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This card’s mosaic-like texture is known as a Voronoi Diagram. The pattern is generated from an algorithm which sets the edge of each colored polygon at an equal distance from generator points. When edges intersect, it completes the polygon.

In image processing, segmentation is used to more efficiently determine which parts of the image belong to different objects, much like a coloring book subdivides an image into discrete color regions. It can also be found in pineapples, bubbles and corals, among other natural phenomena where multiple growing objects compete for limited space.

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Here are two ways to interpret this diagram.

Firstly, each shape ‘island’ is defined by the boundaries which are set with its neighbors. It invites the question: to what extent are our native, unchanging states (in this case, shapes) influenced by the proximity or distance of our associates? It is also the case that changing one boundary - the distance between two points - will inevitably cause neighboring shapes to morph as a side effect.

Secondly, it can be viewed as a representation of a technique in psychology called Internal Family Systems, which proposes that within the whole (the card) each of us has an array of characters (the inner polygons) which have different needs and motivations.

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Play with this simulator of a Voronoi diagram.

Watch examples of Voronoi patterns in real life.

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