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Things We Could Design: For More Than Human-Centered Worlds
How posthumanist design enables a world in which humans share center stage with nonhumans, with whom we are entangled.
Over the past forty years, designers have privileged human values such that human-centered design is seen as progressive. Yet because all that is not human has been depleted, made extinct, or put to human use, today's design contributes to the existential threat of climate change and the ongoing extinctions of other species. In Things We Could Design , Ron Wakkary argues that human-centered design is not the answer to our problems but is itself part of the problem. Drawing on philosophy, design theory, and numerous design works, he shows the way to a relational and expansive design based on humility and cohabitation.
Wakkary says that design can no longer ignore its exploitation of nonhuman species and the materials we mine for and reduce to human use. Posthumanism, he argues, enables a rethinking of design that displaces the human at the center of thought and action. Weaving together posthumanist philosophies with design, he describes what he calls things --nonhumans made by designers--and calls for a commitment to design with more than human participation. Wakkary also focuses on design as "nomadic practices"--a multiplicity of intentionalities and situated knowledges that shows design to be expansive and pluralistic. He calls his overall approach "designing-with": the practice of design in a world in which humans share center stage with nonhumans, and in which we are bound together materially, ethically, and existentially.
Over the past forty years, designers have privileged human values such that human-centered design is seen as progressive. Yet because all that is not human has been depleted, made extinct, or put to human use, today's design contributes to the existential threat of climate change and the ongoing extinctions of other species. In Things We Could Design , Ron Wakkary argues that human-centered design is not the answer to our problems but is itself part of the problem. Drawing on philosophy, design theory, and numerous design works, he shows the way to a relational and expansive design based on humility and cohabitation.
Wakkary says that design can no longer ignore its exploitation of nonhuman species and the materials we mine for and reduce to human use. Posthumanism, he argues, enables a rethinking of design that displaces the human at the center of thought and action. Weaving together posthumanist philosophies with design, he describes what he calls things --nonhumans made by designers--and calls for a commitment to design with more than human participation. Wakkary also focuses on design as "nomadic practices"--a multiplicity of intentionalities and situated knowledges that shows design to be expansive and pluralistic. He calls his overall approach "designing-with": the practice of design in a world in which humans share center stage with nonhumans, and in which we are bound together materially, ethically, and existentially.
312 pages, Paperback
Published August 24, 2021
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
September 26, 2024
It took a trip to Ron’s Everyday Design Studio for me to finally finish his book, but I’m incredibly glad I did. While challenging to get through at times due to the high concentration of new (to me) philosophical thought, I feel enriched with a new perspective on design after having finished it. The ideas from the book will need some time to sit and ferment to become part of my own design practice, but I am determined to practice design with more humility and generosity for the world around me, and to be more conscious of the constituencies that I enter and remain a part of as a designer.
December 30, 2022
The book is enlightening as it breaks several assumptions of our daily lives. It questions tradicional design and argues for new methodological approaches, which I generally agree due to the high speed of technological advances.
It was sometimes hard to follow as it mentioned several concepts that were unknown for me as a computer scientist in the HCI field. For instance a “thing” is still a weird new concept that I am not sure
I have understood. I expect to read this book once again in the near future.
It was sometimes hard to follow as it mentioned several concepts that were unknown for me as a computer scientist in the HCI field. For instance a “thing” is still a weird new concept that I am not sure
I have understood. I expect to read this book once again in the near future.
November 11, 2023
Interesting, but the examples by themselves seem largely to fit many design rubrics and to generally be speculative designs. The theories laid out seem to get ahead of the examples themselves. I found myself, after all the theory, still wondering if post-human design was really, in practice, a thing and, absent the theory, not just a way of blanket labeling speculative or progressive design projects.
June 2, 2021
A must-read for anyone wondering what posthuman design and more-than-human-centred design might be.
June 2, 2021
Full of deep but interesting insights
December 23, 2021
a thought-provoking synthesis of work done by designers and philosophers to explore a posthumanist design into an interesting and coherent framework to think about design
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews