Behind the presentation level of the Elements site, their company site is fairly disorganized, perhaps because they've based it on a blog and those type of entries are so inherently slippery. So I had to go looking for the declaration of their raison d'etre; but the following, which seems ready to serve as a basic statement of purpose, can be seen if you counter-intuitively click "Products" in the nav bar:

"We've brought the cultural concept of 'ichi-go ichi-e' into LUNARR elements. It means 'one chance, one meeting,' and is traditionally at the center of a Japanese tea ceremony. It's the idea that you must treat your interaction with others as if it is the last time you will see them. With elements, we invite you to come take part in 'ichi-go ichi-e.'

"The elements will gradually become customized for what you might find inspirational based on your actions, those you follow or those who follow you, the elements others cast in your direction and more. We also welcome you to become a catalyst of inspiration by uploading your own elements or clipping them from the web."

No one's taken credit for this other blog post on Lunarr's company site (Toru Takasuka and Hideshi Hamaguchi are listed as management), but it gives some elegant examples of the essential role inspiration plays in a productive life.

"Preserved Innovation"
December 19th, 2008

What image caught Peter Tchaikovsky's eye while he was writing The Nutcracker ballet? .. . What conversation stirred John Logie Baird to create the first mechanical television?

What if instead of just seeing their finished product, I could see their entire thought process from inspiration to production? I imagine taking a look at the first images that inspired them to think in a new direction... The doodles and diagrams that came from their hands when that first wave of excitement flew over them as they realized that they could change the rhythm of the world.

Neat. But ultimately, isn't this just a cute implementation of "Web 2.0" social media with photo sharing? Basically pretty much the same thing as that slide show in Flickr or Picasa, or from a desktop Web widget? A one-trick pony?

Well, yes; as we saw, you can go to Flickr, type "inspiration" into the search bar, then look for the subtle "slideshow" link to the right of the top picture... and sit back. Elements, which clearly doesn't claim to be any more than one arrow in your quiver, adds the weaving social media in more directly, and a certain charm derived from the beautiful presentation and the sense of drama it creates.

But the fact that this picture-show site is centered on providing inspiration, the element that energizes and enables us in the most practical way, is what makes this more than just another cool site.

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Have to give the nod to VentureBeat.com's writeup, "Lunarr's Elements is a Twitter-like image-sharing tool to stoke the imagination" by Dean Takahashi, February 8th, 2009.