Alignment Chart Template

About the Alignment Chart Template

To understand what an alignment chart does, it’s helpful to understand the concept of alignment. An alignment categorizes a person, thing, or idea along two dimensions: “lawful” versus “chaotic” and “good” versus “evil.” Combine these dimensions in a total of nine different alignments. For example, someone can embody “lawful good” or “chaotic evil.” An alignment chart situates these traits along a 3x3 or 5x5 grid.

Where is the Alignment Chart from

Alignment charts originated in the game Dungeons & Dragons. D&D creator Gary Gygax drew on fantasy stories by authors Michael Moorcock and Poul Anderson to create a fun, memorable system for categorizing players’ characters before playing a game. Characters could be lawful, meaning they respect and follow societal rules; chaotic, meaning they are rebellious and individualistic, or neutral, meaning they aren’t quite lawful or chaotic. Gygax later introduced the cross-cutting traits of “good” and “evil” to add nuance to these descriptors.

Over the past few years, alignment charts have moved beyond the realm of D&D and into classrooms, online quizzes, listicles, and conference rooms. They’re a popular feature on social media accounts for brands and individuals alike.

If you’re a social media manager, you can use an alignment chart as a fun exercise on your Instagram or other accounts, sorting your products, features, favorite movies, or more based on the alignment system.

You can also use an alignment chart template as a lighthearted way to kick off a brainstorm, or as an icebreaker before a meeting. Simply give everyone a topic, or invite your team to pick a topic and let your imagination run wild.

Create your own Alignment Chart

Making your own Alignment Chart is easy. Miro’s virtual collaboration platform is the perfect canvas to create and share them. Get started by selecting the Alignment Chart Template, then take the following steps to make one of your own.

1. Pick a topic. If there’s a book you like, you could align the characters or align several books in the same genre. If you have a line of products, you could align those too. The possibilities are endless! The only constraint is that you have to choose nine things to categorize. If you’re using the alignment chart to kick off a brainstorming session or as an icebreaker, get the whole team involved. Invite anyone to pick a topic.

2. Choose photos or images to represent each thing you’re categorizing. You can use emojis (as seen in our template), stickers, or actual images of the item you’re sorting into the chart. Get creative with it. If you plan on sharing the alignment chart on social media, don’t be afraid to dress it up with colorful fonts and graphics. You want your chart to stand out to inspire your followers to share widely.

3. Use the template to sort each thing. Add your images to the template to signify where something falls in the alignment chart. There are nine total possibilities: lawful good, chaotic good, neutral good, true neutral, lawful neutral, chaotic neutral, lawful evil, chaotic evil, and neutral evil.

4. Share your chart with your team. Once you’re finished sorting, you can share your alignment chart with your team! This is especially useful if you need to gather feedback from your teammates before posting it on social media.