Abstract
This paper employs Thomas Kuhn’s paradigm shift framework to analyze the evolution of design, arguing that the field is undergoing a fundamental transformation from Human-Centered Design (HCD) to Assemblage-Centered Design. Historically, design progressed from a pre-paradigm phase (artifact-centered, industrial-era design) to a normal science phase (HCD, emphasizing user needs and design thinking). However, systemic crises such as climate change, social inequality, and AI integration, revealed anomalies in HCD’s user-centric focus, triggering a revolutionary phase. Assemblage-Centered Design redefines design’s ontology (encompassing ecosystems, AI, and socio- technical systems), epistemology (relational/systemic thinking), methodology (transition/speculative design), and teleology (long-term planetary well-being over commercial usability). The study identifies emergent tensions in this shift, including theory-practice gaps, Western-centric knowledge biases, industry-market constraints, governance misalignments, and AI’s trans versal disruption of design’s philosophical foundations. We conclude that Assemblage-Centered Design demands transdisciplinary collaboration, decolonized epi stem ologies, ethical AI integration, and policy innovation to address complex global challenges.
Keywords
Paradigm shift in design; Assemblage-Centered Design; Human-centered design (HCD)
DOI
https://doi.org/10.21606/iasdr.2025.504
Citation
Liou, S., Sibo, I.P.,and Chang, C.(2025) Design Next: An Emergent Paradigm Shift, in Chang, C.-Y., and Hsu, Y. (eds.), IASDR 2025: Design Next, 02-05 December, Taiwan. https://doi.org/10.21606/iasdr.2025.504
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License
Conference Track
Track 10 - Design Practices & Impacts
Design Next: An Emergent Paradigm Shift
This paper employs Thomas Kuhn’s paradigm shift framework to analyze the evolution of design, arguing that the field is undergoing a fundamental transformation from Human-Centered Design (HCD) to Assemblage-Centered Design. Historically, design progressed from a pre-paradigm phase (artifact-centered, industrial-era design) to a normal science phase (HCD, emphasizing user needs and design thinking). However, systemic crises such as climate change, social inequality, and AI integration, revealed anomalies in HCD’s user-centric focus, triggering a revolutionary phase. Assemblage-Centered Design redefines design’s ontology (encompassing ecosystems, AI, and socio- technical systems), epistemology (relational/systemic thinking), methodology (transition/speculative design), and teleology (long-term planetary well-being over commercial usability). The study identifies emergent tensions in this shift, including theory-practice gaps, Western-centric knowledge biases, industry-market constraints, governance misalignments, and AI’s trans versal disruption of design’s philosophical foundations. We conclude that Assemblage-Centered Design demands transdisciplinary collaboration, decolonized epi stem ologies, ethical AI integration, and policy innovation to address complex global challenges.