Radial Menu

Most radial menus are built around geometry. This one started with meaning. The Aztec Sun Stone is already a radial system — circular, divided, each section assigned symbolic weight. That structure translated directly into a functional menu without needing to force the reference.

The five suns concept from Aztec mythology gave each menu section a distinct identity. Every icon needed to carry its section's conceptual meaning — readable without text, distinct from the others.

Three interaction states needed to work together without competing: the menu reveal, selection focus, and attention direction across sections.

• Reveal sequence — the menu opens from center outward, each section appearing in a sequence that mirrors the cosmological reading order of the Sun Stone
• Selection focus — the active section amplifies visually while others recede, maintaining overall legibility
• Attention direction — motion guides the eye without creating noise; every animated element serves a navigational purpose

A radial menu that feels earned rather than decorative. The cultural grounding isn't surface — it's structural. The Sun Stone works as a reference because the geometry is already right. The design problem and the cultural reference happened to solve each other.

The constraint of the icon set was the hardest part. Each symbol had to be readable at small size, culturally coherent with the theme, and visually distinct from the others. Getting all three right simultaneously took longer than the animation.