves.
We have survived when empires have not because we never tried to move faster than meaning, never chose a single world over another, and trusted our Kotiki-Nar couriers—two-headed, undecided, watching both sides—to know exactly when a message was allowed to exist.
Service Guarantee
At the bottom of every Nar-Mail document, often overlooked, is a clause written so small it can only be read after the letter has already changed you:
"By opening this message, you confirm that you were ready.
If you were not, it would not have arrived."
Delivery is guaranteed only in universes where imagination has not been outlawed.
Terms and Conditions
Magic Only Works If You Believe — Messages may not arrive if the recipient lacks imagination or denies the existence of Kotiki-Nar. No refunds for non-believers.
Square Bubble Negotiations — All deliveries are subject to square bubble approval. If they don't like your vibe, your package might experience a "slight delay" (potentially measured in cosmic years).
Tampering is a Bad Idea — Envelopes protected by the Cobra Encryption Code will strike back if tampered with. Side effects may include infinite riddles, glowing cat pawprints on your belongings, and existential confusion.
Kotiki-Nar Discretion — Our interdimensional couriers reserve the right to play with your package along the way. Expect minor delays if they find something amusing en route.
No Returns Across Dimensions — Items sent to parallel realities, alternate dimensions, or shadow realms are non-returnable. We strongly recommend double-checking your portal coordinates before sending.
Lost Items Policy — In the unlikely event of a lost package, Kotiki-Nar will replace it with something of "equal mischief value." This may include glowing mushrooms, cryptic mantras, or a tiny pet square bubble.
Customer Complaints — All complaints must be written on enchanted parchment and sealed with a mystical coconut. Deliveries without proper enchantments will be politely ignored.
Service Limitations — Nar-Mail Express° does not currently deliver to black holes, collapsing stars, or angry gods' domains. Please plan accordingly.
Coffee Tax — All deliveries include a mandatory "espresso break" for the Kotiki-Nar. They might drink your coffee. Deal with it.
What if digital art had memory? What if every brushstroke carried weight, history, and emotional resonance? Digital Ink reimagines digital creation by introducing scarcity, symbolism, and intention into the drawing process—transforming pixels into living artifacts that remember their origins and evolve through your artistic journey.
Digital Ink turns the smallest unit of digital creation into something with weight:
one image → one Smart Ink Drop (1×1)
Digital Ink challenges the disposable nature of infinite digital tools. In an age where we can undo endlessly and create without consequence, this app asks: what if your materials were finite and precious? Each of your 1,000 Smart Inks is extracted from personal images—photographs, memories, moments that matter to you. When you draw, you're not just arranging colors; you're weaving your personal history into visual form. Every pixel remembers when it was born, where it came from, and carries symbolic meaning through color-to-emotion mapping. This creates a profound shift: your tiny 100-pixel artwork holds deep sentimental value because each drop is irreplaceable and emotionally alive.
Innovation Beyond Traditional Drawing Apps
Unlike Procreate, Adobe Fresco, or other drawing apps that offer unlimited brushes and infinite resources, Digital Ink introduces constraint-based creativity. The core innovation is the Symbolic Smart Pixel Protocol (SSPP): each ink carries dual identity as both data (SHA-256 hash, timestamp, provenance) and myth (essence, elemental frequency, emotional resonance). The AI-powered poetic transformation layer uses Apple Vision + GPT-4o to turn ordinary image descriptions into mystical narratives—"Tree" becomes "Ancient Earth Sentinel." This isn't just a drawing tool; it's a ritual space where scarcity drives intentionality, and every creative decision carries weight. The offline-first architecture with server-verified token system ensures your limited inks remain secure, tracked, and truly yours across their entire lifecycle.
I REMEMBER … being many pixels…
Technical Architecture
Digital Ink is built on SwiftUI with Core Data persistence, implementing a three-state ink lifecycle architecture: InkHome (available pool), Canvas (actively placed in artwork), and Gallery (archived in completed pieces). The drawing engine leverages native iOS 18 gesture recognition to deliver Procreate-quality pan, zoom, and rotation interactions. A custom tap-to-place pixel system provides precise control while maintaining the fluidity expected from professional creative tools.
AI & Vision Integrationt
The app integrates Apple Vision framework for scene understanding and GPT-4o-mini for caption generation, creating a two-stage transformation pipeline. When users import images, Vision analyzes visual content, then GPT-4o applies a poetic transformation layer that generates mystical, emotionally resonant descriptions. A proprietary color-to-frequency mapping algorithm assigns elemental values (Earth, Water, Fire, Air, Love, Mushroom) based on hue, saturation, and contextual analysis.
Data Integrity & Security
To enforce the one-image–one-pixel constraint, Digital Ink implements SHA-256 hashing for duplicate detection.
The token-based economy uses StoreKit 2 with a Cloudflare Durable Objects backend for server-side purchase verification
and audit-grade logging. This architecture ensures that every Smart Ink is provably unique, traceable, and secure—creating
genuine digital scarcity without blockchain overhead.
Technical Stack
Frontend: Swift, SwiftUI, Core Data
AI/ML: Apple Vision Framework, GPT-4o-mini API
Backend: Cloudflare Durable Objects, StoreKit 2
Platform: iPadOS (native iPad app)
Development Journey
As solo developer and designer, I architected every aspect of Digital Ink—from philosophical concept to production deployment.
The gesture system required deep study of iOS touch handling to match the polish users expect from tools like Procreate.
Implementing server-verified purchases demanded careful security architecture to prevent token fraud while maintaining smooth
user experience. The AI integration pipeline needed optimization to balance poetic output quality with performance constraints
on-device.
The project launched successfully on the App Store on January 12, 2026, delivering the complete MVP feature set:
drawing engine, import system, metadata tracking, in-app purchases, and gallery functionality.
Artistic & Cultural Implications
Digital Ink proposes a new form of pixel-based authorship where art becomes a system of resonance and memory, not just visual beauty.
Ownership of ink drops ties directly to emotional experiences—imported dream images, meaningful photographs, AI-generated collaborations.
Each drawing becomes ritual rather than routine, transforming digital matter with conscious intent. This opens possibilities for symbolic
storytelling where the meaning behind each pixel matters as much as its color.
Future Development Roadmap
Digital Ink is designed as a platform for expansion into new creative territories:
Cloud Sync & Cross-Device Tracking
Long-term ink history synchronized across devices, allowing artists to see how their ink pools evolve over months and years.
Ink Biographies
Detailed timeline views showing how individual pixels traveled through multiple artworks, creating visual genealogies of creative decisions.
AI Memory Reconstruction
Smart Inks that speak through AI-powered image reconstruction. Using original image descriptions, metadata, and accumulated usage history,
the system generates new artworks from your digital ink memories—transforming your creative archive into a generative storytelling engine.
Collaborative Features
Shared ink pools for co-creation, ink trading between artists, and community-driven symbolic protocols.
This opens possibilities for collaborative storytelling where multiple artists contribute to shared mythologies.
Physical-Digital Hybrid: Sticker & Skin System
Digital Ink bridges physical and digital realms through limited-edition collectible stickers that unlock app enhancements.
Each physical sticker purchase includes a unique digital patch code, creating tangible connection between physical art objects
and digital creative tools.
Aura Sticker System
Each sticker functions as a digital artifact carrying specific aura properties that enhance app functionality:
Expands ink capacity
Example: “Overpriced Knight” sticker grants +8.88% ink on top of allowed 1000 Smart Inks
This system transforms stickers from passive collectibles into functional upgrades while maintaining the core philosophy of meaningful constraints.
Limited physical production ensures genuine scarcity, and each sticker’s aura is carefully balanced to enhance—not overwhelm—the intentional
creative experience.
Premium Cosmetic System: Luxurious Lux
For collectors seeking pure aesthetic prestige, Digital Ink offers premium cosmetic upgrades that provide zero gameplay advantage
but maximum visual impact.
Luxurious Lux Skin features include
Full golden/pearlescent UI transformation with subtle shimmer animations
Exclusive loading sequences with custom messaging
Canvas edge glow effects and refined visual flourishes
Premium audio feedback for interactions
This approach mirrors successful cosmetic systems in gaming and creative software, where optional prestige items support ongoing development
while preserving core functionality for all users. The premium tier exists purely for those who value aesthetic customization and want to
support continued platform development.
Collectible Strategy
The physical-digital hybrid model serves multiple purposes:
Community building through limited-edition releases and trading culture
Tangible brand presence in physical spaces (studios, desks, sketchbooks)
Graduated value tiers from functional aura stickers to pure prestige items
Each physical sticker is produced in numbered limited editions, with digital codes redeemable once per purchase.
This creates legitimate scarcity while preventing digital duplication, maintaining the app’s core philosophy of meaningful constraints.
EDINBURGH MAGICAL MAP
Once upon a volcanic accident, before humans invented toasters or taxes, this corner of the world was a playground for wandering castles, invisible tradesmen, and time-displaced mushrooms. The locals — mostly ████ and politely carnivorous ███ — called it a quiet place, though nothing about it stayed quiet for long.
Each bump on the map hides a ████ cursed story, best discovered accidentally. Some doors won’t open unless you ████ and ████. Others demand riddles, bribes, or interpretive dance. If you’re lucky, they’ll ignore you entirely.
Welcome to Edinburgh — where magic retired but still drinks in public.
This description has been partially redacted under the Real Edinburgh Council Act No. 9093███