IDENTIFYING

PARTS OF A WHOLE
AND EMERGING
PATTERNS IN
TRENDS

GERALD P. SIOQUIM. LPT, MAED RGC

 OBJECTIVES
After going through this module, you should be
able to

1. identify parts of a whole (HUMSS_MCT12-

Ia-b-6);
2. identify and explain an emerging pattern
(HUMSS_MCT12-Ia-b-7); and
3. identify causes and consequences
(HUMSS_MCT12-Ia-b-8).
 IDENTIFYING PARTS OF A WHOLE
Trends as they grow and evolve tend to influence or
give birth to other trends and become interconnected
and interrelated. It was mentioned in the previous
modules that trends are formed from the combination
of things. Thus, a trend has constituent parts of
portions that are interrelated. Their influence, as well
as how the people adopt them, makes the trend viable,
especially the megatrends and gigatrends.
Take as example the Japanese
animation (animé) trend that is
associated with several
generations spanning decades.

In retrospect, Urgel (2017)

illustrated the popularity of
anime which was brought
about by a number of
developments such as the ones
shown.
Visual culture is another example that we
experience today. It was developed from various
trends─ digital camera, smartphone, internet, Wi-Fi
technology, social media, mobile apps, computer,
fashion, art, photography, to name a few.

Internet memes, infographics, and sharable videos

seemed to be a microtrend only, but they eventually
became a mainstay in disseminating information.
Even large news organizations and government
websites use them. This visual culture trend which
can be considered a megatrend, has evolved further
with the advent of the internet. The smartphone
and Wi-Fi access greatly helped the new form of
visual culture which is subscribed to by many
social media users, if not all.
Remember that microtrends can become macrotrends if
they affect more lives and societies.

Then, macrotrends can become a megatrend if it can affect

a much larger group for a longer period like a decade.

Megatrends can become gigatrends if they have everlasting

effects and influences.

Therefore, it is evident that the whole which comprises the

large part is made up of small things or parts. This can be
visualized in the ff. slide.
 IDENTIFYING EMERGING PATTERNS
By simply looking at the previous diagram, you
will somehow have an idea on identifying emerging
patterns of a trend.

Urgel (2017) defined pattern as a design, shape, form

or configuration that emerges from repetitious
appearance of lines, curves, and behavior. According
to him, in the study of trends, repetitive behavior that
gives rise to an emerging pattern is the main interest.
 IDENTIFYING EMERGING PATTERNS

In order to follow and observe if a pattern emerges

out of various events and phenomena, one should
have the tools necessary to detect it. According to
Rehn and Lindkvist (2013), the tools that a trend
spotter should find handy to use are categorized
into four activities which are as follows:
• Documentation means being able to
record your observations which you
consider related to any trend. The primary
tools for documentation, however simple,
are notebook and pen. Some opt to use
note-taking features or apps on a
smartphone or tablet. The camera has also
become necessary in providing visuals.

• Others bring a voice recorder which is

best for saving audio.
Notebook and pen are basic in documentation.

• Whatever tool one uses, the important thing

in documentation is the ability to
physically keep information and data
wherever and whenever you may be.
• Archive or Memory is used to easily
retrieve any documentation you have
kept. Notes can be scanned or
converted to a portable document
format (PDF) while digital pictures This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-SA-NC

can be easily saved. Physical

archiving can, of course, still be used.
There are various digital archiving
systems that are available, too.
Tagging and cross- indexing are
helpful in labeling files.

This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-SA

• Analysis is the stage where examination
and combination happen.

Looking for patterns on prospective trends

can be achieved through these methods:

1. Brainstorming
2. grouping,
3. crafting combinations.
• In brainstorming, you decide which from your data is
important and which can be discarded. Here, you can
confirm emerging patterns like events becoming more
frequent and things following a cycle.
• In grouping, you create headings where observations
and data can fall under several categories.
• In crafting combinations, you begin to link one thing to
another and think what could happen if these are taken
step further, more like imagining or generating new ideas.

The above diagram presenting the evolutionary aspect of a

trend is an example for this analysis.
Presentation is representing your findings for easy
understanding as a way of analysis. You can represent
your findings through, among others, a mood board and a
storyboard. A mood board is a collage of images, text, and
object samples. This is used to capture your intuition and
stimulate creative discussions about trends.
A storyboard presents a narrative of possible scenarios. It
functions to connect trends to a timeline and to different
contexts, something that can enable you and others to see
interesting new things.
A slideshow is also another option. Sometimes,
new trends are labeled with new names or terms
in the hope of popularizing a phenomenon.
Again, the sample diagram presented above is an
example of this consisting of the linkages of the
influences of the root trend to the development of
new trends within the link plus the explanatory
analysis.
 • Identifyingemerging patterns can
be used to introduce to individuals,
organizations, and communities
change, improvement, transformation
and new opportunities.

• Once patterns are identified, trends

are given rational explanations for
their emergence or existence and are
provided with a better understanding
of their cultural origins.
 D IF FE RE NTIA TING R ELA TIO NSHIPS
BE TW EEN CA USES A ND CO NSEQ UE NC ES
•A cause refers to an agent that brings about
a result or a consequence.

•A consequence is always traceable to a

cause which can be a person, thing, principle,
motive, act, or event. There is no cause without
a consequence and vice versa. (Urgel, 2017)
 •This cause and consequential aspect of a
trend does not only cover the example
mentioned above, in fact, it covers all types of
trends in all categories such as in ideologies,
politics, beliefs, lifestyle, social life, and many
others. One simply needs to identify the
emerging patterns and look at the causal and
consequential relations of these patterns to
understand these trends.
Let us try to look at some of the popular
fashion trends among teenagers these days
ranging from hairstyles, clothing, and
music preferences to mention a few. Clearly,
a number of them, if one will try to observe,
were patterned from a dominant and
prevailing trend. To date, Korean fashion
trends are quite widespread in the country.
In fact, you can watch from the news almost every
beginning of the year in a certain portion of those news
about the fashion trend for the year. In other words,
these news in the media somehow sets these so – called
fashion trends which will then be the baseline of fashion
sales of the business sectors in the market. People then
especially the young and those who wanted to “fit in” to
these popularized trends would eventually patronize
them.
For almost a number of years already, Korean
culture became popular in the country
especially among the young. With this, if we
will look around us, it resulted to the
establishments of Korean restaurants, Korean
mini marts which boosted the small – scale
entrepreneurship business. In terms of travel,
Korea became one of the popular lists for
Filipino tourists.
The string of events characterizing a trend can exemplify
the cause-consequence relationship where one event
may lead to another and so on. A cause brings about one
or more consequences which may be either positive or
negative. Whatever the results of a cause, the events that
are noted in each result will help produce a picture of a
trend which is studied to be adopted in many life
applications. The relationship between cause and
consequence is salient to strategic thinking and analysis.
THE END