Communication Design in the Age of AI Cultures

A Relational Map for a Paradigm Shift

Authors

  • Marco Quaggiotto Dipartimento di Design, Politecnico di Milano Author
  • Elena Caratti Polytechnic University of Milan image/svg+xml Author
  • Francesco E. Guida Polytechnic University of Milan image/svg+xml Author
  • Umberto Tolino Polytechnic University of Milan image/svg+xml Author
  • Valeria Bucchetti Polytechnic University of Milan image/svg+xml Author

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.82068/pgjournal.2026.23.43.04

Keywords:

Communication design, Artificial intelligence, Design theory, Design methodology, Design education

Abstract

As artificial intelligence becomes established as a technological infrastructure, its effects extend beyond the technical domain, reshaping cultural, social, and epistemological processes. Although this cross-cutting nature reflects the systemic scale of the phenomenon, it also creates a degree of instability in the surrounding discourse, where heterogeneous levels of analysis tend to overlap, fostering a predominantly substitutionist framing centred on the automation of design activities. Building on this observation, the paper offers a theoretical and programmatic inquiry into the different positions AI assumes in relation to communication design. It identifies five main relationships: AI as an environment, transforming the contexts in which content is produced and circulated; as an interpretative tool, enabling the analysis of complex communication systems; as a design tool, introducing models of delegation and collaboration into the design process; as design material, embedded in communication artefacts and shaping their relational capacities; and as an object of design intervention, requiring forms of mediation, representation, and interpretation that can make intelligent systems understandable and governable. Across these relationships, AI also serves a reflexive function, acting as an epistemic device that calls into question fundamental categories such as authorship, creativity, competence, judgement, and responsibility. The transformations introduced by AI therefore require renewed engagement with the history, foundations, and pedagogical traditions of the discipline – not as a legacy to be preserved, but as a field through which continuities and discontinuities in the ongoing transformation can be recognised. The proposed model offers an open interpretative framework for situating AI within a disciplinary trajectory and identifying what it radicalises, transforms, and destabilises in communication design.

Author Biographies

  • Marco Quaggiotto, Dipartimento di Design, Politecnico di Milano

    Associate Professor in the Department of Design at Politecnico di Milano and Secretary of the Communication Design Programme. His research focuses on communication design and digital/computational systems, with particular interest in the representation of data, systems, and territories.

  • Elena Caratti, Polytechnic University of Milan

    Elena Caratti, PhD, is associate professor at the Department of Design of Politecnico di Milano. She is the chair of the Communication Design degree programme. She is the author of Rimedi Gender-sensitive (2015) and co-editor of the volumes Design is translation (2017) and Designing ethically in a complex world (2024).

  • Francesco E. Guida, Polytechnic University of Milan

    MSc in Architecture and PhD in Design and Technologies for the Enhancement of Cultural Heritage. He is an Associate Professor at the Department of Design and teaches Communication Design at the School of Design at Politecnico di Milano. He is president of AIAP, Italian Association of Visual Communication Design (2025–2028).

  • Umberto Tolino, Polytechnic University of Milan

    Full Professor in Communication Design. His research explores the relationship between digital design and communication systems, with a particular interest in technology-mediated social innovation. His achievements include two Honourable Mentions at the ADI Compasso d’Oro Award and a Red Dot Design Award.

  • Valeria Bucchetti, Polytechnic University of Milan

    She is Full Professor at the Department of Design, Politecnico di Milano, where she previously served as Chair of the BSc and MSc programmes in Communication Design. She is a member of the PhD in Design Board and serves on the board of the Interuniversity Research Centre for Gender Cultures. In 1998, she received the prestigious Compasso d'Oro Design Award.

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Published

2026-10-01

Issue

No. 43 (2026): Back Then Is Back Now. Design History and Education in the Age of AI

Section

Research

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