Instagram story viewer> @imaginationofthings> Posts

Imagination of Things

@imaginationofthings

2.1K

followers

974

following

A play studio for art and design. We turn play into a method for encounter, inquiry & collective imagination with brands & institutions.

POSTS STORIES REELS TAGGED

Download All

We’ve been facilitating design sessions for years, and cards are still our favorite prop to bring to any gathering or discussion. Having groups pick up, prompt, trade, share and show elements of a world we are building together just can’t be achieved so well by any other format.

Here Vitor is testing Lore—Play at @post____office , a card deck about the futures of AI and education, which was part of a commissioned project with @fondationusmfutures by @imaginationofthings

20

0

2 days ago

@theschooloflife.amsterdam has a great curation of prompt card games, but Games for Grown-ups is by far our favorite. It’s full of rituals for memorializing, getting to know each other better, or simply exercising joy with friends around a dinner table. It was a major inspiration for our ‘wild cards’ in our Lore—Play deck, where we prompt people to go outside or interact with each other in strange ways, breaking the seriousness of our card deck, which focuses on role-playing for futures strategy around education and AI. by @imaginationofthings

8

0

3 days ago

We’re also obsessed with prompt cards because you can shuffle and rearrange them so easily. The codex encourages a linear narrative, but cards bring serendipity and chaos. The element of chance, or the possibility of being able to trade, give, leave behind, all expand what an action prompt can be.

Here we are testing Lore—Play, our game for playing out the future of education in a world of AI. At @post____office , friends and colleagues came with valuable feedback. Nothing like a good test with real people to understand what it is you are actually making.

Lore—Play was part of a commissioned project with @fondationusmfutures and @for.everyday.life . by @imaginationofthings

10

0

5 days ago

We’ve been developing a formula for speculative design card decks for over ten years. What keeps coming up is that you have to give people opportunities to step into a new role. Role-playing gives permission to let go of your ego for a short moment, and activate some truth in how you think and see things, because you are no longer defined by your professional title. Often, the roles we create in a card deck are archetypes; open-ended descriptions of attitudes and outlooks, that anyone can pick up and activate using a part of their own personality.

We mix this dynamic with extreme future scenarios. This requires deep creative research from us around the theme of the card deck. Scenarios have to distinct from our current reality, and simultaneously instantly recognizable and understandable, so players can step into the world right away, with instant and easy discussion.

Finally, for this card deck, we created a set of wild cards inspired by Fluxus event scores. After players have been discussing scenarios and challenges, and played their roles, then they can exercise these new ideas in small rituals, like going for a walk and collecting objects that fit into their future discussions.

This card deck is Lore—Play, part of a commissioned project with @fondationusmfutures and @for.everyday.life by @imaginationofthings

41

1

8 days ago

There’s nothing more classic than @brianeno and Peter Schmidt’s Oblique Strategies. We’ve been using prompt cards throughout our entire creative practice, across various projects, and often when we describe this format, we tell people ‘think Eno’s Oblique Strategies’, and immediately everyone just gets it. These cards have such an enduring and global presence. by @imaginationofthings

3

0

11 days ago

Are carabiners having a moment? We became obsessed with @gfsmithpapers carabiner paper samples, which they launched as part of their incredible rebranding by @t_e_m_p_l_o . We’ve always used card decks in our practice, but attaching them to the carabiner was such a fun development for us. We used it for a playful networking card deck that guests in our Unruly Play gathering would prompt themselves and each other with. This form made walking around the room with cards easy swing around in your hand, set aside on your belt loop, or smoothly unclipping cards for trading and sharing information.
First carabiner card deck by Imagination of Things, designed by Monique Grimord and Zala Reberc. Second carabiner paper samples by GF Smith and designed by Templo. by @imaginationofthings

18

0

12 days ago

We’ve always been obsessed with cards with prompted actions on them. The format keeps recurring in our practice because the quiet, voiceless cue of a simple call-to-action on a small piece of paper is so humble and intimate at the same time. Something about it just gets people trying something new.

These are the prompt cards we give out to everyone who attends Unruly Play, our gatherings for the creative industry. Play is permission to do something you wouldn’t normally do, and Unruly Play evenings are full of these small moments of play, to think differently or encounter someone you wouldn’t expect to meet. by @imaginationofthings

13

0

15 days ago

Play is permission.
To get frisky together.

Unruly Play in London.

photos: @blumenkron by @imaginationofthings

49

2

22 days ago

Unruly Play in London was a blast!

Our archive of play in unlikely places, fully activated with an incredible crowd.
Photos: @blumenkron by @imaginationofthings

49

3

24 days ago

We are confronting the challenge to archive our work as we mark our 10 years of the studio soon. It’s an emotional exercise of defining and redefining value in your own work. By archiving you are saying something has meaning and should be remembered, even if for a moment, and by a limited number of people. It’s a ritual that is helping to assign meaning to the work, especially the things we didn’t appreciate or didn’t feel proud of. In the end, seeing everything lined up helps to reveal your journey, and understand how even the cringey past projects contributed to your practice. by @imaginationofthings

2

0

a month ago

We are so inspired by this archiving project by @mindyseu , A Sexual History of the Internet. So many new ways to approach an archive: she performed aspects of the it, plus the way the book is arranged reflects elements of that performance, and she published the book using a financial model that @metalabel__ offers, where each time a book is sold, a portion of the proceeds gets distributed to each of the artists and creators mentioned in it. by @imaginationofthings

3

0

2 months ago

A creative gathering in London for anyone who suspects that play belongs to their industry too. by @imaginationofthings

36

0

2 months ago