“We are now in transition from an object-oriented to a systems-oriented culture. Here change emanates, not from things, but from the way things are done.”
Jack Burnham (1968), Systems Esthetics
I’ve been writing about the expected impact of web3 on the design discipline and, more specifically, on the rising importance of utility. I believe that applications will gain autonomy in a decentralized web, for example, by combining with others spontaneously. Imagine operating, renting, or buying any part of an immersive environment, such as a film stream or game. Or earning rewards for completing a research project, which you can use to unlock features within a music streaming app.
This spontaneity (or unpredictability) calls us to reevaluate how we create systems. Design systems are typically grounded in approaches (modular, nesting) that work within predicated applications but fall short of providing a workable foundation for generative applications.
To enable computers to generate applications within a branded framework, we need to create systems driven by algorithmic logic (i.e., systems that allow resources to be independently reconfigured based on contextual data rather than predicated applications.) That means designing systems that are guided by principles (instead of rules), contain databases (beyond assets), and maintain their identity across radically different contexts.
There are precedents and experiments using algorithms in art and design — reference the work of Sol Lewitt, Anni Albers, and Athos Bulcão. However, they keep to individual applications (i.e., they may be systems unto themselves but are closed and not aimed at being reconfigured autonomously.)
It may take some courage (or a lot!) to design systems that avoid rules and enable ‘executing’ applications independently of our supervision. The time has come.
The upside? Individualized applications (time, place, content, utility) and exponentially richer relationships.
Going algorithmic was originally published in Bye bye, Bauhaus. on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.