OBLIQUE DESIGN STRATEGIES
set phone to landscape • hover to pause • left/right arrow to navigate • select a random strategy using DOTNAV • refresh page to reset slider
INSTRUCTIONS: Use a random oblique design strategy to avoid design fixation and break through creative blocks. Whatever the strategy tells you to do, you must apply to your designing straight away. Especially if you don't like the idea or don't understand what to do- its your job alone to figure it out!
Oblique Strategies was, and still is, is a card-based method for promoting creativity jointly created by Brian Eno and Peter Schmidt first published in 1975. (Available for purchase here at - The ENO Shop)
Originally a deck of 70mm x 90mm printed cards in a black box. Each card offers a challenging constraint intended to help artists (particularly musicians) break through creative blocks by encouraging lateral thinking.
Although the original Oblique Strategies can be used in any creative medium, in this tool we have adapted and built on the original list to include oblique design strategies that may more easily be used by visual and 3D designers. (All Design version - January 2021)
To pick a random selection from the original Oblique Strategies click here
Inside out
Circle your mistakes and use them
Upside down
Take away one bit at a time
Magnify
Ignore
What is the same about the opposite?
Reverse
Morphology
Eliminate
Rearrange
Look through a microscope or magnifying glass- what do you see?
Break
Modify
Create the worst / most useless solution you can
Slow down
Complimentary colours
Symmetry / Asymmetry
Cut into pieces and scattered
Exaggerate
Enlarge / Shrink
Ask an expert
Put to other uses
Radial repeat
Send behind / Bring to the front
Hide / Promote
Make a connection
Linear repeat
Beg - Borrow - Steal
Follow a path
Rhythm
Random image
Random words
Random phrase
Carry on
Speed
Halt! Take on sustenance
Twist
Use a solution from nature
House of mirrors
Copy something as precisely as possible
Russian dolls
Contour
Minimise
Erase
Decorate, decorate, decorate
Adapt
Combine
Substitute
Rearrange
Fade out
Tell a story
What is the narrative here?
Separate
Add holes. Say why.
Straight lines only
Circles only
Shading only
Eraser only
Biro
Finger painting
Screw up the design, unfold it, carry on using the creases.
Tidy up
Use a different media