Overview2 of 4

The work

Who the system serves: the three pillars of the practice, the public apps under each, and what their screens have to hold.

The work, by pillar

The three pillars, as drawn on aroughidea.com: "practice, experiments, and pedagogy for an AI-first world", modeled on the Bauhaus. The work sits at their intersection.

Each public app sits under the pillar it mostly serves; some could sit under two. One group is not a pillar: the tools, which serve the work rather than make it. Some run the programs; the rest are the infrastructure the apps stand on.

Decided the three pillars; Speculative Journalism as practice; Letterly, TimeTwin and Obscura Designer as pedagogy; the tools groupRecommended where the rest go

PracticePillar · 5 apps

The practice's public face, client work, and speculative design that sets a future context to act in.

A Rough Ideaaroughidea.comHTML
AI Research Platformairesearch.aroughidea.comNext.js
Semantic Cartographersemanticcartographer.aroughidea.comReact
DDO demosddo.aroughidea.comHTML
Speculative Journalismspeculative-journalism.aroughidea.comReact

ExperimentsPillar · 9 apps

Prototypes and artworks built to explore how we live with what we build: what it changes, and what it makes possible.

Virtual Colloquy of Mobilescolloquyofmobiles.aroughidea.comThree.js
ChatPlantUMLchatplantuml.aroughidea.comNext.js
GraphWisegraphwise.tjmcleish.comNext.js
Relatiorelatio.aroughidea.comNext.js
LingoLinklingolink.aroughidea.comVite
QR Studioqrstudio.aroughidea.comVite
OpticEvadeopticevade.aroughidea.comVite
Design System MCP demodesignsystem-mcp-demo.aroughidea.comExpress
Semantic Scoutsemanticscout.tjmcleish.comHTML

PedagogyPillar · 9 apps

Courses, workshops, and the tools they teach with.

Workshopsworkshops.aroughidea.comVitePress
Prototyping Toolkitprototypingtoolkit.aroughidea.comVitePress
LLM Explorablesllmexplorables.aroughidea.comHTML
Agent Design Studioagentstudio.aroughidea.comReact
autoresearch demoautoresearch-demo.fly.devPython
MQTT demomqtt-demo.aroughidea.comHTML
Letterlyletterly.aroughidea.comNext.js
TimeTwintimetwin.aroughidea.comNext.js
Obscura Designerobscuradesigner.aroughidea.comHTML

ToolsNot a pillar · 8 apps

What serves the work rather than being it. Running the programs: schedules, timers, cohort teams, exhibitions, used on screen at a workstation.

Timetablestimetables.aroughidea.comNext.js
Orbital Chronoschronos.aroughidea.comVite
DFN Teamsdfnteams.tjmcleish.comVite
MDES Exhibition Plannermdesexhibitionplanner.aroughidea.comNext.js

Building the apps: the shared infrastructure every app stands on. Mostly unseen; only a few screens need the design system.

Design Systemdesign-system.aroughidea.comHTML
Access platformauth.aroughidea.comExpress
Platform shelltesting.aroughidea.comNext.js
OpenRouter registryopenrouter-registry.aroughidea.comNext.js

TJ's own: thomasjmcleish.comIts own site, linked to A Rough Idea

The person behind the practice, on a site of its own. Its public pages will be rebuilt on v2 around the reframed work. Owner-only for now are the books and the workroom; the writing in them is the foundation the practice stands on.

Also outside the pillars: chickenshitartist.com, and 37 projects with no public address (prototypes, experiments, archived demos).

What the work covers

The subjects range widely; what matters for a design system is what the screens have to hold. Every item here is on a live page today, and each needs a rule.

Subjects

How language models workDesigning agentsThe AI landscape, as researchA 1968 conversation between machinesNews from decades aheadSensors, servos and MQTTCamera obscurasLetters, diagrams and calendars made by conversationFamilies, cohorts and exhibitionsTimetablesPrivacy and surveillance

What the screens hold

Guides and explainersControls and formsText streaming inCharts and data colors2D maps and networks3D scenesNarration, captions and clipsDocuments an AI wroteTables and schedulesQR codes and printed cards