Oblique Strategies
Oblique Strategies: When creatively stuck, an indirect prompt often works better than direct problem-solving. Brian Eno's deck of aphoristic cards provides 100+ oblique instructions: paradoxical, lateral, or perspective-shifting cues that redirect creative energy sideways β bypassing the mental rut and opening unexpected paths forward.
What Are Oblique Strategies?β
Oblique Strategies was created by musician Brian Eno (of Roxy Music and legendary producer of Talking Heads, U2, and Coldplay) and artist Peter Schmidt as a tool for their own creative practice. The first edition was printed in 1975 as a deck of approximately 100 cards. Each card bore a short instruction or aphorism designed to disrupt creative fixation by approaching the problem from an unexpected angle.
The "oblique" in the name refers to the indirect approach: rather than addressing a creative problem head-on (which reinforces the rut), the prompts redirect attention to a different dimension, timescale, perspective, or constraint. "Remove specifics and convert to ambiguities" might lead a musician to erase detailed notes and leave only mood. "What mistakes did you make?" might lead a writer to review rejected drafts for accidentally good sentences.
The method is grounded in an insight that Eno articulated explicitly: in creative work, the direct approach ("make this song better") often produces incremental refinements within the existing frame. Oblique approaches ("what if the tempo were backwards?", "what's the most important note and can you keep only that?") bypass the frame entirely and produce more radical alternatives.
Oblique Strategies has been used by a remarkable range of artists and has influenced creative practice far beyond its origin in music. David Bowie used them during the Berlin Trilogy sessions. Coldplay and LCD Soundsystem have cited them. The principle has been adapted for software design, advertising, and business problem-solving.
How It Worksβ
Step 1: Identify the creative block
β What specifically are you stuck on?
β Name the thing that feels wrong or incomplete
Step 2: Draw (or generate) an Oblique Strategies card
β Physical deck (available for purchase)
β Digital: oblique-strategies.com generates random cards
β Or write your own prompts in the same spirit
Step 3: Apply the instruction
β Take the instruction seriously, even if it seems irrelevant
β Interpret it literally, then metaphorically
β Ask: "What would this mean for my current work?"
Step 4: Act on the first useful interpretation
β Try the action, even if it seems wrong or destructive
β The point is movement, not perfection
Step 5: Evaluate the result
β Did it unlock something? Continue in that direction
β If not: draw another card
Selected example prompts (from various editions):
- Use an old idea
- What would your closest friend do?
- What mistakes did you make last time?
- Remove specifics and convert to ambiguities
- Honour thy error as a hidden intention
- Only one element of each kind
- What is the simplest version?
- Make a sudden, destructive, unpredictable action; incorporate
- Your mistake was a hidden intention
Three Real-World Examplesβ
David Bowie β "Heroes" Recording Sessionβ
During the recording of Heroes (1977, Berlin), Eno used Oblique Strategies to shape the arrangements. The album's distinctive guitar sound (Robert Fripp's distorted, sustaining tones) was the result of an Oblique Strategies prompt to "play from your subconscious" given to Fripp, who responded by improvising freely over the rhythm tracks. The instruction redirected Fripp from skilled execution to spontaneous expression, producing a guitar part that defined the song.
Coldplay β "Yellow" Arrangementβ
Coldplay producer Ken Nelson has described using Oblique Strategies prompts during recording sessions to break arrangement debates. When the band was stuck between two equally defended musical directions, drawing a card that said "Only work to the taste of the creator" ended the debate by refocusing on the band's authentic preference rather than commercial calculation.
Advertising Creative Blockβ
A copywriter at an advertising agency was stuck on headline options for a car launch. She drew the card: "What is the most important part? Repeat it." She had been writing headlines that tried to capture multiple selling points. The card's instruction led her to identify the single most important thing (the car's silence) and repeat a variation of it three times across a three-headline series, creating the final campaign's structure.
When to Use Itβ
β Oblique Strategies works best for:
- Creative blocks in artistic, writing, design, or music work
- When direct approaches have produced only incremental variations
- When you've been working on something for so long you can't see it freshly
- As a warm-up exercise before starting a creative session
β Less useful for:
- Technical or analytical problems where logical progress is needed
- Very early stages where the problem isn't defined (you need some material to redirect)
- Group settings without strong facilitation (the prompts can feel arbitrary without trust in the method)
| Pairs well with | Why |
|---|---|
| Forced Connections | Both use external stimuli to redirect creative energy sideways |
| Lateral Thinking | Oblique Strategies is a practitioner's implementation of lateral thinking principles |
| Reframing | Each card reframes the problem; Oblique Strategies provides a rich library of reframes |
| Six Thinking Hats | Six Hats provides structured perspective shifts; Oblique Strategies provides random ones |
Common Misuses and Limitationsβ
Dismissing cards that seem inapplicable. The instruction is designed to seem inapplicable β that's what makes it oblique. The practice of applying an apparently irrelevant instruction is where the creative work happens. Dismissing cards until one "makes sense" defeats the mechanism.
Using it as a decision-making tool. Oblique Strategies is a generative technique, not a decision-making tool. It produces new creative directions; it doesn't determine which direction is best. The output requires artistic judgment to evaluate.
Applying it too early. The technique is most useful when you have enough material to work with that the oblique instruction can redirect, modify, or react against. Very early in a project, before any material exists, oblique strategies have nothing to work on.
Related Modelsβ
| Model | Relationship |
|---|---|
| Forced Connections | Both use unexpected stimuli to redirect creativity; Forced Connections is more analytical |
| Lateral Thinking | Oblique Strategies implements lateral thinking as a practitioner's card deck |
| Random Stimulation | Both use randomness as a creative input; differ in the nature of the stimulus |
Frequently Asked Questionsβ
Can I create my own Oblique Strategies-style prompts?
Absolutely β and Eno and Schmidt did exactly that, writing their own cards as they found personally useful prompts. The principles for writing good prompts: (1) short and memorable; (2) paradoxical or counter-intuitive; (3) not specific to a single medium; (4) actionable (implies something you can do or change). Your prompts should reflect your personal creative blocks and the specific creative challenges of your discipline. Many teams in advertising, software, and design have developed domain-specific prompt decks in the Oblique Strategies spirit.
How literally should I interpret the cards?
Start literally, then expand metaphorically if the literal interpretation doesn't apply. "Remove specifics and convert to ambiguities" applied literally to a piece of music might mean erasing specific notes. Applied metaphorically in an advertising context, it might mean replacing specific product claims with emotional impressions. Both applications are valid. The goal is to find the interpretation that creates useful creative movement, not to find the "correct" interpretation.
Are Oblique Strategies applicable outside creative arts?
Yes, with adaptation. The core principle β using oblique prompts to escape fixation β applies anywhere directed thinking has become stuck. Software engineers, product designers, and business strategists use adapted versions. The prompts may need domain adaptation: "What would your closest friend do?" works universally; "Make a sudden, destructive, unpredictable action; incorporate" needs more translation in a business context ("what if we did the opposite of our current strategy and kept the useful parts?").
Further Readingβ
- Eno, B. & Schmidt, P. (1975β). Oblique Strategies β the original deck (multiple editions)
- oblique-strategies.com β digital card generator
- Sheppard, D. (2008). On Some Faraway Beach: The Life and Times of Brian Eno β context for the deck's creation and use
Apply with AIβ
π Get oblique prompts for your creative block from MindMax β
This page is part of the MindMax Mental Models Knowledge Base.