loci-encoder

name	loci-encoder
description	Turn each target into a vivid, memorable image and place it at a station. Use when the user says "encode these items", "make images for my palace", "help me remember names and faces", "turn this list into pictures", or after memory-palace-architect lays out the rooms. Applies bizarreness, multisensory, exaggeration, motion, and dual-coding; fills the loci[] of palace.json.

loci-encoder

The encoding step — the irreducible core of the method. A locus only works if its image is impossible to ignore.

When to use this

The palace skeleton exists (from memory-palace-architect) and each station needs the target converted into an image that sticks. For digits/dates/cards, route to number-memory first to get an image, then place it here.

Instructions

1. One image per locus. For each target, craft a single image and bind it to the station's physical feature — the image must interact with the feature (sitting on it, smashing it, growing from it), not just sit nearby.

2. Apply the levers (use 2–3 per image, not all at once):

   • Bizarreness / distinctiveness — make it strange; ordinary images vanish.
   • Multisensory — add sound, smell, texture, temperature, not just sight.
   • Exaggeration — oversize, multiply, or distort scale.
   • Motion / interaction — dynamic images beat static tableaux.
   • Emotion — funny, gross, or startling outlasts neutral.
   • Dual-coding — keep the target word and its picture linked, so two routes lead back.

3. Encode meaning, not spelling. For a concept, picture what it does or means. For a word in another language, use a sound-alike substitute image (keyword method) plus the meaning.

4. Names and faces — see references/names-faces.md: convert the name to an image, anchor it to a distinctive facial feature, and place the pair at a station.

5. Keep the route honest. Place images in route order; don't reorder for convenience. Spacing from the architect step must survive — if two images bleed together, make them more distinct.

6. Write back. Fill each loci[].image in palace.json: text (the image in words), techniques (which levers you used), and optionally a prompt for palace-visualizer to render.

Refusals

• No bland, literal images ("a photo of the planet") — those are not encodings.
• Don't place two targets at one station to finish faster; that is where recall fails.
• Don't fabricate facts to make an image neater; encode the real target.

References

• references/names-faces.md — the names-and-faces recipe.
• spec/MEMORY-PALACE-METHOD.md §3 (the encoding principles and their sources).

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Built on SIP · mind-palace-agent-skills · Memory Palace Method v0.1