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Reverse Engineering LogiCola 2008: Modern Redesign Preserves Logic Drill Legacy

Hacker News •
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Building Logi Cola's new design language from reverse-engineering the 2008 original. Two years ago, I set out to design and release an updated version with the goal of preserving Professor Gensler's work and introducing a more accessible solution for students carrying any device or operating system. Since the original was built for Windows, many students could not use it. Today, many students use Chromebooks or mobile devices.

In August, more than 100 devices in Asia visited Logi Cola 3 in a single week, with 72 completing at least one exercise. 66 came from the Philippines—over half were phones and tablets. This signals enthusiasm and validates the 2024 product promise.

The new version incorporates feedback from Hacker News discussions, GitHub issues, and playful elements from the original. The landing page now prioritizes logic drills over email signups. Colorful backgrounds return, with unique palettes per logic set—syllogistic and propositional logic each have distinct color schemes. The drill interface now shows context before starting, and exercises are front-page accessible. The original computed colors algorithmically: pastels are saturated hues pushed light, with complementary pairings like aqua/rose. Dark bands invert background pixels using Windows' Invert Rect function.