Life & fun · alternatives · 2026

24 alternatives to 99% Invisible - 29: Cul de Sac

A cul-de-sac has real, quantifiable design flaws

Below are 24 products that do a similar job, ranked by how close each is in meaning and then by launch-day votes. 99% Invisible - 29: Cul de Sac launched in 2015; newer entries below may have overtaken it.

1. 1
   99% Invisible - Structural Integrity▲81

   A story of architectural engineering gone wrong in NYC

   2015 · its alternatives →

2. 2
   99% Invisible - 43: Accidental music of imperfect escalators▲66

   How Imperfections In Products Make Them Lovable

   2015 · its alternatives →

3. 3AA
   AsciiDots – a 2D esoteric language inspired by circuits▲148

   2017 · github.com · its alternatives →

4. 4
   99% Invisible - The Gruen Effect▲66

   The mysterious design of retail spaces

   2015 · its alternatives →

5. 5
   Layout – California Style Sheets▲72

   The future of Sketch and the story of how we got where here

   2016 · its alternatives →

6. 6XA
   Xmake, a modern C/C++ build utility▲186

   2019 · github.com · its alternatives →

7. 7
   99% Invisible - The Landlord’s Game▲74

   Every game is a designed system. Even a certain board game.

   2015 · its alternatives →

8. 8LL
   LCON – Ludicrously Compact Object Notation▲35

   2014 · github.com · its alternatives →

9. 9
   RGB – #15: Snap, Kernel and Port▲55

   Ports, unencrypted kernels and a chilly new mobile plan

   2016 · its alternatives →

10. 10
    99% Invisible - The Giftschrank▲61

    Where do you store hidden & forbidden objects or ideas?

    2016 · its alternatives →

11. 11AA
    An ASCII z-depth world (view source)▲44

    2018 · burrow.jollo.org · its alternatives →

12. 12
    Layout – Cropping is Hard▲68

    Figma, and the future of design tools

    2015 · its alternatives →

13. 13AV
    A voxel design tool built on the top of CSS transformations▲78

    2017 · fatiherikli.github.io · its alternatives →

14. 14
    PixelSpace▲68

    A tediously accurate scale model of the solar system

    2014 · its alternatives →

15. 15ZK
    Zero-Knowledge Proofs in WebAssembly▲81

    2019 · zkwasm.kobi.one · its alternatives →

16. 16SA
    Shade – a quick-and-dirty glsl prototyping tool▲25

    2018 · github.com · its alternatives →

17. 17
    99% Invisible – Half a House▲55

    After devastating earthquakes; give people half of a house

    2016 · its alternatives →

18. 18AC
    A collection of recursive CSS specimens▲58

    a collection of recursive css specimens

    2018 · recurss.github.io · its alternatives →

19. 19RC
    Rucksack – CSS superpowers, built on PostCSS▲27

    2015 · simplaio.github.io · its alternatives →

20. 20
    Sketch Libraries 💎📚▲16

    Sketch 47's new native shared symbol library

    2017 · its alternatives →

21. 21
    Viveka: filter LLM output against a Lean-verified Advaita Vedanta model▲7

    Witness-Centered Filter Layer for LLM Applications - SpecStudio-net/Vivek

    Jun 2026 · github.com · its alternatives →

22. 22AM
    a minimal Lisp with closures, macros and gc in 1400 lines of C▲11

    2012 · github.com · its alternatives →

23. 23TF
    Toolkit for Reverse Engineers (indetectables-net)▲9

    2024 · github.com · its alternatives →

24. 24CT
    CSSBattle – The First CSS Code Golfing Battleground▲19

    2019 · cssbattle.dev · its alternatives →

Ranked by how close each launch is in meaning, then by votes. Prices were read from each product’s own site when checked and can change. Refine with your own description →