# Theme Projection Worksheet

Status: v0 working instrument

This is a repeatable worksheet for using Theme Theory.

It turns the core move into a practical process:

```text
value space -> candidate audience-side states -> themes -> creative/support
tests
```

Use this for creators, builders, existing businesses, organizations, software
ideas, or open-ended what-to-build exploration.

A person can walk through it manually. Its more interesting public role may be
agent-facing: if Theme Theory is right that value can be projected toward an
audience-side meaningful higher-order state, then agents should be able to help
search value space, project candidate themes, and surface theme-shaped
opportunities at much larger breadth.

This worksheet does not validate demand. It generates and evaluates hypotheses
worth testing.

## Agentic Use Case

An agent can use this worksheet as a reasoning protocol.

Possible agentic loop:

```text
find an entity giving value
identify the value being given
project from value to possible audience-side states
name candidate themes
evaluate theme potential
surface media, software, data, AI, goods, or service opportunities
mark what still needs real-world validation
```

Inputs may include:

- creators giving value through media;
- existing software products;
- commercial goods and services;
- organizations with clear customer outcomes;
- open-source tools;
- expert practices;
- domains where people repeatedly seek progress.

This is speculative, but it follows from the core claim. If themes are
value-derived audience-side higher-order states, then agents may be able to
search value space and project into theme space. The outputs are hypotheses,
not proof.

## Inputs

Start by collecting the best available inputs.

### 1. Actor

Who is trying to build audience?

```text
creator / builder / business / organization / project / investor / founder
```

Notes:

```text

```

### 2. Starting Value

What value, capability, product, service, expertise, access, taste, data, tool,
or concrete idea is available?

```text

```

Include weak or partial value too. An early-stage builder may not have the full
capability yet, but the worksheet should mark that clearly.

### 3. Audience Candidates

Who might care if this value worked?

```text

```

Avoid only demographic labels. Describe people in relation to a desired state,
problem, aspiration, recurring situation, or field of action.

### 4. Context And Constraints

What constraints matter?

- existing business model;
- creator credibility;
- technical feasibility;
- cost;
- platform;
- time horizon;
- distribution access;
- ethical or trust constraints;
- user/customer context;
- competition.

Notes:

```text

```

## Step 1: Search Value Space

List possible value sources connected to the actor.

Do not decide too early. Search broadly first.

Possible value sources:

- knowledge;
- skill;
- taste;
- judgment;
- curation;
- explanation;
- community access;
- operational capability;
- software capability;
- data access;
- AI capability;
- service capability;
- product capability;
- lived experience;
- network;
- brand;
- distribution;
- capital;
- institutional position;
- unusual point of view.

Working list:

```text
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
```

Agentic LLM move:

```text
Given this actor and context, what possible values or capabilities could be
real, developable, or strategically available?
```

## Step 2: Project Value To Audience-Side States

For each value source, ask:

```text
If the audience had the fullest and best use of this value over time, what
meaningful higher-order state could become more possible in their life?
```

Candidate projections:

| value source | possible audience-side state | why it might matter |
|---|---|---|
|  |  |  |
|  |  |  |
|  |  |  |

Use concrete language. Avoid vague goods like `success`, `confidence`, or
`growth` unless the worksheet makes them specific.

Better:

```text
looking and feeling good every time one gets dressed
```

Weaker:

```text
confidence
```

## Step 3: Make The State Story-Shaped

For each promising state, identify the story structure.

```text
audience member as protagonist:

starting lack / complication:

actions over time:

obstacles or tensions:

desired resolution:

why the resolution matters:
```

Discard or revise candidates that cannot be made story-shaped without forcing
it.

## Step 4: Test For Higher-Order Richness

A strong theme candidate usually depends on many interacting parts.

Ask:

- What information must be organized?
- What decisions recur?
- What skills or habits matter?
- What feedback is missing?
- What changes over time?
- What obstacles repeat?
- What context affects success?
- What support could make progress more likely?

Notes:

```text

```

If the candidate has no richness, it may be too shallow to support an
open-ended audience-building effort.

## Step 5: Form Candidate Themes

Convert the state into a theme premise.

Remember:

```text
The theme is about the desired resolution, not just the resolution stated
flatly.
```

Candidate theme statements:

```text
1.
2.
3.
```

Check whether each theme can generate a range of creative:

- obstacles;
- examples;
- mistakes;
- transformations;
- decisions;
- comparisons;
- tools;
- stories;
- experiments;
- opinions;
- rituals;
- participation;
- progress markers.

## Step 6: Evaluate Viability

Score each candidate from 1 to 5.

| criterion | score | notes |
|---|---:|---|
| audience-side meaning |  |  |
| specificity |  |  |
| open-endedness |  |  |
| higher-order richness |  |  |
| supportability |  |  |
| creative range |  |  |
| creator/value fit |  |  |
| economic or endeavor relevance |  |  |
| trust / ethical fit |  |  |
| testability through media |  |  |

Interpretation:

- high scores do not prove demand;
- low scores identify weak spots;
- uneven scores may show where the idea needs refinement.

## Step 7: Identify Ways To Satisfy The Theme

List possible theme-satisfying artifacts and supports.

### Media Creative

```text
posts:
videos:
podcasts:
newsletters:
essays:
screenshots:
series:
interviews:
examples:
```

### Support

```text
software:
data:
AI:
service:
product:
event / community / education / operations:
course/book/resource:
operation/process:
```

### Participation

```text
How can the audience participate in the theme?

```

## Step 8: Theme Funnel Hypothesis

Describe how people might move through the theme funnel.

```text
awareness:

interest:

returning attention:

participation:

partial progress:

support use:

realization / maintenance:
```

What would count as evidence of movement?

```text

```

## Step 9: First Test

Choose the smallest useful test.

Media is usually the fastest first test.

```text
What artifact or series should be made first?

What should it test?

What response would count as signal?

What response would count as warning?
```

## Step 10: Agent Review

Have an agent review the worksheet.

Useful prompts:

```text
Where is this theme too vague?
Where is it too sales-shaped?
Where does the audience-side state feel forced?
What stronger state might this value project to?
What creative range does this theme enable?
What support surfaces does this state imply?
What assumptions require real-world testing?
What adjacent themes should be compared?
```

## Output Summary

Final candidate theme:

```text

```

Audience-side object of interest:

```text

```

Why this theme might be viable:

```text

```

First creative tests:

```text
1.
2.
3.
```

First support ideas:

```text
1.
2.
3.
```

Open risks:

```text
1.
2.
3.
```

Next action:

```text

```