The Canvas Directory
Every canvas worth knowing.
Credited properly.
Somebody made each of these. Osterwalder and Pigneur spent years on the nine boxes everyone now sketches from memory; Ivanov and Voloshchuk gave away the Team Canvas with a license that says share it onward. This page is the map and the credits: 75 canvases, who made them, when, under what terms, with a page on each and a link to the original.
Where a creator's license lets us show the canvas, we do, with their credit line. Where it doesn't, we don't. That's the whole editorial policy.
Find your canvas
Not sure where to start? Say what you're walking into and we'll point you at the right one.
Describe what you're walking into. A team that's never worked together, a strategy day, a product that won't move. A sentence is plenty.
Cynefin Framework
Sorts a situation into Clear, Complicated, Complex, Chaotic, or Confused, so the response actually matches the problem.
by Dave Snowden (The Cynefin Company), 1999
Data Landscape Canvas
Four quadrants — owned, earned, paid, public data — rated by availability, to check a data product has data.
by Martin Szugat (Datentreiber GmbH)
Design Criteria Canvas
A MoSCoW grid that turns a vision into non-negotiable, SMART criteria before you build.
by Patrick van der Pijl & Business Models Inc. (Design a Better Business)
Experiment Canvas
Six boxes that turn a risky assumption into a falsifiable test with a recorded verdict.
by Ash Maurya (Design a Better Business), 2016
The Experiment Library
A 44-experiment reference poster, sorted by Discovery/Validation phase, for picking the right test for an assumption.
by David J. Bland & Alexander Osterwalder (Strategyzer AG), 2019
Fact Finder Card
A three-step card for separating what happened from what people think it means, before acting on either.
by Stefano Mastrogiacomo & Alexander Osterwalder (Strategyzer AG), 2021
Force Field Analysis
Weighs the forces driving a change against the forces restraining it, so the plan tips the actual balance.
by Kurt Lewin, 1943
Game Design Canvas
A seven-cell canvas that breaks a game down to player, core loop, mechanics, and the feeling it leaves.
by Edugametion
Goal Mapping
A four-round exercise that turns a room of individual wishes into a short, ranked list of shared goals.
by Austin Govella (PXD.GD)
Heuristic Evaluation Board
Three to five evaluators independently score a product against Nielsen's 10 usability heuristics, then merge findings.
by Jakob Nielsen & Nielsen Norman Group, 1994
Iceberg Systems Analysis
Four layers below a visible event — patterns, structures, mental models — for finding what drives a chronic problem.
by Systems-thinking tradition & Erin Ingram
Innovation Matrix
A 2x2 that filters an idea pool toward substantial change, not just easy wins.
by Patrick van der Pijl & Business Models Inc. (Design a Better Business)
Innovation Metrics Framework
A three-level scorecard — hypothesis, business model, portfolio — for judging innovation work at the right altitude.
by Alexander Osterwalder & Yves Pigneur & Alan Smith & Frederic Etiemble (Strategyzer AG), 2020
Investment Readiness Level
A nine-rung ladder of evidence a venture climbs before it's ready to raise.
by Steve Blank (Design a Better Business), 2013
The Learning Culture Canvas
A seven-cell audit of whether a team's habits and incentives actually support learning — or just claim to.
by Tini Studio
Spotted a wrong credit? Tell us and we'll fix it the same week. Know a canvas that belongs here? Send it with a link to the original.
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Recent Comments (3)
This workshop was incredibly effective for our remote team! We adapted it slightly for a virtual setting and it worked wonderfully. The key was breaking into smaller breakout rooms.
Great resource! One tip: prepare all materials the day before to avoid any last-minute rushes.
Used this for our quarterly planning session. The structured approach really helped us stay on track!