Design Theory Week
Join the 11th SIG Tutorial on Design Theory 2027
We are pleased to announce that the 11th SIG Tutorial on Design Theory will take place from 04 - 05 February 2027, in Paris, France.
Events
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W4 - Designing with Intelligence: Exploring the Practical Implications of AI on Design Practice and Processes
Hotel Croatia, Cavtat
DESIGN Conference 2026: Workshop 4 - Designing with Intelligence: Exploring the Practical Implications of AI on Design Practice and Processes
DESIGN 2026 - Workshop 4
Designing with Intelligence: Exploring the Practical Implications of AI on Design Practice and Processes
Location: Hotel Croatia, Cavtat, Croatia (Room TBC)
Dates: 18 May 2026 (Time TBC)
Chairs: Claudia Eckert, Kilian Gericke, Sabine Muschik, Ola Isaksson and Filippo Chiarello
Organised by: Design Process SIG, Design Practice SIG, AI X Design SIG
Workshop Description
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is increasingly being adopted across a wide range of design activities, from generative ideation to simulation and validation. At the same time, its integration is reshaping roles, skills, responsibilities, and values within design practice. This interactive workshop invites researchers, practitioners, and educators to critically explore how AI is transforming design processes—what it enables, what it challenges, and how it alters the nature, sequencing, and interdependencies of design tasks.
Through short reports from industrial practice and collaborative mapping of AI approaches currently in use, participants will examine both the benefits and potential risks associated with AI-supported design processes. Attention will be given to the interaction of multiple AI applications within a single design process, and to questioning whether existing design process paradigms remain fit for purpose in current industrial contexts and in the decades ahead.
The workshop aims to bridge research and practice by exploring how design processes can evolve while retaining human-centred creativity, judgment, and the ability to assess emerging design states. Ultimately, the session seeks to build a critical mass of researchers and practitioners interested in jointly exploring the future of design processes in industry, both theoretically and in practice.
Key Outcomes
- Identify how AI is currently impacting industrial and engineering design processes.
- Strengthen the SIG community of researchers and practitioners interested in design practice and design processes.
- Identify next steps for collaboration and future research and exploration.
Format / methods / techniques
- Welcome and introduction (20 min): Overview of the Design Process and Design Practice SIG, workshop objectives, and key research questions.
- Mapping current practice (30 min): Small-group activity identifying where and how AI influences workflows, roles, and values, based on concrete examples from practice.
- Report from practice (30 min): Presentation by Sabine Muschik on the use of AI at a German tool builder.
- Benefits and threats of AI in design processes (40 min): Group discussion on desired and undesired implications that design process owners and developers must address.
- Assessing the fitness for purpose of design process paradigms (20 min): Synthesis and development of shared principles for responsible and effective AI integration.
- Wrap-up (20 min): Reflections, key takeaways, and opportunities for continued collaboration
