Textbook Narcissism is a small collective for artists, designers, and developers who want to make apps the way people make art: independently, carefully, and on their own terms.
The collective operates as a publisher. An artist brings a project; the studio provides the boring-but-necessary infrastructure — developer accounts, app store submissions, distribution, and the legal wrapper of an LLC. Creative control and ownership stay with the person who made the thing.
We keep the roster small on purpose. Every project gets finished, shipped, and looked after.
Small is a feature.
An app can be a complete thought, not a platform. We reject feature creep and infinite roadmap traps in favor of focused, beautifully executed singular ideas.
Attention is borrowed, not harvested.
Nothing we ship is designed to maximize time-in-app. No push notification spam, no dark patterns, no algorithmic feeds designed to keep you scrolling.
Artists should own their work.
The studio is a wrapper, not a landlord. Creators retain full equity, copyright, and creative control over their projects forever.
Everything we publish is made by an independent artist or a small crew — ownership always stays with the artist.
V · I · G · I · L
VIGIL is a piece of conceptual art built as a news app, a response to a culture that turns not-knowing into content. It observes one undisclosed event and reports nothing until there is something definitive: a single verified, binary status.
- A home-screen widget that holds the current status, not a feed
- A reading view built around one fact, not a scroll
- No accounts, no tracking, no manufactured urgency
VIGIL is live on Google Play, with the App Store release close behind. More at project-vigil.com.
Arrangappella
Arrangappella is a visual a cappella arranger. Import sheet music or hum a melody, and it auto-composes a singable SATB arrangement using real voice-leading rules — an experiment in making vocal arranging feel like sketching, not transcription.
- Hum a melody in and get a full SATB arrangement out
- A piano-roll editor built for voices, not synths
- Notation preview alongside the arrangement as you edit
Arrangappella is in alpha at arrangappella.com, developed alongside working a cappella arrangers who are shaping its features and UX.
Incubating Concept
One inbox, read by a human.
contact@textbooknarcissism.comArtists & Designers
If you have an app you want to make and would rather join a collective than found a startup, write to us with a short description of the project. We read everything and respond to those we can actually help with.
Support & Inquiries
For support with any Textbook Narcissism app, press, or partnership questions, email us with the project name in the subject line.