Overview
Nontrinsic is a free and open-source platform and an open archive dedicated to preserving nonsense.
The name “Nontrinsic” comes from “non-intrinsic.” So yes, when it comes to introducing Nontrinsic to people, they should experience it for themselves. The app/platform is inherently non-intrinsic!
Though that doesn’t mean we can’t explain to them what it is. We just think that it’s easier to have them experience it first, then they can say what they think it’s about. There are plenty of nonsense entries about Nontrinsic and the concept of nonsense in general. There should be more, but uh, those are some that we could find.
Why “nonsense” though? Well, in a more professional context, you can say that it’s “creative text.” But that sounds less interesting than “nonsense,” don’t you think?
You can read more about how this platform came to be in the About page.
Purpose
We want to preserve nonsense as a literary and cultural form, with no intrinsic value that accumulates meaning through intentional archival. Heck, the name itself is the thesis even.
While the concept of “nonsense” in general has been around for quite a long time, there’s simply nothing else like Nontrinsic when it comes to that kind of nonsense. Not the app we deserved, but the app we needed.
Target audience
You, probably. Generally those who appreciate absurdist humor as a genre. Not that we know what nonsense is even.
Nontrinsic is also rather technical and probably overengineered for something like a ‘quotes’ platform, except the quotes are all nonsense entries. Developers can use the API to integrate Nontrinsic into their own projects.
Personality / voice
We’re playful, but earnest. Human- and community-first, quietly principled1, and perhaps a bit nerdy too.
When it comes to personality… eh, just imagine Nonsense. Either in the bot form, the human form, or even the florie form!
| NonsenseBot | Nonsense (human) | Nonsense (florie) |
|---|---|---|
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 |
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Those three were made by Azka Zavian :)
Visual identity
The web app probably defines the brand best. Colloquially, we’re using our own Aluminium design language, which is just a fancy way of saying that we’re just using Tailwind CSS without much customization. And that we also use our own typefaces, Nontrinsic Sans and Nontrinsic Mono, customized from Instrument Sans and Iosevka respectively. On mobile (iOS & Android), we follow each platform’s design conventions so that they feel native on each platform, but preserve the brand by using our customized typefaces.
See https://codeberg.org/nontrinsic/brand for more.
Content goals
This is mainly for Linerly, but: we need to make “content” so that more people know about Nontrinsic. Though more people (beyond our immediate communities as described in the About page) knew about Nontrinsic the moment the Android app got published on F-Droid.
Apart from NonsenseBot2 being on Bluesky and on the fediverse, we’re also on Instagram and YouTube now in an attempt to reach even more people there. We don’t really have a “strategy” since we’re just having fun. We surrender to the algorithm when it comes to reaching people. Or word-of-mouth “marketing” as we’ve always done.