Lateral

A minimalist cross-platform application inspired by Brian Eno's Oblique Strategies, designed to help artists, writers, musicians, and creators overcome creative blocks through lateral thinking prompts.

About

Lateral delivers random, thought-provoking prompts to encourage unconventional thinking and help break creative stagnation. With a deliberately minimalist interface, the app feels like drawing a card from a digital deck—providing just enough disruption to your creative process to spark new directions.

Key Features

• Dynamic Prompt Generator: Tap to receive a random creative strategy
• Minimalist Interface: No explanations or clutter—just the prompt
• Cross-Platform: Available on both Android and iOS
• Offline Support: No internet connection required

Technology

Lateral is built using Kotlin Multiplatform (KMP), allowing for shared business logic while maintaining native UI experiences:

• Shared Code: Kotlin Multiplatform
• Android UI: Jetpack Compose
• iOS UI: SwiftUI
• Architecture: MVVM with unidirectional data flow

Getting Started

Prerequisites

• Android Studio Arctic Fox or newer
• Xcode 13 or newer (for iOS development)
• JDK 11 or newer
• Kotlin Multiplatform Mobile plugin for Android Studio

Building the Project

1. Clone the repository:

   git clone https://github.com/yourusername/creative-spark.git

2. Open the project in Android Studio

For Android:

• Select the androidApp configuration
• Run on your device or emulator

For iOS:

• Open the iosApp.xcworkspace in Xcode
• Select your target device
• Build and run

Project Structure

creative-spark/
├── shared/          # Shared KMP code
│   ├── commonMain/  # Common code for all platforms
│   ├── androidMain/ # Android-specific code
│   └── iosMain/     # iOS-specific code
├── androidApp/      # Android application
└── iosApp/         # iOS application

Development

Adding New Prompts

Prompts are stored in PromptRepository.kt in the shared module. To add new prompts:

1. Open shared/commonMain/repositories/PromptRepository.kt
2. Add new entries to the prompts list

Running Tests

./gradlew :shared:allTests     # Run all tests
./gradlew :shared:jvmTest      # Run JVM tests
./gradlew :androidApp:testDebug # Run Android tests

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please feel free to submit a Pull Request.

1. Fork the repository
2. Create your feature branch (git checkout -b feature/amazing-feature)
3. Commit your changes (git commit -m 'Add some amazing feature')
4. Push to the branch (git push origin feature/amazing-feature)
5. Open a Pull Request

Design Principles

• Less is more: Minimal interface with focused functionality
• Mystery over instruction: Prompts are open to interpretation
• Calm aesthetics: Dark mode, serif fonts, muted colors

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License - see the LICENSE file for details.