The divergent deck is a set of cards containing short sentences designed to help architectural designers overcome creative blocks by offering them a prompt to try something different. Research so far has shown that the promotion of media switching within the design process can help designers see past a creative block and continue with their task. They have also been designed to carefully balance divergent and convergent thinking processes and as such provide the user with sentences that are carefully balanced between ambiguity and direction. The cards draw heavily upon Oblique Strategies which were developed by Brian Eno and Peter Schmidt and it is intended that their development will follow a similar process of iterating and testing. The start of this can be seen in some of the images on this page.
The deck is being used as part of the wider Design Leap research acting as an architectural probe to better understand the design process. Within the research the insertion of the deck into an architectural design process is filmed using visual ethnographic techniques. This is then watched back by an expert focus group containing creative designers who feedback on the deck and also the visual ethnographic method. Both the deck and method are gradually honed through iterative cycles until data saturation is apparent.
Divergent Deck 1 Please email me if you would like to test or be part of a focus group!
Switch to a more physical medium
Take a snapshot and pixelate it
Print, cut into strips and randomly rearrange
Reframe asymmetrically
Mirror the image using a physical medium
Fade and draw only the edges 2
Introduce an object from a different medium
Zoom, change scale + or –
Speed model with paper for 30 minutes
Reframe your work and consider a new boundary
Trace over the screen scan and reinsert
Export a screenshot and blur the image
Export a screenshot and invert the image
Reverse the line weights and print out
Print, pin up and look at from distance
Parti diagram your current position
Storyboard 6 sequential images moving through the project, 3 minutes each
Add more detail to the context
Scan in a random object
Explode components draw as elements
Repeat the process in a different medium
Change the parameters
Model the inside as outside and outside as inside
Break up the rhythm by inserting something from a different plane
Print, cut up into component parts, rearrange at random and reinsert
Consider a new section and sketch freehand with a fat pen
Move from orthographic to freehand perspective
Export multiple views, layer with 10% opacity, print, trace a new form and reinsert
Switch between mediums every 10 minutes for 1 hour e.g. sketch, CAD, physical model, diagram, orthographic, detail, digital model
Print out and erase the circulation
Insert a void with an object from another medium
Perform a scale test by inserting a repetitive element from another medium e.g. Google Earth
Hatch with colours from a painting you like
Hatch with colours from a painting you like 2
Think like an engineer express the structure in a diagram
Dissect elements and storyboard in perspective as a short film, reassemble
Consider spatial thresholds as filmic transitions e.g. cut, fade, dissolve
Look at the weakest part of the design and amplify it
Alter the parameters beyond the rationale
Attach a rogue element from a foreign medium outside of architecture
Remove the element you think works
Be messy, frantic & noisy e.g. Charcoal stick + DnB
Alter your rhythm switch to a faster medium
Slow down and work up an area in detail
Steal an idea from someone else’s project
Rotate the view to a non-orthographic projection, wireframe, print and trace
Look for primary shapes and express
Blast the brightness and contrast and work with what is left
The divergent deck is a set of cards containing short sentences designed to help architectural designers overcome creative blocks by offering them a prompt to try something different. Research so far has shown that the promotion of media switching within the design process can help designers see past a creative block and continue with their task. They have also been designed to carefully balance divergent and convergent thinking processes and as such provide the user with sentences that are carefully balanced between ambiguity and direction. The cards draw heavily upon Oblique Strategies which were developed by Brian Eno and Peter Schmidt and it is intended that their development will follow a similar process of iterating and testing. The start of this can be seen in some of the images on this page.
The deck is being used as part of the wider Design Leap research acting as an architectural probe to better understand the design process. Within the research the insertion of the deck into an architectural design process is filmed using visual ethnographic techniques. This is then watched back by an expert focus group containing creative designers who feedback on the deck and also the visual ethnographic method. Both the deck and method are gradually honed through iterative cycles until data saturation is apparent.
Divergent Deck 1 Please email me if you would like to test or be part of a focus group!
Switch to a more physical medium
Take a snapshot and pixelate it
Print, cut into strips and randomly rearrange
Reframe asymmetrically
Mirror the image using a physical medium
Fade and draw only the edges 2
Introduce an object from a different medium
Zoom, change scale + or –
Speed model with paper for 30 minutes
Reframe your work and consider a new boundary
Trace over the screen scan and reinsert
Export a screenshot and blur the image
Export a screenshot and invert the image
Reverse the line weights and print out
Print, pin up and look at from distance
Parti diagram your current position
Storyboard 6 sequential images moving through the project, 3 minutes each
Add more detail to the context
Scan in a random object
Explode components draw as elements
Repeat the process in a different medium
Change the parameters
Model the inside as outside and outside as inside
Break up the rhythm by inserting something from a different plane
Print, cut up into component parts, rearrange at random and reinsert
Consider a new section and sketch freehand with a fat pen
Move from orthographic to freehand perspective
Export multiple views, layer with 10% opacity, print, trace a new form and reinsert
Switch between mediums every 10 minutes for 1 hour e.g. sketch, CAD, physical model, diagram, orthographic, detail, digital model
Print out and erase the circulation
Insert a void with an object from another medium
Perform a scale test by inserting a repetitive element from another medium e.g. Google Earth
Hatch with colours from a painting you like
Hatch with colours from a painting you like 2
Think like an engineer express the structure in a diagram
Dissect elements and storyboard in perspective as a short film, reassemble
Consider spatial thresholds as filmic transitions e.g. cut, fade, dissolve
Look at the weakest part of the design and amplify it
Alter the parameters beyond the rationale
Attach a rogue element from a foreign medium outside of architecture
Remove the element you think works
Be messy, frantic & noisy e.g. Charcoal stick + DnB
Alter your rhythm switch to a faster medium
Slow down and work up an area in detail
Steal an idea from someone else’s project
Rotate the view to a non-orthographic projection, wireframe, print and trace
Look for primary shapes and express
Blast the brightness and contrast and work with what is left
The divergent deck is a set of cards containing short sentences designed to help architectural designers overcome creative blocks by offering them a prompt to try something different. Research so far has shown that the promotion of media switching within the design process can help designers see past a creative block and continue with their task. They have also been designed to carefully balance divergent and convergent thinking processes and as such provide the user with sentences that are carefully balanced between ambiguity and direction. The cards draw heavily upon Oblique Strategies which were developed by Brian Eno and Peter Schmidt and it is intended that their development will follow a similar process of iterating and testing. The start of this can be seen in some of the images on this page.
The deck is being used as part of the wider Design Leap research acting as an architectural probe to better understand the design process. Within the research the insertion of the deck into an architectural design process is filmed using visual ethnographic techniques. This is then watched back by an expert focus group containing creative designers who feedback on the deck and also the visual ethnographic method. Both the deck and method are gradually honed through iterative cycles until data saturation is apparent.
Divergent Deck 1 Please email me if you would like to test or be part of a focus group!
Switch to a more physical medium
Take a snapshot and pixelate it
Print, cut into strips and randomly rearrange
Reframe asymmetrically
Mirror the image using a physical medium
Fade and draw only the edges 2
Introduce an object from a different medium
Zoom, change scale + or –
Speed model with paper for 30 minutes
Reframe your work and consider a new boundary
Trace over the screen scan and reinsert
Export a screenshot and blur the image
Export a screenshot and invert the image
Reverse the line weights and print out
Print, pin up and look at from distance
Parti diagram your current position
Storyboard 6 sequential images moving through the project, 3 minutes each
Add more detail to the context
Scan in a random object
Explode components draw as elements
Repeat the process in a different medium
Change the parameters
Model the inside as outside and outside as inside
Break up the rhythm by inserting something from a different plane
Print, cut up into component parts, rearrange at random and reinsert
Consider a new section and sketch freehand with a fat pen
Move from orthographic to freehand perspective
Export multiple views, layer with 10% opacity, print, trace a new form and reinsert
Switch between mediums every 10 minutes for 1 hour e.g. sketch, CAD, physical model, diagram, orthographic, detail, digital model
Print out and erase the circulation
Insert a void with an object from another medium
Perform a scale test by inserting a repetitive element from another medium e.g. Google Earth
Hatch with colours from a painting you like
Hatch with colours from a painting you like 2
Think like an engineer express the structure in a diagram
Dissect elements and storyboard in perspective as a short film, reassemble
Consider spatial thresholds as filmic transitions e.g. cut, fade, dissolve
Look at the weakest part of the design and amplify it
Alter the parameters beyond the rationale
Attach a rogue element from a foreign medium outside of architecture
Remove the element you think works
Be messy, frantic & noisy e.g. Charcoal stick + DnB
Alter your rhythm switch to a faster medium
Slow down and work up an area in detail
Steal an idea from someone else’s project
Rotate the view to a non-orthographic projection, wireframe, print and trace
Look for primary shapes and express
Blast the brightness and contrast and work with what is left