Richard Sickinger
Peter Baumgartner
Tina Gruber-Mücke (Editors)

PURSUIT OF
PATTERNLANGUAGESFOR SOCIETAL
CHANGE
A comprehensive
perspective of
current pattern
research andpracticeEditors: Richard Sickinger, Peter Baumgartner, Tina Gruber-Mücke
Book Design and Page Layout: Wolfgang Rauter, Stephan Längle
www.purplsoc.org
info@purplsoc.org

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Edition Donau-Universität Krems
ISBN Paperback: 978-3-903150-43-0
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Printed on demand in many countries. Distributed by tredition
Krems, October 2018

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authors and the editors/publishers shall have neither liability nor responsibility to any person or entity with respect to any loss or damages arising from the information contained inthis book. Responsibility for the information, licencing and views set out in their articles lies
entirely with the authors.

2

We would like to thank all
authors, contributors andparticipants of the
PURPLSOC Conference 2017
The objective of the PURPLSOC 2017 world conference was to stimulate
the attention for pattern related work, both in the scientific community
and the wider public, by showing its broad applicability and richness andbringing application/best practice examples from outside the scientificcommunity into research.
The PURPLSOC platform provides a forum for scholars from a variety offields as well as for a broad audience of practitioners and students tocome together and discuss topics such as:»»

Architecture, Urbanism and Regional Development»»

Design, Media, Arts & IT»»

Pedagogy, Education and Learning»»

Social Activism, Social Innovation and Grassroots Movement»»

Everyday Applications and Additional Disciplines

17

Life
Transition
Patterns:
A Pattern
Language for
Shaping Your
Future580

Iba, Takashi
Faculty of Policy Management, Keio University, Japaniba@sfc.keio.ac.jp

Kubo, Tomoko
Department of Educational Planning and Development, Kawaijuku Educational Institution, Japan

This paper presents Life Transition Patterns, a patternlanguage that supports people in making life decisions
about subjects such as school and career, to fabricate
their own future. Twenty seven patterns in the patternlanguage enable high school and university students
to think about their life path more thoroughly and put
forward the notion that making career choices is a way
to design your own style of living. Readers of this pattern language are able to search for the`right‘ place(school, company, etc.) to actualize their ideal lifestylethrough the understanding of the given concepts. Thispattern language was created as a result of interviews
with a diverse group of university students and working
adults, who have been searching for their ideal way oflife throughout the course of their careers. The paper
presents a summary of all 27 patterns and also provides examples of the usage of the pattern language.
Life Transition, Career Design; Creative Society,100-year life, Pattern Language

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PURPLSOC 2017: A comprehensive perspective of current pattern research and practice

1. Introduction
In Japan, choosing a life path has traditionally been defined as making choices about theschool to attend, the major to study and the company where one wants to work. This
thought process was shaped by a common value that existed up to the time of Japan’s rapid
economic growth: that happiness is attained by enrolling into a high ranking university andthen being successful in attaining employment in a well-known company. In other words, aperson‘s future is guaranteed to be a successful one as long as one is able to keep achieving
these short-term goals.
However, much has changed in current Japanese society and that traditional value system
is no longer valid. Existing jobs may become obsolete, and new ones may be created. More,people could even design their own jobs. Therefore, devising a life path is no longer thesimple process of attending a prestigious school and working for a large company.
Therefore, we created a pattern language that enables high school and university students
to think about the course of their life more thoroughly. This pattern language suggests thatto make career choices is to design your own style of living. Readers of this pattern language
are able to search for the right place (school, company, etc.) to actualize their ideal style ofliving through the understanding the concepts given forth.

2. Life Transition in a Creative Society
Social realities have changed drastically with the development of Information Technology.
What direction will these changes take in the future? The transformations of our recent pastcan be classified as epochs pertaining to the three “C“s: Consumption, Communication andCreation (Iba, 2016a) (Figure 1).
More than a half-century ago, began the age mass consumption where one’s capability toenjoy an array of products and services expressed the richness of that individual‘s life andbecame the symbol of happiness and success. Thus, people began to focus on these signsof status and attain this first “C“ which stands for consumption.
In the latter half of the 1990s, the Internet and cell phones became popular, and the age ofcommunication arrived. This technological advancement created our so-called “Information
Society.“ In this era, relationships and communication with other people were the main concerns of people. Building fruitful relationships and engaging in the creation of online andoffline communication networks (in the real world) began to represent the fullness of one‘s
life. The second “C,“ of communication, thus, defined this time.

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Life Transition Patterns: A Pattern Language for Shaping Your Future

Figure 1: An overview of social change to a Creative Society
We are now entering the era of the third “C“ of creation. Richard Florida described the positive trends of the world as stemming from the viewpoint of “creative economy“ and “creative
cities.“ Daniel Pink named the era following the “information age“ as the “conceptual age“
where design and sympathy become important. A “fab society“ where everyone can makeobjects by themselves is held up as a vision in the context of personal fabrication (Commission on the General Planning of Fab Society, 2015). All of these are oriented to the same
direction of creativity as the act of ‚making‘ is performed by more and more people. Moving
along this trajectory, the next iteration of society may be termed the “creative society.”
People of this creative society will be able to design and make their own goods, tools, concepts, knowledge, mechanisms, and ultimately, they will shape their own future with theirown hands. The production of goods would no longer be limited to just companies andorganizations but would be undertaken by all people according to their own needs andtastes. In the forthcoming creative society, people would begin to put value in the act andprocess of conception. To be able to create what one desires will become the symbol of thewealth and fulfillment of a life. In this future creative society, devices such as 3D printers andlaser cutters, and places like the Future Center and the Living Lab will underpin activities of
production of structures, systems, methods, as well as goods.
Every human will become a designer and creator of objects to best suit particular lifestyle visions. Goods that are now bought will all become custom tailored by people for themselves.
Hand in hand with the trend towards a creative age, society is transitioning to a time of longevity in lifespans. The development of medical technology has lengthened life expectancy,
and it is becoming important to conceive of life-designs of 100 years or more. Lynda Gratton and Andrew Scott, in their book entitled The 100-year life, emphasize the change froma “three-stage life“ to a “multi-stage life.“ To elucidate further, the 20th century conception

583

PURPLSOC 2017: A comprehensive perspective of current pattern research and practiceof the first stage of education, followed by a career, and then by retirement comprised the“three-stage life.“ This life-design incorporated only two major transitions: “from education
to employment,“ and “from employment to retirement.“ In the future, as human life is further lengthened, people will experience multiple stages and many life transitions.
“There are real opportunities to move away from the constraints of a three-stage life to away of living that is more flexible, and more responsive - a multi-stage life with a variety ofcareers, with breaks and transitions.“ (Gratton & Scott, 2016, p.5)
Simple judging criteria such as “a good school of a high rank“ and “a well-known and stableworkplace“ will no longer suffice in such a society. People will need to become more awareof their personal strengths, desires, potential and will have to set themselves multiple goals
accordingly. Also, in order to advance through various stages, they would also need to continually upgrade, enhance and shape themselves. They may intermittently need some time
to concentrate on training and strengthening the skills in the form of investing for themselves, or sometimes practicing something to enhance yourself. Lynda Gratton and Andrew
Scott says.
“The longer your life, the more your identity reflects what you craft rather than a reactive
response to where you began…In a way that past generations simply didn’t have to do,each one of us will need to think about who we are and how we construct our life and how
this reflects our identity and values.”(Gratton & Scott, p.20-21)
In other words, living with shaping yourselves in various ways will be the basis of life in theemergent age. It would be necessary to think about the selection of career paths that adjust
to the characteristics of this age. Therefore, in this research, we created a pattern languagefor designing careers and lives.

3. Creation Process of the Proposed Pattern
Language
Life Transition Patterns was created using the standard process of creating a pattern language. The method contains three different phases (Iba and Isaku, 2016): Pattern Mining,
Pattern Writing and Pattern Symbolizing (Figure 2).

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Life Transition Patterns: A Pattern Language for Shaping Your Future

Figure 2: Process of Creating a Pattern Language

3.1. Pattern Mining
In the phase of Pattern Mining, we first conducted a “Mining Dialogue” to extract knowledgeof practice from some teachers, “Clustering” to find common patterns among the obtained
data, and “Seed Making” for organizing them by writing down the ideas in a specific format”.
In the mining dialogue, we interviewed students who all had different backgrounds andattended different universities. Every mining session lasted around 4 hours and was conducted with 2 to 4 students. In the end, 437 elements that they thought were important for
selecting a school were collected and written down on sticky notes.
In the clustering phase, we classified the collected data in groups based on the KJ method(Iba and Isaku, 2016; Sasabe et al., 2016). 8 people collaborated together to figure out theessence of the contents written on individual sticky notes and arranged their positions according to their meanings (Figure 3). In this way, after 8 hours, groups of paper with similar
meanings gradually began to materialize, and 437 fragments of data were classified into 68
groups.
In the seed making stage, every single group generated in the clustering phase was recorded according to a specific format known as the “Seed of Pattern” to summarize the context,
problem and solution of each idea. Writing them down in simple form, helped us avoid the
duplication of ideas and stop the leakage of important elements. It also made the step of585

PURPLSOC 2017: A comprehensive perspective of current pattern research and practice

Structure Building much easier and faster. Structure Building is the process of figuring out
the whole picture of good practices of career design from the similarities and relevancies
seen among the 27 patterns (Figure 4). It starts with a bottom-up approach, but it is also
important to consider the readers’ perspectives, such as legibility and the heuristic level ofeach pattern. In the end, three main categories (A,B,C) were generated.

Figure 3: Clustering in the phase of Pattern Mining

Figure 4: Structure Building in the phase of Pattern Mining

3.2. Pattern Writing
Pattern Writing is the next phase of creating a pattern language. At this stage, we noted
down the full description of the Seed of Pattern: its context, problem, force, solution, action
and consequence. It was necessary in this phase to consider the position of every single
pattern with regard to the whole picture, as well as to review what was discussed in themining dialogue.
First, to conduct the Pattern Review, we re-evaluated patterns recorded by individual writers using the method of group discussion (Figure 5). All the patterns were assessed fromdifferent perspectives to eliminate misunderstanding and to improve the quality of the description. Sometimes it was necessary to reconsider the relationships and positions of pat-586

Life Transition Patterns: A Pattern Language for Shaping Your Futureterns and to re-structure them. In fact, this phase of revising and correcting was repeatedover and over again, to make our patterns reach the expected level of quality.

Figure 5: Pattern Review in the phase of Pattern Writing

3.3. Pattern Symbolizing
Pattern Symbolizing is the last phase of creating a pattern language, and it includes Pattern
Naming and Pattern Illustration to symbolically express the patterns (Figure 6). This process remains exploratory and some of the pattern content may be improved further in thisphase, since the essence of patterns has to be reconsidered to draw symbolic illustrations.
The patterns were completed and collated into a designed booklet and onto cards.

Figure 6: Pattern Illustrating in the phase of Pattern Symbolizing

4. Patterns
Life Transition Patterns comprise 27 designs which are classified into 3 categories: A, finding ways to shine; B, finding places that shine; and C, working toward the desired direction.
Figure 7 demonstrates a journey map for Life Transition Patterns. Table 1-3 depicts thesummary of the patterns in the category A-C respectively.

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PURPLSOC 2017: A comprehensive perspective of current pattern research and practice

Figure 7: Journey Map for Life Transition Patterns.

A. Finding Ways to ShineNo.

Pattern Name

A1
FavoriteThingsA2
Reflective
MiningA3
Role Model
Search588

Pattern Illustration

Context, Problem and Solution
You are starting to think about your future direction.
In this context, putting too much value on societal
expectations and other people’s opinions can hinder
you from living your life as you like it. Therefore,
start thinking about your future direction based onwhat you are passionate about and things that areimportant to you.
You have activities that you enjoy doing. In this context, although you enjoy those activities, you cannot
imagine a realistic future in which you could pursue
them as a career. Therefore, discover the general
direction of your interests by identifying the essential
elements in the activities that you enjoy.
You are thinking about what kind of future direction
would be good for you. In this context, if you baseyour imagination on your past experiences, you will
limit your options to things that you already know.
Therefore, find people whose lifestyle or work you
admire; analyze the aspects of their thought or
actions that impress you the most; and incorporate
those into your life.

Life Transition Patterns: A Pattern Language for Shaping Your Future
A4
Daily
Inspiration

A5
Relevance inSociety

A6

You want to incorporate your interests into yourfuture career. In this context, if you put off thinking
about it, you may not be able to find the opportunity to connect your interests to your career path.
Therefore, when you encounter something that youfind interesting in your daily life, and deepen yourunderstanding of it.
You want to incorporate your interests into yourfuture career. In this context, you don't know how
your hobbies are relevant to society or how they
can be absorbed into a career. Therefore, learn how
the activities that you like are used or practiced insociety by exploring related news, books, etc.

Thinking throughConversation

You are developing some ideas about your future
path. In this context, reflecting on your own, you
may not be able to reach the required depth ofthought or you may overlook unconscious biases.
Therefore, talk about your ideas with people whose
interests are similar to yours, or with people who willencourage you.

Emerging
Possibilities

You are trying to make a certain decision about yourlife path. In this context, as you gain depth in yourideas and garner knowledge about various things,
it becomes harder to make decisions. Therefore,
instead of becoming anxious about making a quick
decision, consider the process as a necessary
approach and believe that good options will arise asa result.

Imagination of
the Future

You are faced with a decision between several
options. In this context, you find all of your options
attractive and do not know how to proceed withyour decision-making. Therefore, for each option,
imagine what your everyday life would be like andwhat kind of future it could bring, and think about
which one would bring out your best qualities.

Several Options

You have several visions of the future that are very
attractive. In this context, when you narrow yourchoice to just one and give up the other options
completely, you may regret it later. Therefore, consider the fact that you have various options to potentially broaden your future possibilities, and makeefforts to stay in touch with all of them in some way.

A7

A8

A9

Table 1: Patterns in Category A: Finding Ways to Shine589

PURPLSOC 2017: A comprehensive perspective of current pattern research and practiceB. Finding Places That ShineNo.

Pattern Name

B1

Context, Problem and Solution

A Place to
Design Yourself

You want to start listing up concrete options for yourfuture. In this context, if you put too much emphasis
on factors such as prestige or rank, you may makedecisions without considering what you want to doat that place and how you would like to shape yourfuture. Therefore, look at places that will enable you
to work on what you would like and will thus bring
you closer to achieving your future aspirations.

VariousApproaches

You want to look for places where you can pursue
your interests. In this context, if you only look atplaces that are obviously related to your interest,
you may overlook other possibilities. Therefore, extensively research what kinds of ways you can taketo achieve your desired future, and choose the onethat fits you the best.

Important
Values

You want to look for places where you can get closer
to your desired future. In this context, you may either not be able to find the right places at all, or you
may find too many of them. Therefore, come up withseveral options that interest you, compare them bylooking into each in detail, and review what qualities/
factors are important to you.

Target Zone

You are beginning to understand what kinds of qualities you are looking for in a school/company. In thiscontext, if you narrow your choices too much, yourisk not getting into any of them and losing the benefit of options. Therefore, search for various places
that meet the qualities/factors that are important toyou and consider each of them as places that canhelp you get to your ideal future.

Dive In

You are beginning to get an idea of specific schools/
companies to which you want to apply. In thiscontext, if you make decisions based on available
information and your current understanding of
the school/company, what you actually get may bedifferent from what you had in mind. Therefore, get
experiential knowledge of what you would actually
do at each school/company.

Checking
Suitability

You are beginning to get firm ideas about specificschools/companies to which you want to apply. In
this context, even if a place seems suitable to you interms of your interests and other conditions, it may
not turn out to be a comfortable environment foryou. Therefore, visit the school/company and see foryourself whether the environment you will be spending a great deal of time at is actually a fit for you.

B2

B3

B4

B5

B6

590

Pattern Illustration

Life Transition Patterns: A Pattern Language for Shaping Your Future
B7
Strategic
Planning

You have a target school/company, but it seems likean unrealistic choice due to factors such as gradesor tuition fees. In this context, you may feel as
though your goal would be impossible for you to attain and give up. Therefore, instead of surrendering,
think about getting to that goal through a different
plan or approach.

Convincing
Presentation

You have decided where to apply, but people
around you (such as family) do not support yourdecision. In this context, you thus begin to question
whether you should listen to what others say instead of going with what you want, and begin to feel
uncertain about your choice. Therefore, explain to
your near ones why you want to go to a particularinstitution and how you are going to make it happen.

Target Updating
TargetYou are starting to feel uncertain about the direction
you had in mind and were originally happy about.
In this context, if you stick to your original plan justbecause you have committed to it, you may beoverlooking a newer or better option. Therefore, as
you work toward your goals and discover that yourway of thinking/perceiving is evolving, update yourtargets based on what you currently feel is best for
you.

B8

B9

Table 2: Patterns in Category B: Finding Places That Shine

C. Working Toward the Desired Direction
No.

Pattern Name

C1
Recipe for
Motivation

C2
Cooperative
ComradesC3
HiddenSupporters

Pattern Illustration

Context, Problem and Solution
You are working towards achieving the goal you
have set for yourself. In this context, Although you
know you must work hard, it is difficult to maintainyour motivation consistently over a long span oftime. Therefore, consider the inconsistencies in yourmotivation as an inevitable factor, and find your own
methods for enthusing yourself.
You are working toward achieving the goal you haveset. In this context, it is difficult to go beyond yourabilities if you are studying/preparing on your own.
Therefore, create supportive relationships with people working towards a similar goal, or people whoare going through the same situation as you.
You are working toward achieving the goal you
have set and are going through a difficult time. In
this context, you are coming close to giving up orcompromising your goal. Therefore, think about thepeople who have helped you and all that they havedone, and use that support as motivation for you tocontinue working hard.

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PURPLSOC 2017: A comprehensive perspective of current pattern research and practice

C4
Small Efforts

C5

There are things you are not good at and you want
to do something about them. In this context, if you
blindly try to improve in areas of weakness, yourefforts are unlikely to bring actual results. Therefore,
continue setting small goals that make you work a
bit harder each time.

Post-Damage
Bounce-Back

While working toward achieving your goal, something didn’t go as you had planned. In this context, it takes you time to absorb and accept the situation and to recover from the setback. These events
prevent you from taking the next action. Therefore,
keeping in mind that everything you experience is avaluable hint for the next step you must take, reflect
on what happened and start working toward yournext act.

Strengths for
the Future

You are working hard every day toward your desired
goal. In this context, if your everyday life is a constantrepetition of studying/preparing without any roomfor you to do the things you enjoy, you will start tofeel a sense of purposelessness. Therefore, think
about how studying/preparing for your goal is beneficial to your life as a whole in addition to the role itplays in the achievement of your desired goal.

Live yourOpportunities

You currently have other things that you are involvedin, such as sports teams, student councils, and otherextracurricular activities. In this context, you either
commit too much to the things you are currently
involved in and put off your preparations for the
future, or give up on them completely. Therefore,
find a balance and work hard on the things that you
can only do now, but plan for the future so that you
do not regret later.

C6

C7

C8
Confidence from
Past Steps

C9

Openness for
the Future

You are working hard to realize your goal. In thiscontext, things do not always work out even if you
work hard, and you may be tempted to give up on
the way to your goal. Therefore, look back on yourefforts and progress you have made thus far and letthat give you the confidence to keep going.
You have entered the a new stage of your career.
In this context, once you actually get there, despite
feeling a sense of accomplishment and security forgetting in, the future becomes somewhat predictable once you actually get there, causing you to lose
your sense of excitement. Therefore, as you gain
expertise in your new environment, also discover
your personal strengths and your individuality andfind potential future directions.

Table 3: Patterns in Category C: Working Toward the Desired Direction

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Life Transition Patterns: A Pattern Language for Shaping Your Future

5. Utilizing Patterns
The pattern language proposed in this paper is provided in the form of a booklet and a setof cards(Figure 8). The booklet is designed to be read by a single person, and the card set isprimarily intended for use in dialogues. In the context of this paper, we would like to introduce this pattern language may be applied using the set of cards: in counseling, in dialogues
for sharing experiences, and in the inquiry of meaning.

Figure 8: Life Transition Patterns Booklet and Cards

5.1. Counseling with Patterns
The first way to use the set of cards is to apply them in counseling sessions for people who
are thinking about their career paths. The use of the cards can encourage them to think forthemselves rather than taking advice based from others.
There are several ways to use the card in counseling. First of all, a counselor can talk whilelooking at the group of cards chosen according to the stage of the thought process. Thereis also a method called the “Pattern Concierge“ (Mori et al., 2016) that introduces the cards
that are deemed to be suitable for the problem the person is facing. A person may also pickup a card at random and talk about it.
Here, as in the last method displayed, we introduce the case of a college student from the
Iba Laboratory counseled a younger sister who was thinking about her career (Figure 9).
First, the cards were shuffled, turned over and placed on a table. They were flipped one
by one and the pattern was read in the booklet. The pattern on the card was discussed indetail and the process was repeated with another card. When the number of cards added
up to a certain extent, a cluster was created with cards that were related and the discussion
completed so far was summarized. Then, the counselor moved on to the next card until

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PURPLSOC 2017: A comprehensive perspective of current pattern research and practice

all the cards on the table were ultimately set into and converged into appropriate clusters.
The sister who consulted felt, “It was a good experience because I had been reconsidering
things about myself occasionally, but I had never reflected this deeply on myself. I think it
was right for me to do this.“ She also said, “I thought most of the cards I drew were applicable to me and I even felt like something is leading the order of the cards I picked but I
guess this was because I am suffering.“ Other remarks from her included the fact that “Thecontents of the cards were easy to understand because there are examples in the book.“
The pattern cards can be used as a counseling tool in this way.

Figure 9: Counseling with the Life Transition Patterns

5.2. Dialogue for Sharing Experience with Patterns
Second, the pattern cards may be applied in dialogue workshops, which have been heldwith various pattern languages ​​so far. In such modules, people talk about their own experiences based on the patterns (Iba, 2012, 2015, 2016b, 2017). In the paragraphs that follow,
we present the method for conducting a dialogue workshop with college students using theLife Transition Patterns cards (Figure 10).
Make a team of 5-6 people seated around a table. Use only the 9 patterns of category (A)at the initial stage. Shuffle the cards, distribute a card to each person, and keep the rest on
the table. Participants must read the card allocated to them, recall an experience related
to the pattern displayed on the card, and then describe it in detail. Participants should taketurns to introduce the content of the pattern on their card and to relate their story.. Participants are free to recount personal events or even occasions that may have occurred toothers around them. They may share narratives that may or may not have yielded positive
results for them. They may also say that they are getting no ideas from their card or thatthey have no experience to share with regard to that particular design. Generally speaking,all the participants would have something to share because as college students, each one
would have had some experience of conducting some kind of course/career selection or
would have done some decision making so as to participate in some groups or clubs at theireducational institutions.

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Life Transition Patterns: A Pattern Language for Shaping Your FutureThis cards get people to talk and the dialogue comes alive. Talking about the experiences
they have already had leads to ideas about future career selection. Thus, the stories sharedby participants become learning they can utilize in their future. When everyone has finishedtalking, list all the remaining cards on the tables and discuss them openly. When all thepatterns in a particular category have been discussed, the participants are encouraged tosimultaneously point at their favorite card saying “Three, two, one!“ One segment of the
dialogue workshop can now end after a short discussion about why the participants chosea particular card as their favorite. Now the facilitator may move on to the next category andrepeat the same process.

Figure 10: Dialogue Workshop for Sharing Experience

5.3. Inquiry of Meaning with Patterns
The third way of utilizing the pattern cards is through conducting meaning inquiry workshops. In such a session, a person reflects on why what the pattern is saying is important
to make a better life. The point of asking why is the characteristic of this meaning inquiry
workshop, whereas in the dialogue workshop above discussions were primarily hinged on
the experience of how it was done and in what kind of context.
In his book Overcrowded regarding the “innovation of meaning,“ Roberto Verganti emphasized that “people search for meaning“ (Verganti, 2016, p. 32) . He said, “the most distinctive
change in our society: the shift from the search for solutions to the search for meaning“(Verganti, 2016, p. 27). Here, the meaning is “the purpose people try to achieve: why they dothings“ (Verganti, 2016, p.32). Based on this point, Takashi Iba, one of the authors, proposed

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PURPLSOC 2017: A comprehensive perspective of current pattern research and practiceto use the patterns as tools for exploring deeper meaning within ourselves rather than tomerely support the practice of making sense of the world around us.
Here, we introduce the meaning inquiry workshop conducted at an online school (Figure11). In a course offered by this online school, Takashi Iba introduced this pattern language
as a lecturer and more than 250 people participated. The participants‘ remarks are displayed on the timeline in real time.
The first pattern introduced was “Favorite Things.“ The question asked to participants was:“Why is practicing `Favorite Things‘ important to the enhancement of the quality of life andto the creation of happy lives?“ Some of the many observations tendered were :»» “Because the excitement continues to accelerate.“»» “Because a person can find happiness in doing what one likes, and because it directs
people to gain the ability to explore by themselves.“»» “ `Favorite Things‘ may correspond to potential abilities. “»» “It feels like I can be myself when I think from the perspective of `Favorite Things.‘ “»» “Although it depends on people when to feel happy, I believe no one feels unhappy when
doing something they like.“»» “I think selecting `Favorite Things‘ is linked with one‘s essential energy, which leads one
to more humane activities.“
Next, the following comments about “Relevance in Society“ were shared. Participants said:»» “I think it is important to increase one‘s number of friends and to broaden the idea of​​what one likes.“»» “You may feel like you are supported by meeting social requirements or considering theneeds of other people.“»» “When you have a connection to society, you can feel that you belong to it. This attachment is very important.“»» “Because it makes you feel the significance of being more social.“»» “Because I’m not living alone, it is important to think about society and about how I canhelp my society.“»» “Through social connections, what I consider a desired outcome will lead to someone
else‘s happiness and that would make me happy in turn, leading to a virtuous circle.“

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Life Transition Patterns: A Pattern Language for Shaping Your Future

Remarks posted with regard to the meaning of the pattern “Hidden Supporters“ were:»» “In order to advance without forgetting appreciation.“»» “Because it will become a driving force to go a step further when you are discouraged.“»» “When I think of someone who has supported or cheered me up to this moment, it
makes me feel like I cannot give up so easily.“»» “To always be modest.“»» “Because people cannot survive alone.“»» “I can feel that I’m happy to be alive.“
Following such a meaning inquiry workshop, participants said: “Thinking about the meaningleads to the essence, bringing in a three dimensional perspective in the dialogue;“ “Thereis a possibility that `the origin of one‘s life‘ can be found, and the field of vision could beaccelerated to spread to people suffering from hesitation;“ and “By seeking the meaning,
more essential questions may be visualized.“

Figure 11: Meaning Inquiry Workshop in an Online School

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6. Conclusion
The paper presented the content of the twenty-seven designs that comprise Life Transition
Patterns, and also provided examples of some applications of the pattern language. We
anticipate that there are many other ways of using this pattern language, and we would be
happy to receive knowledge of other ways this pattern language could be put into practice.

7. Acknowledgement
We would like to thank our project members from CreativeShift Inc. and Kawaijuku Educational Institution. We would also like to express our appreciation to our interviewees. Our
gratitude is also extended to Ayaka Yoshikawa for translating the patterns into English andto Haruka Mori for supporting us in the writing of this paper.

8. References
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USA, , Article 31 , 13 pages.
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www.soumu.go.jp/main_content/000361197.pdf [Accessed in Dec 2017]
Gratton, L. & Scott, A. (2016) The 100-year life: Living and Working in an Age of Longevity,
Bloomsbury.
Iba, T. (2012) “A Pattern Language for Designing Pattern Dialogue Workshops,” the 17th
European Conference on Pattern Languages of Programs.
Iba, T. (2015) “Pattern Languages as Media for Creative Dialogue: Functional Analysis of Dialogue Workshops,” Peter Baumgartner, Richard Sickinger (eds), PURPLSOC: The Workshop
2014, pp.212-231.
Iba, T. (2016a) “Sociological Perspective of the Creative Society” in Matth us P. Zylka, Hauke
Fuehres, Andrea Fronzetti Colladon, Peter A. Gloor (eds.), Designing Networks for Innovation and Improvisation, Springer International Publishing, pp.29-42.

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Iba, T. (2016b) “Pattern Language 3.0 and Fundamental Behavioral Properties” in World
Conference on Pursuit of Pattern Languages for Societal Change, 2015, published in a
book: Peter Baumgartner, Tina Gruber-Muecke, Richard Sickinger (Eds.), Pursuit of Pattern
Languages for Societal Change. Designing Lively Scenarios in Various Fields. Berlin: epubli,
pp.200-233.
Iba, T. (2017) “Peer Learning via Dialogue with a Pattern Language,” in the 7th International
Conference on Collaborative Innovation Networks.
Iba, T. and Iba Laboratory (2014a) Learning Patterns: A Pattern Language for Creative Learning, CreativeShift.
Iba, T. and Iba Laboratory (2014b) Presentation Patterns: A Pattern Language for Creative
Presentations, CreativeShift.
Iba, T. and Iba Laboratory (2014c) Collaboration Patterns: A Pattern Language for Creative
Collaborations, CreativeShift.
Iba, T. and Isaku, T. (2016) ‘A pattern language for creating pattern languages: 364 patterns
for pattern mining, writing, and symbolizing’, In Proceedings of the 2016 Conference on
Pattern Languages of Programs.
Kawakita, J. (1967) HassouHou [The Abduction Method: For Creativity Development], inJapanese, Chuo-Koron.
Mori, H., Kimura, N., Ando, S., & Iba, T. (2016) “Pattern Concierge: Using Push and Pull Patterns to Help Clients Design Their Future,” 23rd Conference on Pattern Languages of Programs.
Sasabe, A., Kaneko, T., Takahashi, K., an Iba, T. (2016) “Pattern Mining Patterns: A Search for
the Seeds of Patterns,” 23rd Conference on Pattern Languages of Programs.
Verganti, R. (2016) Overcrowded: Designing Meaningful Products in a World Awash with
Ideas, The MIT Press.

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PURPLSOC 2017: A comprehensive perspective of current pattern research and practice

We thank the following for their kind support inreviewing the contributions for this book:
Artemis Anniou
Peter BaumgartnerAnne Dörner
Tomoki Furukawazono
Tina Gruber-Mücke
Takashi Iba
Susan Ingham
Taichi Isaku
Hajo Neis
Ana Pinto
Richard Sickinger
Wolfgang Stark
Anne Stieger
Stefan Tewes
Christina Weber766

We live in a time of social and cultural change.
Old patterns are losing their validity and relevance new patterns areneeded and in demand.
We need a new approach which can formulate, generate and engage
such patterns.
The pattern language approach of Christopher Alexander serves thispurpose - the interdisciplinary and participatory building blocks forsocietal change.
The PURPLSOC 2017 conference contributions cover 25 domains from anthropology and automation to political science and systems
science - for a comprehensive perspective of current pattern
research and practice.
www.purplsoc.org