SenseFace
A Self-Guided
Divination System
Challenge: How might we create a divination system?
The design brief for this project was to generate a narrative and dynamic system for oracle divination. The constraints were self-defined and based on the intersection of previous personal experience with Tarot reading and my love of analogue drawing. I always draw faces and thought there was an opportunity to create a solution that allowed for face interpretation.

The first design constraint was determined by my experience reading Tarot. This is a practice that dates back to Egyptian times and was popularized in the 1800's as party entertainment. There are many types of tarot decks, yet the framework under which they operate is similar: you ask a question, draw a card and interpret an answer from the meaning of the card.

I read Tarot for myself, I thought I could replicate this experience in order to teach someone how to use the system by themself, that way, there is no need for an external person to interpret the meaning of the cards. For this, I had to break down the steps in which I do the readings and how I would teach it to someone who is doing this for the first time.

The Tarot is a tactile experience so I wanted to enhance this by generating cards that were by drawn by hand. Based on the Rider Waite Tarot deck, I synthesized the general meanings and interpretations of the cards into my own system. People always interpret the faces I draw so I thought it would be interesting to switch roles and have them interpret themselves.
First Iteration of Prototypes
Using note cards I created a framework based the steps I take when I read Tarot. I leveraged the size and color coding to test how users might go through the steps and follow the instructions. .
Second Iteration of Prototypes
After a first round of testing, the framework proved to be successful enough to keep the form factor. This second stage was a more polished version of what was explored in the first iteration. To enhance the intention of self-guidance, it was designed to exist within a box that a person could individually experience.

The on-boarding kit.

The whole package.

The face components: one eye, a nose and mouth. Enough to get a sense of a face. Each component was categorized and given a meaning according to the line it was drawn with.
User Testing
3 rounds of user testing were conducted. The framework proved to be a successful experience for those familiar with Tarot readings although burdensome for those who don't enjoy reading. Future iterations could include improving the instructions and making the cards have more obvious meaning at first sight.
Conclusions
Overall, the outcome of the solution was positive since it generated a validated package ready for a next step of refinement. The basic framework resonated with users and with a few tweaks could exist in the market.