storylabs^™

Every framework begins with a geometry of thought. That's what mental models are, after all. Then, tucked inside each shape is a story waiting to unfold.

Four frameworks. Sacred geometry meets design thinking. Below are the shapes, the stories inside them, and the exercises to try them yourself.

as taught at Parsons School of Design

Sacred geometry is older than business strategy by a few thousand years. We brought it back — not as mysticism, but because shapes hold relationships, and relationships are the only thing any organization actually runs on.

The Vesica Piscis

advanced value proposition

Two circles. Your truth and theirs. The vesica piscis is what happens when they overlap. That almond-shaped space — the mandorla — is where new value is born. Not in what you offer. Not in what they need. In the exchange between.

deployed with the United Nations, Petronas, Thrive Health Systems & Parsons

the exercise in 5 steps

01 Draw two circles. Label the left one our truth and the right one their truth. Be honest. If your truth is "we need revenue," write that. The circle won't judge you.

02 Fill each circle independently. What do you bring? What do they actually need — not what your pitch deck says they need.

03 Overlap them. Find where both truths converge. This is the mandorla. If nothing overlaps, congratulations — you've found the real problem.

04 Name the value that lives only in the overlap. Something neither side could create alone. If one side could do it solo, it's not a vesica — it's a sales pitch.

05 Design the exchange. The mandorla isn't a deliverable. It's a relationship. Build accordingly.

One circle is a statement.Two circles in relationship is a story.

value proposition empathy exchange

Value isn't created in isolation. It's born in the overlap.

The Atomic Frame

cultural context mapping

Culture is the water the fish doesn't notice. The Atomic Frame maps it. Six points orbit a central truth — hexagonal, like a honeycomb. Bees figured this out millions of years before McKinsey. Six tensions, maximum insight, minimum corporate theater.

deployed with Saudi Arabia, GEMS Dubai, Fortune 500 clients & Parsons

the exercise in 6 steps

01 Draw the hexagon. Place the organization's stated core value in the center. The one on the wall, the website, or the mug nobody drinks from.

02 At each of the six points, place a cultural tension: innovation vs. stability, autonomy vs. control, speed vs. quality. Ask the room. They know.

03 Draw lines from each point to the center. Does the stated core value actually connect to this tension? Or is the center a fiction?

04 Mark which tensions are spoken about and which are tolerated in silence. The gap between those lists is where the real culture lives.

05 Rewrite the center. If the original value doesn't hold, name what actually does. This is the uncomfortable part. Also the useful part.

06 Design the narrative that connects the new center to the six tensions. The story the organization needs to tell itself — before it can tell anyone else.

culture design polarity context

Culture isn't what you declare. It's the tension between what you declare and what you tolerate.

The Infinite Loop

competing values, shared narrative

All of life exists in competing values. You want to eat late and be fit. Your business wants innovation and your board wants predictability. The Infinite Loop doesn't resolve the tension. It names it. And in the naming, it becomes something you can design with.

deployed with Dubai World Expo 2020, Cherokee Nation & Parsons

the exercise in 5 steps

01 Draw the infinity symbol vertically. Label the top loop thesis (the thing you want) and the bottom antithesis (the thing working against it). Don't be polite about the antithesis.

02 Fill the thesis loop: intent, aspiration, the future you're designing toward. "Growth" isn't specific. "20% market share in Southeast Asia by Q3" is specific.

03 Fill the antithesis loop: every fear, competing priority, and unspoken "yes, but." This is where the truth lives. Invite it in. Offer it coffee.

04 Mark the crossing point. This is the synthesis — the story that holds both truths. Name it in one sentence. If you can't, you haven't found it yet.

05 Read the synthesis aloud. If both sides of the room nod — even reluctantly — you have a shared narrative. If one side flinches, loop back. That's what the shape is for.

narrative tension ownership

A story that only holds one truth is called propaganda. A story that holds two is called wisdom.

The Dreamcatcher

empathy in motion

Our founder once took apart a dreamcatcher to see how it worked. Bad idea — nightmares for years. But the lesson stuck: the structure matters. Three spirals in perpetual becoming — empathy that moves, not empathy you check off in week two of a design sprint.

deployed with the United Nations, GEMS Dubai, Wharton-Smith & Parsons

the exercise in 7 steps

01 Ask the only question that matters: who is the hero of this story? Write their name. Not your organization's name. Theirs.

02 Draw three spirals from a center point. Label them understand, create, and filter. These are empathy's three motions.

03 Spiral inward (understand): What does the hero need? What do they fear? What have they tried? What do they believe about themselves? Listen like you mean it.

04 Spiral outward (create): What can you build that serves what you just heard? Not what you planned to build. What the spiral just taught you to build.

05 Filter through the dreamcatcher: Is this constructive or destructive? Constructive gives more than it takes. Destructive takes more than it gives. No exceptions.

06 Return to center. Can you accept the hero? Even the messy parts? If no, spiral again. Empathy is not agreement. It's acceptance. There's a chasm between the two.

07 Repeat. The spirals never stop. Neither does the hero's story. This is a practice, not a phase.

empathy dreamcatching design

Four shapes. Four dimensions. One practice.

Vesica Piscis

Where does new value live?

Atomic Frame

What forces shape the culture?

Infinite Loop

What tensions must the story hold?

Dreamcatcher

Who is this for, and can we serve them?

They're not sequential. They're dimensional — four lenses on the same living system. Seven years, five continents. The shapes hold.

These four are the foundational storylabs. Dozens of others exist — and we design custom frameworks for every engagement.

DEPLOYED WITH

Taught at Parsons. Practiced in boardrooms. Yours to explore.

Try the exercises. Take the course. Or get in touch and let us build something together.

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