Designing Aesthetics of Intelligence

Stephan Wensveen

Design and aesthetics have always been in a relationship with emerging technology and materials, as each advancement in technology offered and required new opportunities for design and aesthetics. In this piece I want to offer my perspective on how Artificial Intelligence and its technologies can relate to design and aesthetics. Through design exemplars, I will trace my own journey and aesthetic values across three previous waves of design aesthetics: appearance, interaction, and transformation, to arrive at a fourth wave of ‘aesthetics of intelligence’. I will propose five principles that might help to offer an aesthetic compass for navigating these challenging times.