TALE: A Strategic Designer’s Creative Journey

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TALE500

12 min readJan 30, 2023

Significant Insights and Meaningful Achievements

TALE stands for Thematic Analysis Learning Engagement. TALE was launched as a new knowledge center for the Thematic Engagement project.

Thematic Engagement refers to the “Person — Theme” relationship and interaction.

As a knowledge center, TALE considers the “Person — Theme” relationship and interaction as its primary object.

Anthropologist Morris Opler (1945) developed a theoretical concept called “cultural themes” for studying culture. Career counseling therapists and psychologists also developed a theoretical concept called “life themes”.

The Thematic Engagement Project uses the “Themes of Practice” approach and the “Project Engagement” approach to connect “Life Themes” and “Cultural Themes”.

There are many concrete activities of Thematic Engagement. TALE aims to explore them one by one. In the past two weeks, I worked on a Thematic Conversation project about “Strategic Exploration” with my friend Daiana Zavate.

Yesterday I closed the early stage of the project with an outcome called “the Field of Meta-learning (v1.0)”.

You can visit the links below to follow our conversation:

Jan 17 — Oliver — How to Set Annual Themes for 2023?
Jan 18 — Daiana — Personal Project on Strategic Exploration: Thinking differently requires doing things differently
Jan 18 — Oliver — TALE: Start A Thematic Conversation
Jan 19 — Daiana — Strategic Exploration: Peeling onions without shedding tears
Jan 20 — Oliver — TALE: The Challenge of Thematic Conversation
Jan 23 — Daiana — Strategic Exploration: Breaking Symmetries
Jan 23 — Oliver — TALE: How to develop a framework for a possible theme called “Slow Talk”?
Jan 24 — Oliver — TALE: The Dynamics of Thematic Space (v2.0)
Jan 27 — Oliver — TALE: Possible Configurations of A Theme Network
Jan 27 — Daiana — Strategic Exploration: You can’t swim in the same river twice
Jan 29 — Oliver — TALE: The Field of Meta-learning (V1.0)
Jan 30 — Daiana — Strategic Exploration: Reflections and milestones turn curiosity into courage

Now it is time to reflect on the short journey of knowledge engagement.

The Achievement Chain

The diagram below is part of the Life-as-Activity framework (v 0.3) which was published on Nov 29, 2020. In the past two years, I quite often used this diagram for conversations with my friends and some frameworks. You can find more details in Life-to-be-Owned: The Achievement Chain.

What is the outcome of the Thematic Conversation project about “Strategic Exploration”? Since this is a collaborative project, the above Achievement Chain needs to adopt two perspectives.

The diagram below represents the deep thematic structure of the project. From this diagram, we can find Daiana’s perspective and Oliver’s perspective.

Daiana Zavate is a strategic designer and creative thinker. The theme of “Strategic Exploration” is part of her creative life about Strategic Design.

Strategic Exploration: this is her primary theme for 2023.
TCP(SE): It refers to a thematic conversation project about Strategic Exploration.

I am working on the Thematic Engagement project and TALE (Thematic Analysis Learning Engagement) which is a new Knowledge Center.

Thematic Conversation Activity: There are many types of practices of Thematic Engagement. Thematic Conversation Activity is a theme-centered conversation.
TCP: It refers to Thematic Conversation Project. In other words, real cases of Thematic Conversation Activity.

There is a three-level hierarchy for the Thematic Engagement project:

Theme: Thematic Engagement
Activity: Thematic Curation, Thematic Conversation, Thematic Diagramming, etc …
Project: A thematic conversation project about Strategic Exploration, A thematic curation project about Learning & Development Trends, Matt Cuts’ Try Something New for 30 Days, etc…

How to represent the outcome of this project in a simple way? See the diagram below.

The above diagram is part of the outcome of the project. We can use it to represent the outcome. This experience is quite fantastic. It has a name called “Self-reference”, you can find more details in #TalkThree 13: How to Use the concept of “Self-reference”?

As Daiana mentioned in her reflection, “The outcome of the thematic conversation here sums up quite neatly the dimensions of learning as form (meta-knowledge), content (knowledge), and activity (work).”

This three-level hierarchy can be used to represent a Thematic Engagement project:

Form (meta-knowledge): Theme (Knowledge Engagement)
Content (knowledge): Activity (Thematic Conversation)
Activity (work): Project (A Thematic Conversation project about “Strategic Exploration”)

The above diagram presents the visual structure of the above idea.

Now we can claim that “Themes” are a special type of Meta-knowledge at the “Meta” zone. We have two primary themes for this project.

Daiana’s primary theme: “Strategic Exploration”
Oliver’s primary theme: “Knowledge Engagement”

From my perspective, this project can be seen as a process of Developing a Knowledge Framework. The significant insight I developed from this project is the function of Thematic Space for developing a knowledge framework. You can find more details in The Dynamics of Thematic Space (v2.0).

During the process, I worked on developing the following two ideas:

Theme Network
Possible Configurations

I used “a possible configuration of a theme network” to describe the structure of the things inside the thematic space. Moreover, I developed the notion of “Ecological Formism” with the following distinction:

Possible: many possible configurations of a theme network
Actual: a particular configuration of a theme network
Representation: a diagram of a particular configuration

This is a major outcome of the project from my perspective. On Jan 30, 2023, I realized that the further task is to develop a new ontology of knowledge frameworks after publishing the post about the Field of Meta-learning (v1.0).

In order to remember this significant insight, I made the following cover and used “Frame for Work” as a new possible theme.

From Daiana’s perspective, the project produces the following things:

A concept called “The Field of Meta-learning”.
There are three types of processes within the Field of Meta-learning.
A three-level hierarchy of structure of the Field of Meta-learning.
An epistemology for Strategic Exploration.
A diagram that represents the structure of the Field of Meta-learning.
A map and a mapping method for discussing related issues.

This is the beginning of Developing the theme of “Strategic Exploration”.

Now we can return to The Achievement Chain and identify different types of outcomes:

Product: The Field of Meta-learning (v1.0)
By-product: A significant insight called “Frame for Work”
Meta-product: I think we both learned something about ourselves.

Product and By-product lead to “Reproduction of Activity”. For example, Daiana could use the “The Field of Meta-learning” to discuss more issues. I may start a new project about “Frame for Work”.

Possible Selves and Possible Practice

The Field of Meta-learning (v1.0) doesn’t discuss the connection between Self-Development and Creation. One possible way to understand this connection is the following diagram.

Creation > Experience + Significant Insights > Meta-knowledge about “Self” > Possible Selves > Self-Development
Self-Development > Strategic Exploration > Experience + Significant Insights > Reproduction of Activity > Innovative Work > Possible Practice

I have mentioned “Possible Selves” and “Possible Practice” many times. For example, the DEEP Framework (Oliver Ding, 2021).

This is the first time I connect them with Strategic Exploration and Significant Insights.

In 1986, Hazel Rose Markus and Paula Nurius published a paper titled Possible Selves to challenge the traditional theories of self-knowledge. According to Markus and Nurius:

Possible selves represent individuals’ ideas of what they might become, what they would like to become, and what they are afraid of becoming, and thus provide a conceptual link between cognition and motivation. Possible selves are the cognitive components of hopes, fears, goals, and threats, and they give the specific self-relevant form, meaning, organization, and direction to these dynamics. Possible selves are important, first, because they function as incentives for future behavior (i.e., they are selves to be approached or avoided) and second, because they provide an evaluative and interpretive context for the current view of self.

Since 2001, a group of philosophers, sociologists, and scientists have rediscovered the practice perspective and used it as a lens to explore and examine the role of practices in human activity. Researchers called it The Practice Turn in Contemporary Theory.

I suggest “Possible Practice” as a new term that expands the scope of contemporary practice theories from “actual actions and existing practice” to “possible actions and possible practice”. I consider “Possible Practice” as the special unit of analysis for my approach “Ecological Practice”.

Again, the Ecological Practice Approach is not an alternative to contemporary practice theories, but expands their scope and contains more theoretical concepts such as James J. Gibson’s Affordance.

You can find more details here: The NICE Way and Possible Practice.

Strategic Exploration and Second-order Activity

In the past two weeks, we didn’t discuss the definition of “Strategic Exploration”. We used it as a theme for framing a creative space, not a concept for defining a substance.

Now we can use some frameworks to reflect on the concept of “Strategic Exploration” and the project.

First, I’d like to claim that the project is a real “Strategic Exploration” project.

Second, I’d like to claim that the project is a real “Collective Strategic Exploration” project and we can use the Anticipatory Activity System (AAS) framework to reflect on the project.

The Anticipatory Activity System (AAS) framework is inspired by Activity Theory and Anticipatory System theory. It aims to offer an abstract model for understanding “Self, Other, Present, Future”.

While the traditional Activity Theory focuses on “Exploitative Activity”, the AAS framework is more about “Exploratory Activity”.

Third, I’d like to use the typology of activity to reflect on the real “Collective Strategic Exploration” project. See the diagram below. You can find a large-size diagram in the original article A Typology for Anticipatory Activity System.

It’s clear that the real “Collective Strategic Exploration” project is a Second-order Activity that doesn’t have a clear goal in the beginning.

Is it a Tacit Second-order Activity?

No. It is an Explicit Second-order Activity. We all knew this is a Thematic Conversation project about “Strategic Exploration”.

How about its settings? Natural or Artificial?

Natural: For example, a person runs a podcast and considers it as a Life Discovery Activity.
Artificial: For example, a person joins an adult development program to run a Life Discovery Activity. The program is an artificial setting.

I’d like to say the project is a weak artificial program because I designed the thematic conversation project with rough rules.

The concept of “Second-order Activity Theory” was developed for the Anticipatory Activity System framework in 2021.

In 2022, I considered “Life Discovery Activity” as a Second-order Activity and conducted several empirical research about Life Discovery. The outcome is a book (draft) titled Advanced Life Strategy: Anticipatory Activity System and Life Achievements.

Aspects of Thematic Engagement

On Jan 27, 2023, I wrote a long article titled TALE: Possible Configurations of A Theme Network.

I told a long story about the theme of “Curativity” and related themes.

Why did I tell the story behind these themes?

Because the Thematic Engagement project aims to explore the “Person — Theme” relationship and interaction. The Thematic Engagement approach is supported by the “Themes of Practice’” approach and the “Project Engagement” approach.

We don’t only consider the semantic relationship between themes, but also the genetic relationship between them. While the semantic relationship is associated with the part of “themes”, the genetic relationship is associated with the part of “practice” which means the real historical development of projects.

I also talked about this issue with Maurizio Goetz before publishing the article on Jan 27, 2023. During the conversation, I realized that there are four aspects of Thematic Engagement:

Emotional aspect
Rational aspect
Semantic aspect
Genetic aspect

Narrative, especially biographical storytelling, is a great way to activate the emotional aspect and the genetic aspect of Thematic Engagement.

Daiana Zavate’s Creative Journey

I use the term “Creative Journey” as a Unit of Analysis of the Creative Life Curation approach. It is used to map the journey of several projects, at least four projects.

On Sept 15, 2022, I developed a method called Mapping Thematic Journey. I used some ideas from Activity Theory to reflect on my journey of engaging with Activity Theory (2020–2022). I selected four projects from the journey and used the Subject — Mediating Instruments — Object and the concept of Mediation to build the basic model.

You can find more details in Slow Cognition: Mapping Thematic Journey (Engaging with Activity Theory, 2020–2022).

Today I am going to use the same approach to conduct a case study of Mapping Thematic Journey.

However, I will use the Field of Meta-learning (v1.0) as the map and use it to reflect on Daiana Zavate’s Creative Journey.

Daiana Zavate’s is a strategic designer, but her creative journey is unique. While many strategic designers only work on the “Doing” zone, Daiana’s creative activity crosses all three zones. The diagram below highlights several outcomes she made in the past two years.

Meta-SWOT: a tool for strategic analysis activity. It is a “Knowledge” for “Work”.
Active Empathy: a tool for “design thinking” activity. It is a “Knowledge” for “Work” too.
Polarity Template: a tool for “Against Conceptual Heterogeneity”. I’d like to see it as a “Meta-knowledge” for improving “Knowledge” and “Work”.
“KUB”: a tool for “Building Meaning” together. It is a “Meta-knowledge” too.

If we put these tools together, we can better understand Daiana Zavate’s journey of engaging with the theme “Strategic Exploration”.

The past two weeks is not the beginning of her creative journey of “Strategic Exploration”!

If we use the “Life as Sandglass” model to understand her creative journey, I’d like to say the past two weeks is about “Crystallize Thematically”!

In my creative journey, I coined a new term “Curativity” and wrote a 615-page book. This is my way of “Crystallize Thematically”.

However, the “Crystallize Thematically” movement doesn’t refer to writing a book or developing a new theory only. There are other ways of taking concrete actions of “Crystallize Thematically”.

A creative person can use existing words to name her/his life themes and she/he doesn’t have to write a book. For example, James Currier, a 5-time founder, named his venture capital firm NFX which stands for Network Effects.

Before becoming an investor, James learned Network Effects from his startup Tickle. According to his profile, “James was the co-founder and CEO of Tickle, one of the internet’s first successful user-generated companies. Tickle grew to the 18th largest website in the world with over 150 million registered users — before they were acquired in 2004 by Monster for $110 million. It was during this time that James realized the power of network effects as the core growth driver of both B2B and B2C successes across every vertical.”

In 2017, James found NFX Capital and worked on studying and sharing knowledge about Network Effects. In May 2018, he released the Network Effects Bible.

In October 2022, he launched the Network Effects Masterclass which offers 11 episodes for free.

James’ story is about the theme of “Network Effects” which refers to a significant mechanism of fast-growing startups. In the past 20 years, he went through the whole process of the Life Curation Framework.

As a strategic designer, Daiana Zavate selects “Strategic Exploration” as her 2023 primary theme. This is the beginning of her “Crystallize Thematically” movement.