Six scores, one card, one colour — see what is strong and what to fix first

What this is

One of our published methods, written in plain language: what it can do, when to use it, what goes in and what comes out.

Why it matters

Most methods are published as papers or code. This one is written so you can decide whether it fits your problem before you invest time in it.

How to use it

Read the page top to bottom. If it matches your question, use the online tool - or subscribe and run it on your own data.

What you get

A clear answer on what the method does and does not do, plus a live curve from our own demand series. Free to read.

Free to readOnline tools from $5 per runSee it →

Demand curve read by this method — A live reading from our own demand series - the shape of the signal this method works on. 570 industries are tracked daily; this is one of them.

Data base: InfoGap own records - 391 Chinese cities x 8 dimensions, 213,208 city-industry rows, 40,499 POIs (central / lifechain, 2026-10-08).

InfoGap Algorithm Handbook · one algorithm per page, plain language · formal name: six-line five-colour profile positioning

1In one line: what it does

Enter age, profession, income and where you are, and it gives you a profile card: six sub-scores, one colour and a few labels.

2When you would use it

Three situations where it helps:

You need to talk to different groups of people about different things (the same product has to be pitched one way to a shop manager and a completely different way to someone retired).

What people usually do: one script for everybody.

Using it: sort the people into groups, work out a profile card for each, and prepare your pitch around the colour and labels on the card.

You want to judge quickly what situation a stranger is in right now.

What people usually do: guess from their age.

Using it: fill in the four items — age, profession, income, where they are — and six sub-scores appear at once, more accurate than guessing.

You want to work out for yourself "what I am really short of, time or money".

What people usually do: say "both" on feel alone.

Using it: lay the six sub-scores out, and the lowest one is your answer.

3What goes in · what comes out

Input (the set below is the one from the real run)

· Age: 32
· Profession: restaurant manager
· Monthly income: 9000
· Where you are (high in big cities, low in small places): 70

What comes out

These numbers are what it produced on the spot, with not a character changed:

Time freedom: 60
Money: 30
Skills: 70
Place: 70
Life stage: 70
Stamina: 70
Total: 370
Colour: yellow
Labels: restaurant manager / yellow stage

—— switch to age 55, retired, monthly income 2000, region score 20 ——
Place drops to 20 and life stage drops to 60, total 310
Labels become: retired / yellow stage

How to read it: look at the lowest two items first. Here it is "money 30", followed by "time freedom 60". So for this kind of person, telling them "this can earn you an extra income" lands better than telling them "this saves you a lot of time". The colour is there for grouping people: people of the same colour are in a similar situation, so they can be addressed together.

📈One chart: the six scores, and why it comes out yellow

The six scores drawn as bars — the item you are short on is what decides your colour.

4How to use it

There is no public calculator for this yet — the method above is the whole procedure; on this site the inputs have to be keyed in by hand.

Have the four inputs ready: age, profession, monthly income, region score
Apply the method above to those four values
Read the six sub-scores, the colour and the labels

5Who it is for

People who deal with different groups of people (in sales, in content, as advisers); people who want to size up a stranger's situation quickly; people who want to work out what they themselves are short of.

6Common questions

Q: Is it accurate?

A: It works out six scores from only four pieces of information, so it is coarse. Its use is sorting a crowd of people quickly, not drawing a conclusion about one person. Where it is badly off, add your own judgement.

Q: What does the colour mean?

A: The colour groups people who are in a similar situation, so you can decide "how to talk to this group". It is not good versus bad, and it does not rank anyone.

Q: Why do six scores come out when I only entered four items?

A: The other two (skills, stamina) are estimates inferred from age and profession. That makes those two the least accurate, so treat them as a rough guide.

7Related algorithms

nine-axis-locator · your position from nine angles four-dim-landing · can it be done at all demand-verify · does anyone really want it ← Back to the Algorithm Handbook Handbook index

✓Why this scenario exists (where the content comes from)

This scenario comes from the record of the "algorithms hitting demand" round: the Shenzhen · coffee shop demand was put up against several algorithms, and this one was judged "useful", the reason being "the six scores genuinely move with the input (age 32 / restaurant manager → time freedom 60, money 30, skills 70; age 55 / retired → another set), output colour + labels. Works as a profile card".

The input and output above come from re-running the exact set of numbers in that record: age 32 / restaurant manager / monthly income 9000 / place 70 → six scores totalling 370, yellow; the comparison case age 55 / retired / monthly income 2000 / place 20 → total 310.

Source: row 32 of the in-house city × industry gap table (Shenzhen, coffee shop); the paired match ledger, group D3.