Phase Curve Knowledge Card
A staged-progression knowledge card — a curve divided into phases with an annotated block under each — where the shape of the curve is treated as an assertion rather than a decoration. Six fields.
We made two examples: how a pattern gets adopted, and for Harbour Row how a boat gets a crew. Each has five phases on a curve that rises rather than bulges, and in both the space under every phase name stays empty because there was no distribution to report.
What matters is what is missing: no percentage under any phase, no zero, no dash, just the name and then the curve. The line rises gently instead of forming a bell, because a bell would claim the middle phase holds the most people and nobody measured that. If you have real figures, give them in the fields; if not, the card invents none. If it comes back on a black ground or with a garbled title, generate again.
Generated for this library
Input
Title HOW A PATTERN GETS ADOPTED - nobody adopts a
pattern the first time they see it
Phases seen · understood · tried once · trusted · reached
for by default
Curve a flat rising progression, not a bell - no data on
distribution, so the curve must not imply one
Voices I have seen this before · I know what it is for · I
used it on one thing · it worked, so I kept it · I
no longer consider alternatives
Actions three per phase
Numbers none - no percentages anywhere
Returned 1 card · 3:4 · bone ground, one blue, one red
curve a rising line, not a bell, divided into five by
vertical dashed rules
labels phase names above the curve, and no figure under
any of them
blocks five below, numbered, each with its phase name, a
yellow highlighted sentence in the reader's voice,
and three bulleted actions
leaders thin red lines from each block to its point on the
curve, one dot each
foot one insight line under a dashed ruleYou fill in 6 fields — the braced lines at the top. Everything below them is fixed.
- 1The title, and the claim under it
- 2The five phases
- 3The curve's shape, and why
- 4One sentence per phase
- 5Three actions per phase
- 6The numbers, if you have any
Phase Curve Knowledge Card
What this makes
A staged-progression knowledge card — a curve divided into phases with an annotated block under each — where the shape of the curve is treated as an assertion rather than a decoration. Six fields.
The whole template, in one piece. The steps below are the entire workflow.
How to use it
- Copy the whole template with the button above.
- Replace the six FIELDS lines. Say plainly in the third whether you have distribution data — if not, ask for a flat progression and the card will not draw a bell.
- Paste it into any image-capable agent or model, in one message. One run returns the card.
- Check for numbers you did not write. Any percentage on the finished card that you cannot trace to your own field was manufactured.
What you swap
- The title, and the claim under it
- HOW A PATTERN GETS ADOPTED — nobody adopts a pattern the first time they see it
- The five phases
- seen · understood · tried once · trusted · reached for by default
- The curve's shape, and why
- a flat rising progression, not a bell — I have no data on how people distribute across these phases, so the curve must not imply one
- One sentence per phase
- I have seen this before · I know what it is for · I used it on one thing · it worked, so I kept it · I no longer consider alternatives
- Three actions per phase
- phase 1: put it where people already look · show it beside real work · repeat it until it is familiar
- The numbers, if you have any
- none — no percentages anywhere on the card
Before it runs
- Phases in a real order. If two could be swapped without anything breaking, they are categories and belong in a different diagram.
- Honesty about distribution. A bell curve is a measurement; if you have not measured it, a flat progression says the same thing without the false claim.
- One sentence per phase in the reader's own voice. It is what makes the card recognisable rather than abstract.
When to reach for it
When something moves through stages: awareness, adoption, skill, a customer's life. Templates in this style draw a bell curve and print a percentage over every phase, which manufactures distribution data nobody measured and dresses it as research.
What changes
- One editorial knowledge card: a phase curve, vertical dividers, numbered blocks beneath, red leader lines tying each block to its point.
- Percentages only when you supply them — and a flat progression instead of a bell when you have no distribution to show.
- A curve whose shape you can defend, since a bell asserts that the middle phase holds the most people and the ends are rare.
- Phase names and advice taken strictly from the fields, because this format reads as somebody's research.
- One highlighted sentence per phase, so each block has a claim rather than a heading and a list.
Pairs with
- Museum Object Anatomy PageA museum-style anatomy page for one made object — callouts, materials, and how it is built — under the rule that the page may not know anything you did not tell it. Six fields.
- Concentric Capability ModelA concentric capability model — one subject, three rings, four sectors — where depth means prerequisite rather than decoration. Six fields.
- Converging Causes DiagramA convergence diagram — several causes funnelling into one hub and out to its effects — governed by the rule that keeps such a diagram true rather than merely tidy. Six fields.