Abstract
This letter is a call to those interested in the future of design and design education, and open to challenging the dominant materialist/physicalist paradigm. With advancements in quantum science, plasma physics, and wave mechanics, new understandings and models have arisen that offer professional and academic opportunities. Design, especially of physical, three-dimensional artifacts, sees objects as essentially vehicles for valuable subjective experience. What are the implications of acknowledging that all matter is actually congealed energy, and that all people are composed of, surrounded by, and affected by frequencies? How might designers better understand and address positive resonances and negative dissonances within the vibrational soup of the natural and built environments? How might designers use existing and emerging science, as well as compel, and partner with, researchers from various technical fields to develop tools and advance knowledge regarding energetic interaction? As a letter—not an academic paper—this emphasizes possibilities before practitioners, researchers, and educators more so than particular answers or distinct path forward. It raises questions that traditional science often does not acknowledge or has difficulty answering, but which offer exciting opportunities for design intervention. The letter is meant as a spark to help imagine what a field of design energetics might be—the roles and responsibilities it might have and the contributions it could make to human experience and the stewardship of natural resources.
DOI
https://doi.org/10.21606/drslxd.2025.089
Citation
Tharp, B.(2025) Designing Design Energetics, in Clemente, V., Gomes, G., Reis, M., Félix, S., Ala, S., Jones, D. (eds.), Learn X Design 2025, 22-24 September 2025, Aveiro, Portugal. https://doi.org/10.21606/drslxd.2025.089
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License
Conference Track
Letter
Designing Design Energetics
This letter is a call to those interested in the future of design and design education, and open to challenging the dominant materialist/physicalist paradigm. With advancements in quantum science, plasma physics, and wave mechanics, new understandings and models have arisen that offer professional and academic opportunities. Design, especially of physical, three-dimensional artifacts, sees objects as essentially vehicles for valuable subjective experience. What are the implications of acknowledging that all matter is actually congealed energy, and that all people are composed of, surrounded by, and affected by frequencies? How might designers better understand and address positive resonances and negative dissonances within the vibrational soup of the natural and built environments? How might designers use existing and emerging science, as well as compel, and partner with, researchers from various technical fields to develop tools and advance knowledge regarding energetic interaction? As a letter—not an academic paper—this emphasizes possibilities before practitioners, researchers, and educators more so than particular answers or distinct path forward. It raises questions that traditional science often does not acknowledge or has difficulty answering, but which offer exciting opportunities for design intervention. The letter is meant as a spark to help imagine what a field of design energetics might be—the roles and responsibilities it might have and the contributions it could make to human experience and the stewardship of natural resources.