A_Framework_To: Find Overlooked & De-bias Trends

The META Trends are invaluable in identifying where the collective, trend forecaster psyche is at.

But as we learned in a five year look back: biases thrive, agendas direct, risk is feared, quantification is scarce and toxic optimism influences.

Deeper, as we learned in a series of exercises with AI: analyzed cultural data reveals what we humans think is most important, may not actually be the case.

All of this META Trend work is predicated upon industry trend reports... which, as we’re learning, may not be as dependable as we once hoped.

The META Trends are insightful, but they and the industry reports used to get there, leave us with an incomplete picture of what’s driving culture forward.

Only with friction, daringness and originality, can we analyze the sharp edges and fringes of culture that have influence. The weak, the uncomfortable and the complex help color our picture of the future.

As we uncovered, AI can be helpful in discovering overlooked micro-trends which were hidden within the one million words of analyzed reports. However, many of these discoveries are things: Gut Health, Fluid Fashion, Privacy Enhancing Tech, etc.

What we also need to augment is our ability to identify more nuanced, emotional overlooked trends. But this is a task a human can do best. Creative extrapolation is our superpower.

So to identify the overlooked, we can use the META Trends as filters seek out what’s not surfaced.

But we can also use these META Trends in another way...

Sarah DaVanzo and I created a framework to spin out unique perspectives of any existing trend.

4X Interrogative Questions_ To Identify the Overlooked