WorkMEDIA × REACT
Isotype
Visual content platform where React components are the atomic unit of storytelling. Named after Otto Neurath's 1920s ISOTYPE system. "shadcn for content, not just UI."
isotype.appROLE
Founder
YEAR
2024-2025
STACK
Next.js · Supabase · Remotion
STATUS
In Development
THE CORE IDEA
An isotype block is a React component representing a single concept or unit of wisdom. Designed for maximum signal-to-noise ratio. Refinable over time. Composable into larger narratives.
The name comes from Otto Neurath's 1920s International System of Typographic Picture Education, which distilled complex statistical information into glanceable pictograms. Same philosophy, different medium: React components instead of hand-drawn icons.
THE COMPRESSION PRINCIPLE
High-bandwidth communication.
Dense with meaning, stripped of noise. Every word must earn its place. Like Twitter's 140-character limit forced conciseness, isotypes impose a conceptual constraint: one idea, one unit.
TRADITIONAL (MONOLITHIC)
Article: "AI Patterns"
├ Introduction (500w)
├ Pattern 1 (800w)
├ Pattern 2 (700w)
└ Conclusion (300w)
Want to reuse Pattern 1?
Copy-paste (duplication) or link (brings irrelevant context)
ISOTYPE (COMPOSABLE)
Story: "AI Patterns"
├ <IntroIsotype />
├ <Pattern1Isotype />
├ <Pattern2Isotype />
└ <ConclusionIsotype />
Want to reuse Pattern 1?
Import into new story. Refine original, all stories inherit.
Content has never been truly composable before. Blog posts are monolithic. Social posts are isolated. Isotypes compose like software.
WHY THIS IS POSSIBLE NOW
Four technologies had to mature simultaneously. This is a synthesis opportunity-each discipline alone doesn't see it. Only at the intersection.
THE CONVERGENCE (WHY NOW)
React (2013+)
Component composability became dominant paradigm
shadcn mindset (2020+)
"Copy-paste components" normalized modular content
AI writes React (2024+)
Claude/GPT trained extensively on React ecosystem
File-based CMS (2022+)
Content as code, git-versioned, no database
Window opened ~6 months ago. Each technology was necessary. Without any one, this wouldn't be possible.
THE HISTORICAL ARC
The golden era of personal websites (Geocities, LiveJournal) died not because the vision was wrong, but because the technology wasn't good enough to make them easy. Social media won by trading ownership for convenience.
AI changes the equation. Custom visual content becomes as easy to create as posting on social media-but you own it.
THE CYCLE COMPLETES
1990s
Owned, creative, hard
2000s
Easy, rented, constrained
2025+
Easy AND owned
Technology finally enables the best of both eras: ownership and creativity (like Geocities) with ease of use (like social media).
WHAT IT ENABLES
Living Content
Edit one isotype, all stories using it inherit the improvement. Traditional blogs are frozen at publish time. Isotypes compound.
Multi-Format Output
Same isotypes render as slideshow, scroll page, or video frame. Create once, publish everywhere. Remotion integration enables automated video generation with voiceover.
Network Effects
Import others' isotypes into your stories. Fork and refine. Best versions rise. "npm for content"-don't reinvent, import and customize.
AI-Native Creation
Describe what you want in natural language. AI generates React components. Iterate via conversation. Makes React accessible to non-developers.
THE RESULT
200k+
SPEC TOKENS
Built with Agent Focus
100+
SESSIONS
Greenfield to production
∞
COMPOSABLE
Isotypes compose into stories
Built entirely using Agent Focus from greenfield to production. The 200k+ token specification was managed across hundreds of sessions. The system built itself-Agent Focus coordinating agents building Isotype.
WHY THIS MATTERS
People don't want "to write blogs"-they want to communicate impactful ideas. Text was just the best available tool. Visual and interactive content outcompetes text when the barrier to creation is comparable.
Isotype tests the hypothesis: if visual/interactive content were as easy to create as typing text, would people still choose text-only formats?
The strategic bet: piggybacking on React's ecosystem momentum. As new React libraries emerge (better 3D, better physics, better animations), isotypes automatically gain these capabilities. In 2030, you'll build things with isotypes we can't imagine now.