Archeologies of the Future
A Counterfactual Reflection on Visual Communication Design Education in the AI Era
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.82068/pgjournal.2026.23.43.05Keywords:
Visual Communication Design, Design Pedagogy, Intelligenza Artificiale, Speculative Design, ControfattualitàAbstract
The integration of generative artificial intelligence into visual communication design processes is deeply changing the relationship between learning, production, and design knowledge. While designer pedagogy has historically been based on the acquisition of knowledge of iterative processes of research, experimentation, and verification, the emergence of tools capable of incorporating operational and decision-making skills raises questions about the contents to be taught to future designers. Starting from a comparative analysis of international university courses dedicated to visual communication design and programs explicitly oriented towards the integration of design and artificial intelligence, this article identifies taxonomic and pedagogical recurrences that characterize different educational models. The analysis highlights the centrality of processual, critical, relational, and productive dimensions in traditional curricula, while highlighting the emergence – in AI-oriented programs – of new configurations based on automation, orchestration, adaptive systems, and computational infrastructures. Based on this evidence, the article adopts a counterfactual approach inspired by speculative design practices to interrogate possible future transformations in communication design education. By constructing an epistemic matrix structured along the axes of visibility/invisibility of the process and the forms of knowledge formulated by Luciano Floridi in the article "What a maker's knowledge could be" (2016), four hypothetical educational paradigms are outlined: laboratory, critical-orchestrative, curatorial, and automated. These models are not intended to predict the future or to propose normative guidelines, but rather to clarify certain trends already present in contemporary times. The counterfactual exercise highlights how the progressive delegation of operational skills to intelligent tools can also translate into a delegation of process understanding, necessitating renewed attention to critical awareness, cultural responsibility, and ethical reflection. From this perspective, the article offers a reflection on the evolving role of the designer and the need to rethink pedagogical models intended to train designers capable of operating consciously in increasingly automated ecosystems.
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