Workflows / 02

Decode ReferencesPlanned

Turn a board of 20–60 references into what they actually share, what is incidental, and what to cut.

Not built. It needs image understanding mapped onto Elements, which does not exist. Today you do the reading yourself, using the Element pages.

What you bring

  • A reference set: a board, screenshots, or saved postsRequiredPlanned
  • Board import from Are.naOptionalPlanned

Before → Aesthetary → After

Before

  • Are.na channel
  • Cosmos cluster
  • Pinterest board
  • Client’s screenshots

Aesthetary

  • Recognising candidate Elements in each imagePlanned
  • Separating diagnostic from incidental ElementsRequires more research
  • Mapping the shared Elements to likely AestheticsPlanned
  • Flagging references that conflict with the restPlanned

Leaves with: Reference Diagnosis

After

What leaves Aesthetary

Reference Diagnosis: Planned

Reference Diagnosis

  • Likely Aesthetics, ranked
  • Shared diagnostic Elements
  • References to drop
  • Open questions, with confidence

What exists today

Nothing. A human reading the board against the Element and Aesthetic pages.

Worked example

Planned

No worked example.

Decoding is not built, and a worked example would have to be written by a person reading a real board against the Aesthetary data. That is the planned first test, before any image reading is built. Nothing is shown rather than a simulated diagnosis.

Routes

3 · products as routes, not destinations

Are.na channelPlanned

Into Aesthetary · Are.na

Import a channel and diagnose it. Not built; Are.na’s API terms have not been checked.

Cosmos clusterPlanned

Into Aesthetary · Cosmos

Export or screenshot a cluster and upload the set. Not built; Cosmos export options have not been checked.

Pinterest boardPlanned

Into Aesthetary · Pinterest

Upload the images from a board. Not built.

Failure modes

Visual examples planned

  • Averaging the board: taking a bit of every reference instead of what they share.
  • Reading an incidental trait (a colour that happens to recur) as the direction.
  • Keeping the one reference that pulls the whole set toward a different language.

What Aesthetary does not do here

  • Store or host referencesCosmos, Are.na, Pinterest
  • Extract a brand from a screenshot or URLNobody, here: that is brand cloning

Try it

Read a board against the Imagery page →What carries the look, per Aesthetic →

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