Oblique Strategies

31 January 2016

Got a pack of the Oblique Strategies cards by Brian Eno and Peter Schmidt. I've known about them for a while but was reminded of them recently after seeing a pic of David Bowie's very well used deck.

A black box, on it in gold it says Oblique Strategies

A 3x4 layout of 12 cards from Oblique Strategies

9 cards for Oblique Strategies, with the box

I was so happy to discover you can still get these from Brian Eno's site. They are the perfect tool for overcoming creative block and reinvigorating any project. The set contains over 100 (103 in my pack) of simple yet perfect nudges to open your mind - far more useful than the many convoluted 'frameworks' that consultancies like to flog.

2 cards, car 1 says, The inconsistency principle. card 2 says Don't stress one thing more than another

2 cards, car 1 says, Do something boring. card 2 says Be extravagant

2 cards, car 1 says, Be dirty. card 2 says Emphasize the flaws

2 cards, car 1 says, Do we need holes? card 2 says Voice nagging suspicions

2 cards, car 1 says, Repetition is a form of change. card 2 says Look at the order in which you do things

These cards evolved from separate observations of the principles underlying what we were doing. Sometimes they were recognized in retrospect (intellect catching up with intuition), sometimes they were identified as they were happening, sometimes they were formulated. They can be used as a pack (a set of possibilities being continuously reviewed in the mind) or by drawing a single card from the shuffled pack when a dilemma occurs in a working situation. In this case the card is trusted even if its appropriateness is quite unclear. They are not final, as new ideas will present themselves, and others will become self-evident.

GROTESQUE TABLES II FIRST EDITION

Also (for a very whimsical take) see Noah Wall's Grotesque Tables II. Which is a card deck of anagrams of Oblique Strategies.