Evidence
Something a client said, kept whole and kept theirs. It lives once, at project level, and themes point at it, so one sentence can inform several themes at once.
How Formform thinks
A Formform project is made of what your clients said, the branches you’re exploring, the decisions you’ve made inside them, and the boundaries around all of it. This chapter takes each in turn.
Evidence, what the project knows
Formform starts from what your clients actually say, not from assumptions or templates. Each answer is captured whole as a piece of evidence, kept in the words it arrived in and linked to the person who said it.
Where a statement came from
Origin
Whose observation you are about to rely on. Four kinds of authority along one line, and not four grades of quality.
ClientSaid by the person it is about, pulled out of their interview.
DesignerYours. A site visit, a call, a measurement, a hunch.
ResearchAbout people in general rather than about these people.
DerivedNobody said it. Worked out from the decisions you make.
Said by the person it is about
Nobody said it
Inside the client end
The same question one zoom closer: how far a statement travelled before it reached you. No number is shown for this, and it is the most reliable sign that somebody in the household has not been interviewed yet.
One step"I need the light on my desk in the afternoon."
Two steps"My wife wants a home office."
Three steps"They said the architect suggested a skylight."
Themes. The branches you explore
A theme is a named branch of the design: one line of thinking you follow through the project, where what your clients want meets what you decide.
Two readings of one field
ThemeThe Quiet Core
ThemeWeekend Gathering Kitchen
Evidence"I can't take a client call while the saw is running."
Evidence"What breaks my day is not knowing when it's coming."
Evidence"Saturday afternoon is mine. I cook, and I spread out."
Evidence"The garage is the only room with a door to the outside."
Evidence"I want to see people while I'm cooking, not with my back to them."
points atpoints atThemeThe Quiet Core
points at
Evidence"I can't take a client call while the saw is running."
Evidence"What breaks my day is not knowing when it's coming."
Evidence"Saturday afternoon is mine. I cook, and I spread out."read by both
Evidence"The garage is the only room with a door to the outside."read by both
ThemeWeekend Gathering Kitchen
points at
Evidence"Saturday afternoon is mine. I cook, and I spread out."read by both
Evidence"The garage is the only room with a door to the outside."read by both
Evidence"I want to see people while I'm cooking, not with my back to them."
Moves. The decisions you make
A move is a single decision you make inside a theme. It is a design assertion: something you decided, as distinct from something you found.
What each one rests on
Sarah
Evidence"I can't take a call while the saw is running."
Evidence"It's the unpredictability, not the volume."
JamesEvidence"I'm out there weekday evenings, 7:30 to 10."
Evidence"I need alone time, but I don't want to be banished."
Evidence"By four the light is gone from my desk."
Move · IdeaFit the office with a solid door and a working latch.
Move · IdeaRelocate the evening woodworking to the detached garage.
addressesaddressesNo line arrives here. Nothing anyone has decided answers this yet.Move · IdeaFit the office with a solid door and a working latch.
addresses one
Evidence"I can't take a call while the saw is running."
Move · IdeaRelocate the evening woodworking to the detached garage.
addresses four statements
Evidence"I can't take a call while the saw is running."
Evidence"It's the unpredictability, not the volume."
Evidence"I'm out there weekday evenings, 7:30 to 10."
Evidence"I need alone time, but I don't want to be banished."
Evidence"By four the light is gone from my desk."
No line arrives here. Nothing anyone has decided answers this yet.
Constraints. The boundaries you work inside
A constraint is a boundary the work has to stay inside. A budget, a planning limit, a line you have drawn yourself. Every later decision is measured against it.
How far a limit reaches
Project scope
ConstraintKeep the whole renovation under 180k. Sarah stated it, so it is read-only.
A project constraint reaches every decision, whichever theme it was made in. A theme constraint reaches the decisions inside that theme.
Theme scope · The Quiet Core
ConstraintNothing in this theme touches the load-bearing wall.
measured against both
MoveInsulate the garage walls.
MoveA solid door on the shop side.
measured against the project limit only
MoveOpen the garage to the kitchen. Made in another theme, so the theme limit above never reaches it.
What happens on its own
One action sets the system working without being asked: confirming a move. The moment you do, the rest of the evidence is read again to see what changed. It finds the tension, gathers the clashing lines and drafts the options, then stops. The decision stays yours.
One move confirmed, and what the re-read turned up
Move · just confirmedGarage workshop. Decided inside The Quiet Core, and the only thing you did.wants the garage
is read against
Everything already there
ThemeThe Quiet Core
MoveA solid door
ThemeWeekend Gathering Kitchen
MoveGarage as overflowwants the garage
MoveIsland seating
Constraint · ProjectNothing structural to the party wall.
turns up
ConflictThe workshop and Garage as overflow want the same garage. Both sides are flagged, not just the new one.
GapSarah asked for daylight at the bench. No move addresses it.
BlindspotNobody has been asked about the entrance.
Briefs, what comes out
A brief is the deliverable: your decisions written up for someone else to read. Because each move stays tied to its evidence, every claim in it traces back to a client’s own words. Nothing in a Formform brief is unsourced.
A line in the brief, walked backwards
Brief lineThe garage takes the evening work, and the bench in the house keeps the quiet work.
cites
Move · DirectionRelocate the evening woodworking to the detached garage.
informed by
Evidence · Direct quote"I need alone time to recharge, but I don't want to be banished out there."
said by
PersonJames Mitchell, in his own interview.
The words
Eight terms the rest of the guide uses without stopping to explain. This is the one page they all sit on together.
Theme
A named branch of the design you are exploring, defined by the evidence pointing at it and the decisions you have made in it.
Move
A design assertion, something you decided. Every move belongs to a theme and carries the evidence that informed it.
direction
A move you have committed to.
idea
A move you are still pressure-testing.
Constraint
A boundary the work stays inside. Every later decision is measured against it.
Gap
Something a client wants that no move addresses yet. It closes when a move covers it.
Blindspot
An area of a theme where nobody has been asked yet. It closes when new interview evidence fills it.
Conflict
A decision that cannot hold alongside something else you have committed: another move, or a constraint.
Brief
The deliverable. Generated from the moves you committed, steered in chat, with every claim carrying its source.
What this is for
All 12 partsArchitects interview their clients, then write a brief. Everything real is said in the first, every decision made in the second, and the reasoning between is invisible. Nobody can check it, and when it’s wrong you find out in design development.