The Shape of Care: Designing for a More-Than-Human Future

The Shape of Care examines a new reckoning in design as human-centred practice meets intelligent systems. As AI enters studios and research spaces, this talk explores what happens when designers are asked not only to design for others, but to remain aware of themselves and their relationships with more-than-human systems.

The talk traces how traditional design frameworks externalised empathy and flattened complexity, leaving little room for care, reflection and emotional labour. By bringing the designer back into focus, it reframes design as a relational practice shaped by intention, responsibility and mutual influence rather than control or optimisation.

This talk introduces relational design as an evolution of human-centred thinking, where growth, ethics and awareness replace certainty and outcomes. The ideas explored here are extended through a corresponding workshop that translates relational thinking into hands-on experimentation with frameworks and tools.