Last week I came accross a chess program, called Thinking Machine 4 that mapped out the moves it was thinking about making. As the computer processed more and more moves, the board filled with more and more lines. As more and more moves were mapped out, patterns began to form. Paths began to appear between the squares marking the strongest moves. When a strong enough path was worn, the computer played the appropriate move. I have always thought of chess as a beautiful game, but seeing the result of making the thought process visible was really impressive. I can’t help but think that the process of graphic design is similar to chess. The comparison won’t ring true for everyone, but any serious chess player will tell you that success in chess requires something very important to designers: creativity. To steal a quote from Clint’s post last week:

“Creativity?although requiring uncommon skills?is based on a number of controllable processes, such as observation, attention, research, and analysis, and, to a certain extent, on the possession of thinking strategies that combine flexibility with efficiency.”

I hope you have some fun with this game. Thanks to Kadavy.net for bringing the game to my attention.