Abstract
As artificial intelligence evolves into ambient, distributed systems, design faces an ontological transformation. The traditional interface, once the visible boundary between humans and machines, is dissolving, giving rise to new modes of intuitive, sensory, and relational interaction. This paper argues for a shift from interface to intuition, where design no longer mediates through visual representation but orchestrates subtle ecologies of perception and awareness. Drawing on design philosophy and posthuman theory, it explores how AI redefines core categories of form, presence, and authorship, suggesting that meaning now emerges through attunement rather than control. In this post-visual paradigm, designers act as mediators of resonance between human and non-human intelligences, cultivating shared fields of cognition and emotion. Ultimately, the study proposes an expanded ontology of design, no longer centered on objects or images, but on relationships, sensitivity, and the ethics of coexistence in the age of ambient intelligence.
Keywords
Ambient Intelligence, Post-Visual Design, Design Ontology, Human–AI Interaction
DOI
https://doi.org/10.21606/drs.2026.2413
Citation
Nava, S. (2026) From Interface to Intuition: Rethinking Design Ontologies in the Age of Ambient Intelligence, in Simeone, L., Gray, C. M., Verhoeven, A., de Götzen, A., Bakırlıoğlu, Y., Zohar, H., Stead, M., and Buwert, P. (eds.), DRS2026: Edinburgh, 8–12 June, Edinburgh, United Kingdom. https://doi.org/10.21606/drs.2026.2413
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License
Included in
From Interface to Intuition: Rethinking Design Ontologies in the Age of Ambient Intelligence
As artificial intelligence evolves into ambient, distributed systems, design faces an ontological transformation. The traditional interface, once the visible boundary between humans and machines, is dissolving, giving rise to new modes of intuitive, sensory, and relational interaction. This paper argues for a shift from interface to intuition, where design no longer mediates through visual representation but orchestrates subtle ecologies of perception and awareness. Drawing on design philosophy and posthuman theory, it explores how AI redefines core categories of form, presence, and authorship, suggesting that meaning now emerges through attunement rather than control. In this post-visual paradigm, designers act as mediators of resonance between human and non-human intelligences, cultivating shared fields of cognition and emotion. Ultimately, the study proposes an expanded ontology of design, no longer centered on objects or images, but on relationships, sensitivity, and the ethics of coexistence in the age of ambient intelligence.