What Does ‘Posthuman Design’ Actually Mean?

Robots, non-human lifeforms, black hole typography. Educator Anastasiia Raina breaks it all down for us.

‘Graphic Design Manifesto’ by Ningjing Sun. Is grid structure the only visual system that we can refer to?

By Margaret Andersen

Here’s my message for those of you who think the robot revolution isn’t going to change the design industry: think again. In just two years, Toronto-based startup LogoJoy has created custom AI generated logos for nearly 1.5 million customers. Those logos, based on the moodboards of users, are delivered in under 30 seconds for half the price of what a human designer might charge.

But that’s not to say automation is going to put us all out of a job. Artificial intelligence is still in its infancy; just take a look at this image recognition glitch that mistakes everything for a toaster, or sift through researcher Janelle Shane’s collection of neural network weirdness. The same goes for other emerging technologies like virtual reality, cryptocurrency, and gene editing. But as new technologies continue to advance, the design industry will need to grow and evolve along with it.

According to design educator Anastasiia Raina, it’s not too early to begin considering what the roles of designers might be in a future where tasks like layout and production are completely automated. What would “human-centered…