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Manifesto for the Planet
Beyond human-centered design—In an era of both unprecedented technological capability and ecological fragility, we challenge fundamental assumptions of contemporary design practice and human-centered design, mapping an alternative path forward: a post-anthropocentric approach to design that expands our conception of stakeholders beyond immediate human users to include future generations, other species, and the planet itself.
By Alonzo Felix
Mar 28, 2025
By Alonzo Felix
Mar 28, 2025
By Alonzo Felix
Mar 28, 2025
Fig 01
Our planet writes its own manifesto in stone and slope
Fig 01
Our planet writes its own manifesto in stone and slope
Fig 01
Our planet writes its own manifesto in stone and slope
For so many, the status quo isn't working.
We've engineered industrial-grade attention capture algorithms, distributed forever chemicals, accumulated mountains of microplastics, optimized for infinite scrolling, fragmented collective attention spans, compressed news cycles, destabilized climate patterns, and much more.
The Design Paradox
Given this reality, it's easy to become disenchanted with technology and many aspects of modern living. For as much progress as digital transformation has brought humanity, we face a cascade of wicked problems that often don’t feel like progress. We've reached the limits of conventional design thinking: unprecedented UX sophistication alongside unprecedented ecological degradation.
Our technological progress has connected humanity with information networks in novel ways, while simultaneously fracturing our relationship with the natural world. The algorithms we prototype to serve users are simultaneously serving users to advertisers. The interaction paradigms that make interfaces frictionless leave cognitive friction that will reshape generations. We've created a world of digital abundance that somehow delivers experiential scarcity.
Fig 02
Considering the byproducts of design
The Design Paradox
Given this reality, it's easy to become disenchanted with technology and many aspects of modern living. For as much progress as digital transformation has brought humanity, we face a cascade of wicked problems that often don’t feel like progress. We've reached the limits of conventional design thinking: unprecedented UX sophistication alongside unprecedented ecological degradation.
Our technological progress has connected humanity with information networks in novel ways, while simultaneously fracturing our relationship with the natural world. The algorithms we prototype to serve users are simultaneously serving users to advertisers. The interaction paradigms that make interfaces frictionless leave cognitive friction that will reshape generations. We've created a world of digital abundance that somehow delivers experiential scarcity.
Fig 02
Considering the byproducts of design
The Design Paradox
Given this reality, it's easy to become disenchanted with technology and many aspects of modern living. For as much progress as digital transformation has brought humanity, we face a cascade of wicked problems that often don’t feel like progress. We've reached the limits of conventional design thinking: unprecedented UX sophistication alongside unprecedented ecological degradation.
Our technological progress has connected humanity with information networks in novel ways, while simultaneously fracturing our relationship with the natural world. The algorithms we prototype to serve users are simultaneously serving users to advertisers. The interaction paradigms that make interfaces frictionless leave cognitive friction that will reshape generations. We've created a world of digital abundance that somehow delivers experiential scarcity.
Fig 02
Considering the byproducts of design
The Design Paradox
Given this reality, it's easy to become disenchanted with technology and many aspects of modern living. For as much progress as digital transformation has brought humanity, we face a cascade of wicked problems that often don’t feel like progress. We've reached the limits of conventional design thinking: unprecedented UX sophistication alongside unprecedented ecological degradation.
Our technological progress has connected humanity with information networks in novel ways, while simultaneously fracturing our relationship with the natural world. The algorithms we prototype to serve users are simultaneously serving users to advertisers. The interaction paradigms that make interfaces frictionless leave cognitive friction that will reshape generations. We've created a world of digital abundance that somehow delivers experiential scarcity.
Fig 02
Considering the byproducts of design
“We’ve reached the limits of conventional design thinking: unprecedented UX sophistication alongside unprecedented ecological degradation.”
“We’ve reached the limits of conventional design thinking: unprecedented UX sophistication alongside unprecedented ecological degradation.”
“We’ve reached the limits of conventional design thinking: unprecedented UX sophistication alongside unprecedented ecological degradation.”
Fig 03
Acceleration at the speed of thought
The Intelligence Paradigm Shift
The dawn of the 'Intelligence Age' and our trajectory toward Artificial Superintelligence (ASI) promises new heights of human achievement while introducing unprecedented challenges that will make today's deepfakes and misinformation seem quaint by comparison. The expansion of digital modernity through platform economies and global connectivity has succeeded in lifting many from poverty, but there are billions more relegated to the margins. With the progress and profits of AI technologies distributed asymmetrically across geographies and demographics, we anticipate further amplification of systemic inequalities and power imbalances.
This technological acceleration creates both vertigo and possibility. The generative systems emerging from this revolution can diagnose disease patterns, model complex climate interventions, and synthesize new materials beyond our imagination. Yet these same tools threaten to entrench existing power architectures, replace meaningful labor, and further disconnect us from the embodied experiences that make us human. The question isn't whether to blindly embrace these technologies (we should not), but rather how to guide them toward regenerative rather than extractive outcomes.
Fig 03
Acceleration at the speed of thought
The Intelligence Paradigm Shift
The dawn of the 'Intelligence Age' and our trajectory toward Artificial Superintelligence (ASI) promises new heights of human achievement while introducing unprecedented challenges that will make today's deepfakes and misinformation seem quaint by comparison. The expansion of digital modernity through platform economies and global connectivity has succeeded in lifting many from poverty, but there are billions more relegated to the margins. With the progress and profits of AI technologies distributed asymmetrically across geographies and demographics, we anticipate further amplification of systemic inequalities and power imbalances.
This technological acceleration creates both vertigo and possibility. The generative systems emerging from this revolution can diagnose disease patterns, model complex climate interventions, and synthesize new materials beyond our imagination. Yet these same tools threaten to entrench existing power architectures, replace meaningful labor, and further disconnect us from the embodied experiences that make us human. The question isn't whether to blindly embrace these technologies (we should not), but rather how to guide them toward regenerative rather than extractive outcomes.
Fig 03
Acceleration at the speed of thought
The Intelligence Paradigm Shift
The dawn of the 'Intelligence Age' and our trajectory toward Artificial Superintelligence (ASI) promises new heights of human achievement while introducing unprecedented challenges that will make today's deepfakes and misinformation seem quaint by comparison. The expansion of digital modernity through platform economies and global connectivity has succeeded in lifting many from poverty, but there are billions more relegated to the margins. With the progress and profits of AI technologies distributed asymmetrically across geographies and demographics, we anticipate further amplification of systemic inequalities and power imbalances.
This technological acceleration creates both vertigo and possibility. The generative systems emerging from this revolution can diagnose disease patterns, model complex climate interventions, and synthesize new materials beyond our imagination. Yet these same tools threaten to entrench existing power architectures, replace meaningful labor, and further disconnect us from the embodied experiences that make us human. The question isn't whether to blindly embrace these technologies (we should not), but rather how to guide them toward regenerative rather than extractive outcomes.
Fig 03
Acceleration at the speed of thought
The Intelligence Paradigm Shift
The dawn of the 'Intelligence Age' and our trajectory toward Artificial Superintelligence (ASI) promises new heights of human achievement while introducing unprecedented challenges that will make today's deepfakes and misinformation seem quaint by comparison. The expansion of digital modernity through platform economies and global connectivity has succeeded in lifting many from poverty, but there are billions more relegated to the margins. With the progress and profits of AI technologies distributed asymmetrically across geographies and demographics, we anticipate further amplification of systemic inequalities and power imbalances.
This technological acceleration creates both vertigo and possibility. The generative systems emerging from this revolution can diagnose disease patterns, model complex climate interventions, and synthesize new materials beyond our imagination. Yet these same tools threaten to entrench existing power architectures, replace meaningful labor, and further disconnect us from the embodied experiences that make us human. The question isn't whether to blindly embrace these technologies (we should not), but rather how to guide them toward regenerative rather than extractive outcomes.
Design as Systemic Intervention
So what role does design play in this complex adaptive technological landscape? We bring a critical lens to contemporary challenges, reconsidering and reframing our relationship to technology, the biosphere, and each other. Additionally, interdisciplinary methodologies are essential to finding viable solutions at multiple scales of implementation. We need open eyes, critical frameworks, and the capacity to engage deeply with continuously evolving technological ecosystems.
Design can no longer function merely as the aesthetics of consumption or the friction-reduction mechanism of extraction. We reject the notion that good design means seamless engagement with products engineered for addiction and dependency. Instead, we embrace design as a discipline of integrated systems thinking that spans domains.
Our practice isn't about optimizing broken systems or making the unpalatable more digestible. It's about fundamentally reimagining what systems might and should exist instead.
Design as Systemic Intervention
So what role does design play in this complex adaptive technological landscape? We bring a critical lens to contemporary challenges, reconsidering and reframing our relationship to technology, the biosphere, and each other. Additionally, interdisciplinary methodologies are essential to finding viable solutions at multiple scales of implementation. We need open eyes, critical frameworks, and the capacity to engage deeply with continuously evolving technological ecosystems.
Design can no longer function merely as the aesthetics of consumption or the friction-reduction mechanism of extraction. We reject the notion that good design means seamless engagement with products engineered for addiction and dependency. Instead, we embrace design as a discipline of integrated systems thinking that spans domains.
Our practice isn't about optimizing broken systems or making the unpalatable more digestible. It's about fundamentally reimagining what systems might and should exist instead.
Design as Systemic Intervention
So what role does design play in this complex adaptive technological landscape? We bring a critical lens to contemporary challenges, reconsidering and reframing our relationship to technology, the biosphere, and each other. Additionally, interdisciplinary methodologies are essential to finding viable solutions at multiple scales of implementation. We need open eyes, critical frameworks, and the capacity to engage deeply with continuously evolving technological ecosystems.
Design can no longer function merely as the aesthetics of consumption or the friction-reduction mechanism of extraction. We reject the notion that good design means seamless engagement with products engineered for addiction and dependency. Instead, we embrace design as a discipline of integrated systems thinking that spans domains.
Our practice isn't about optimizing broken systems or making the unpalatable more digestible. It's about fundamentally reimagining what systems might and should exist instead.
An Integrated Systems Design Approach
Ecological design that recognizes planetary boundaries
Technical architecture that distributes rather than concentrates agency
Interaction design that deepens rather than depletes cognitive resources
Systems design that regenerates rather than extracts all resources and value
Cultural design that celebrates human and bio-diversity and complexity
An Integrated Systems Design Approach
Ecological design that recognizes planetary boundaries
Technical architecture that distributes rather than concentrates agency
Interaction design that deepens rather than depletes cognitive resources
Systems design that regenerates rather than extracts all resources and value
Cultural design that celebrates human and bio-diversity and complexity
An Integrated Systems Design Approach
Ecological design that recognizes planetary boundaries
Technical architecture that distributes rather than concentrates agency
Interaction design that deepens rather than depletes cognitive resources
Systems design that regenerates rather than extracts all resources and value
Cultural design that celebrates human and bio-diversity and complexity
Posthuman Optimism
We adopt a post-human design framework and mindset to decenter and reconsider the default anthropocentric view and approach to modernity that has advanced civilization while introducing intractable concerns at planetary scale. This is about expanding the stakeholders beyond the privileged few.
We reject both naive techno-utopianism and paralyzing doomerism. The path forward requires clear-eyed assessment of our predicaments alongside imaginative exploration of alternatives.
Posthuman Optimism
We adopt a post-human design framework and mindset to decenter and reconsider the default anthropocentric view and approach to modernity that has advanced civilization while introducing intractable concerns at planetary scale. This is about expanding the stakeholders beyond the privileged few.
We reject both naive techno-utopianism and paralyzing doomerism. The path forward requires clear-eyed assessment of our predicaments alongside imaginative exploration of alternatives.
Posthuman Optimism
We adopt a post-human design framework and mindset to decenter and reconsider the default anthropocentric view and approach to modernity that has advanced civilization while introducing intractable concerns at planetary scale. This is about expanding the stakeholders beyond the privileged few.
We reject both naive techno-utopianism and paralyzing doomerism. The path forward requires clear-eyed assessment of our predicaments alongside imaginative exploration of alternatives.
Fig 04
New forms rise from old myths as we create unknown futures
Fig 04
New forms rise from old myths as we create unknown futures
Fig 04
New forms rise from old myths as we create unknown futures
“We reject both naive techno-utopianism and paralyzing doomerism. The path forward requires clear-eyed assessment of our predicaments alongside imaginative exploration of alternatives.”
“We reject both naive techno-utopianism and paralyzing doomerism. The path forward requires clear-eyed assessment of our predicaments alongside imaginative exploration of alternatives.”
“We reject both naive techno-utopianism and paralyzing doomerism. The path forward requires clear-eyed assessment of our predicaments alongside imaginative exploration of alternatives.”
The Posthuman Design Philosophy
Considering the needs of stakeholders without direct representation: future generations, other species, and marginalized communities
Considering the needs of stakeholders without direct representation: future generations, other species, and marginalized communities
Considering the needs of stakeholders without direct representation: future generations, other species, and marginalized communities
The Posthuman Design Philosophy
Considering the needs of stakeholders without direct representation: future generations, other species, and marginalized communities
Considering the needs of stakeholders without direct representation: future generations, other species, and marginalized communities
Considering the needs of stakeholders without direct representation: future generations, other species, and marginalized communities
The Posthuman Design Philosophy
Considering the needs of stakeholders without direct representation: future generations, other species, and marginalized communities
Considering the needs of stakeholders without direct representation: future generations, other species, and marginalized communities
Considering the needs of stakeholders without direct representation: future generations, other species, and marginalized communities
The Posthuman Design Philosophy
Considering the needs of stakeholders without direct representation: future generations, other species, and marginalized communities
Considering the needs of stakeholders without direct representation: future generations, other species, and marginalized communities
Considering the needs of stakeholders without direct representation: future generations, other species, and marginalized communities
Toward Ecological Poetics
We are engaged in defining the ecological poetics of the future, synthesizing interface design with cultural contexts, algorithmic logic with empathic understanding, innovation with historical perspective to catalyze a self-planetary-techno awareness to human challenges utilizing the methodologies and of design and interrelated disciplines. This requires a new design language and aesthetic that integrates the computational precision of digital systems with the organic complexity of living systems.
The most profound innovations won't be experiences that further separate us from our environment, but those that reconnect us to it through new forms of awareness and participation.
Fig 05
Syntax of sunlight with systems in bloom
Toward Ecological Poetics
We are engaged in defining the ecological poetics of the future, synthesizing interface design with cultural contexts, algorithmic logic with empathic understanding, innovation with historical perspective to catalyze a self-planetary-techno awareness to human challenges utilizing the methodologies and of design and interrelated disciplines. This requires a new design language and aesthetic that integrates the computational precision of digital systems with the organic complexity of living systems.
The most profound innovations won't be experiences that further separate us from our environment, but those that reconnect us to it through new forms of awareness and participation.
Fig 05
Syntax of sunlight with systems in bloom
Toward Ecological Poetics
We are engaged in defining the ecological poetics of the future, synthesizing interface design with cultural contexts, algorithmic logic with empathic understanding, innovation with historical perspective to catalyze a self-planetary-techno awareness to human challenges utilizing the methodologies and of design and interrelated disciplines. This requires a new design language and aesthetic that integrates the computational precision of digital systems with the organic complexity of living systems.
The most profound innovations won't be experiences that further separate us from our environment, but those that reconnect us to it through new forms of awareness and participation.
Fig 05
Syntax of sunlight with systems in bloom
Toward Ecological Poetics
Cyclical rather than linear processess
Adaptive rather than rigid structuress
Emergent rather than predetermined experience outcomess
Collaborative rather than competitive dynamicss
Biodiversity rather than monocultural standardizations
Toward Ecological Poetics
Cyclical rather than linear processess
Adaptive rather than rigid structuress
Emergent rather than predetermined experience outcomess
Collaborative rather than competitive dynamicss
Biodiversity rather than monocultural standardizations
Toward Ecological Poetics
Cyclical rather than linear processess
Adaptive rather than rigid structuress
Emergent rather than predetermined experience outcomess
Collaborative rather than competitive dynamicss
Biodiversity rather than monocultural standardizations
Fig 06
Vitality exists beneath the surface
Our Design Ethics
We want to do our part to engage in solution-making that empowers people with valuable tools, advancing technological progress thoughtfully, and respecting our planet and living systems. We don't claim to have all the answers. Our approach is iterative, experimental, and open to challenge. What we offer instead is a commitment to asking better questions, imagining bolder possibilities, and designing with humility toward the complex systems we inhabit.
The future belongs not to those who can extract the most value, but to those who can create the most vitality. That's the work we're here to do.
Fig 06
Vitality exists beneath the surface
Our Design Ethics
We want to do our part to engage in solution-making that empowers people with valuable tools, advancing technological progress thoughtfully, and respecting our planet and living systems. We don't claim to have all the answers. Our approach is iterative, experimental, and open to challenge. What we offer instead is a commitment to asking better questions, imagining bolder possibilities, and designing with humility toward the complex systems we inhabit.
The future belongs not to those who can extract the most value, but to those who can create the most vitality. That's the work we're here to do.
Fig 06
Vitality exists beneath the surface
Our Design Ethics
We want to do our part to engage in solution-making that empowers people with valuable tools, advancing technological progress thoughtfully, and respecting our planet and living systems. We don't claim to have all the answers. Our approach is iterative, experimental, and open to challenge. What we offer instead is a commitment to asking better questions, imagining bolder possibilities, and designing with humility toward the complex systems we inhabit.
The future belongs not to those who can extract the most value, but to those who can create the most vitality. That's the work we're here to do.
Our Design Ethics
Declining client work that produces net harm
Centering the needs of communities rather than corporations
Making our methodologies transparent and our knowledge accessible
Measuring success through regenerative impact metrics, not just engagement KPIs or financial returns
Continuously learning, testing assumptions, and evolving design approach
Our Design Ethics
Declining client work that produces net harm
Centering the needs of communities rather than corporations
Making our methodologies transparent and our knowledge accessible
Measuring success through regenerative impact metrics, not just engagement KPIs or financial returns
Continuously learning, testing assumptions, and evolving design approach
Our Design Ethics
Declining client work that produces net harm
Centering the needs of communities rather than corporations
Making our methodologies transparent and our knowledge accessible
Measuring success through regenerative impact metrics, not just engagement KPIs or financial returns
Continuously learning, testing assumptions, and evolving design approach
“The future belongs not to those who can extract the most value, but to those who can create the most vitality.”
“The future belongs not to those who can extract the most value, but to those who can create the most vitality.”
“The future belongs not to those who can extract the most value, but to those who can create the most vitality.”
“The future belongs not to those who can extract the most value, but to those who can create the most vitality.”
Collective
Futures
Collective
Futures
Collective
Futures
Collective
Futures
Further reading
The Evolving AI Landscape
This essay explores the current state of AI, its trajectory, practical applications for our design studio's projects, this is a third line of text
The Evolving AI Landscape
This essay explores the current state of AI, its trajectory, practical applications for our design studio's projects, this is a third line of text
The Evolving AI Landscape
This essay explores the current state of AI, its trajectory, practical applications for our design studio's projects, this is a third line of text
Humanity
Nature
Technology
FACT
AI training can be ~1,000× more carbon-efficient with best practices—but few organizations have standardized reporting, perpetuating unnecessary waste.
FACT
AI training can be ~1,000× more carbon-efficient with best practices—but few organizations have standardized reporting, perpetuating unnecessary waste.
FACT
AI training can be ~1,000× more carbon-efficient with best practices—but few organizations have standardized reporting, perpetuating unnecessary waste.