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No.103 · Backgrounds

Gravity Grid

A hairline grid that bends around the content placed on it — headlines and cards act as masses and dent the field, so the background frames what matters.

The prompt

Written for the variant you picked above: Frost

Build a background whose field responds to the layout placed on it, not to decoration. Render a hairline grid (30px) on a 2D canvas behind the content. Every descendant with a data-mass attribute is measured (ResizeObserver on the wrapper and each mass, re-measured after fonts load) and treated as a rectangular mass. For each grid sample (every 6px along each line) find the nearest point on each mass rectangle (expanded 10px). Pull the sample toward it by min(0.82·d, m·strength·(14 + 0.09·√area)·e^(−d/σ)), with σ = 40 + 0.22·√area — so lines bow in toward content, strongest near it, never crossing into it. Lines brighten from 7.5% to ~28% alpha as they bend ('heat'), fade out entirely within 18px of a mass and inside it, so text always sits on clean ground. Grid intersections near a mass get tiny 1.5px dots. The pointer adds a small point mass (0.35) eased with a lerp; the canvas only animates while that mass is moving and otherwise is completely still. Cap DPR at 2. Under reduced motion the pointer is ignored — the layout-driven bend remains. Selected variant — Frost: Grid colour #b9cce4 (frost blue) on #0a0c10; content ink #eef2f7, muted #8b95a3; eyebrow in the grid colour.

Notes

Interaction
The field is shaped by the content itself; moving the pointer adds a light, slow dimple that follows it.
Motion
None at rest. Redraws on layout change; pointer mass eases with a 0.08 lerp and the loop stops when settled.
Accessibility
Decorative canvas (aria-hidden) under real content; lines are removed beneath text for contrast. Reduced motion disables the pointer mass.
Responsive
Re-measures on any size change of the wrapper or of any mass, so it adapts to every breakpoint automatically.
On touch
Without a hover pointer the grid simply frames the content; a drag moves the dimple.

Featured

01Glassbreak ButtonA solid plate that fractures from one impact point, cracks racing outward as the shards drift apart.04Liquid GlassA capsule of glass that bends what's behind it, carries a specular highlight around its rim toward your pointer, and squashes like a drop of liquid when pressed.07Phosphor Glass ButtonA liquid-glass pill that senses you coming: its rim light turns to face the cursor and the pill leans in to meet it.08Iris ShutterAn async button with a camera iris for a status light — blades close and turn while it works, then open onto the result.
81Atmosphere CardSmoked-glass link cards: colour pooled in the corners, slow contour currents underneath, a field that leans toward you.93Eclipse Event CardAn editorial event plate with an oversized date and an orbital eclipse bleeding in from the right, alive with slow drift.94Specimen CardAn object mounted under glass: hover lifts the pane with a sweep of reflection and swings out a paper catalogue tag.
95Silk FieldDomain-warped light that pours like liquid silk, with an optional glass lens that refracts the flow under your cursor.106IsobarA living weather map — contour lines traced over a drifting pressure field, with your cursor as a system of its own.
151Prompt ComposerA chat composer where attached files tuck into its top edge like tabs in a folder — they rise from behind it when added and sink back when removed. Send turns into stop while the reply streams.157Aura FieldA writing field where colour only exists while the AI is touching your text: the edge becomes a turning band of light and the words are rewritten in place, one by one, out of a soft blur.
205Halftone CTAA tall CTA banner where slow gold paint drifts beneath a fixed halftone grid, visible only through the dots.
212Nocturne Sign-inA single quiet column on near-black with a breathing seam of frost light behind it — email, password, magic link, nothing more.222Sigil Sign-inA split sign-in whose left half grows a geometric mark from your email — the same address always draws the same sigil.
275Voices CarouselA testimonial exhibition: one large quote at a time on frosted glass, crossfading between voices without ever resizing.
279Feral TitleA brutal condensed wordmark — heartbeat in the dark, letters slam in, a gash tears through and the word bleeds.
301 components