A Rough Idea
A consultancy operating at the intersection of systems design and machine behavior. We build instruments to make the mechanics of intelligence observable.
Structure before expression.
Featured Work
Colloquy of Mobiles
A cybernetic installation investigating machine conversation.
Originally conceived by Gordon Pask in 1968 as an experiment in machine-to-machine conversation, the Colloquy of Mobiles has been reconstructed and extended by Thomas J McLeish. The installation explores how simple machines can develop shared protocols for communication through light, sound, and movement.
Centre Pompidou, Paris · ZKM, Karlsruhe · UC Berkeley, 2026
ENTER THE COLLOQUY →Observe
Instruments that make model behavior directly visible.
observe
Token + TokenID Pairs
Visual map of a complete token vocabulary rendered as a color field.
VISIT →openprocessing.org
observe
Text Completions Animation
Watch next-token prediction unfold. Type a prompt, see the probability distribution, select the next word.
VISIT →openprocessing.org
observe
Temperature and Sampling
Interactive exploration of how temperature reshapes token probability distributions.
VISIT →openprocessing.org
observe
Semantic Embeddings Comparison
Place two texts side by side. See their embeddings rendered as colored lines. Compare cosine similarity.
VISIT →openprocessing.org
observe
Text Embeddings Visualizer
Navigate a 3D scatter plot of token embeddings with adjustable chunking and PCA.
VISIT →tjmcleish.com
observe
Semantic Scout
Paste text. Get paragraphs, sentences, and words chunked, embedded, and plotted as a UMAP graph.
VISIT →tjmcleish.com
observe
Orthographic Plane Displacement
Geometry meets projected texture. Manipulate displacement, distortion, and pattern in real time.
VISIT →vercel.app
observe
Color Converter
Foundational CMYK to RGB conversion with Lab color space and multiple methods.
VISIT →vercel.app
Model
Instruments for exploring model parameters and configuration.
model
GraphWise Explorer
Upload text, extract a concept graph, visualize it as a 3D force-directed network.
VISIT →tjmcleish.com
model
GraphWise Text to JSON
Two-stage AI pipeline: source text to structured notes to validated JSON concept map.
VISIT →tjmcleish.com
model
Relatio
A living map of relationships. 3D force-directed graph of people and connections.
VISIT →aroughidea.com
model
DFN Teams
Cohort team analysis. Radar charts of role distributions, individual profiles, and team planning.
VISIT →tjmcleish.com
model
CliftonStrengths Theme Ring
Hierarchical edge bundling of all 34 themes. Hover to reveal similarity relationships.
VISIT →aroughidea.com
model
CliftonStrengths Projections
UMAP, PCA, t-SNE, and MDS scatter of individuals by strength profiles in 2D and 3D.
VISIT →aroughidea.com
model
Permutohedron
All permutations of a 4-element set as a 3D geometric structure with interactive distance metrics.
VISIT →aroughidea.com
model
Permutation Distances Explorer
Compare permutations using Hamming, Kendall tau, Spearman, Cayley, and Euclidean metrics.
VISIT →aroughidea.com
model
Permutation Spark Grid
All permutations as sparkline mini-charts. Explore distribution patterns at a glance.
VISIT →aroughidea.com
model
Permutation Heatmaps
Aggregate frequency heatmaps. Each row a permutation, columns positions, color shows frequency.
VISIT →aroughidea.com
Converse
Interfaces built around language model conversation.
converse
Agent Studio
Design a single agent. Select a model, write system instructions, set temperature, test through conversation.
VISIT →aroughidea.com
converse
Agentic Studio
Visual flow builder for multi-agent systems. Draft, Critique, Revise. Canvas with execution timeline.
VISIT →aroughidea.com
converse
Letterly
Messy thoughts to polished letters. Multi-agent writing with editor review and refinement.
VISIT →aroughidea.com
converse
ChatPlantUML
Describe a workflow. An agent plans the diagram, generates PlantUML, renders and corrects it.
VISIT →aroughidea.com
converse
AI Leads
Research assistant for AI tools, models, and news from Product Hunt, Hugging Face, and more.
VISIT →aroughidea.com
converse
Eliza
A clone of Weizenbaum's DOCTOR script with reasoning traces and academic references.
VISIT →aroughidea.com
converse
MQTT Demo
Browser-based MQTT publish/subscribe. Connect to a broker, send and receive messages live.
VISIT →aroughidea.com
converse
TimeTwin
AI-powered calendar with natural language event management and an evaluation framework.
VISIT →aroughidea.com
Create
Tools that use models to assist in producing output.
create
GlyphLab / Vector Genesis
Upload an SVG. AI generates evolutionary variations. Keep or reject across rounds.
VISIT →vercel.app
create
Agentic 3D Sculptor
Describe a shape in words. An AI builds it in Three.js. Iterate through conversation.
VISIT →vercel.app
create
MDes Exhibition Planner
Spatial layout tool for exhibition design. Projects mapped across rooms with equipment tracking.
VISIT →aroughidea.com
create
Orbital Chronos
A harmonic orbital timer. Concentric rings count down. Minimal, precise, beautiful.
VISIT →vercel.app
Thomas J McLeish
Creative Technologist