Life Centered Design: Unpacking a Posthumanistic Biodesign Process

The current ecological crisis highlights a need for an alternative design approach to counteract the mainstream human-centered design methodologies. This pictorial aims to bridge this gap by introducing a novel design approach, Life Centered Design, and its design process. The findings from a biodesign project on bioluminescent microalgae are presented and further reflected through a panel of experts. The auto ethnographical notes taken throughout the design process surfaced five design considerations, concerned with; combining perspectives, collaboration with the non-human, communication (challenges), the benefit ratio and ethical debate of human-non-human relations. These design considerations were iterated with a panel of experts to explore their applicability and generalizability across other biodesign projects. The case, the design considerations, and further discussions a reorganized as the body of Life Centered Design, providing both a practical guide and a reflection tool for post-human centred biodesign processes.