I recently went down a rabbit hole of design thinking and creative process methods.

I was faced with a bit of a block for a branding project, and thought a fresh method could help reset my approach.

Some googling later, as well as the excellent latest Courier Magazine, I started with some well-known frameworks, including:

I was familiar with some, but had never pitched them “against” each other.

I ended up stumbling on the excellent House of Methods, which, well, houses many of these methods, and went down even further. You’ll find a plethora of links to creative thinking resources in there.

The one that stuck with me for this particular branding project was Artefact’s Tarot of Cards of Tech. Three main reasons for that:

  • they’re visually appealing prompt cards,
  • the association of tarot mystique and tangible prompts straddles both art and science – essential to creativity,
  • the game element makes it a fun exercise.

The purpose of the deck is to challenge product creators to consider their product from different angles. In their own words:

And my first draw on their website, where you can play with them, was very appropriate from my rebranding exercise:

The Tarot of Tech website allows you to digitally draw cards

Check it out, it’s a fun tool, and it may just be the right creative unblocking tool you need for your next ideation session.