SoD26 & FoD26: Two Paths, One Conversation

Each year, we host a community project, called The State of Design, to take the pulse of our discipline.

Reflecting on the last two years of State of Design (SoD), we realized something critical: our conversations often get caught in a tension between what is (the messy reality of our industry) and what could be (the systemic shifts we hope for). When we try to do both at once, we often dilute the power of the critique or the boldness of the vision.

Therefore, we are opening two separate calls for participation:

  1. The State of Design (SoD26): If you want to analyze, critique, or discuss the current state of the design industry, this track is for you. Contributions will be compiled into our SoD26 collection.
  2. The Future of Design (FoD26): If you prefer to experiment and build prototypes that speculate on the future of design, join this track. Contributions will form our FoD26 inventory.

We cannot build a meaningful future if we ignore the broken parts of the present. Conversely, we cannot fix the present if we don’t know where we’re trying to go. By separating these "faces of the coin," we give ourselves permission to be deeply critical in one space and wildly imaginative in the other.

How to Join

You can register for the track that suits you best—or tackle both! The project concludes in late February with a live convergence session where participants from both tracks will come together to share insights with the community.

Join Track 1: The State of Design (SoD26)
Continue reading or register here:

Register to participate – SoD26

Join Track 2: The Future of Design (FoD26)

If The Future of Design 2026 (FoD26, The Sail) is about catching the winds of change, then The State of Design 2026 (SoD26) is about acknowledging the weight that holds us back. We call this The Anchor.

In previous years, we have explored the fear of irrelevance and the topography of our narratives. This year, we are turning off the "reality distortion field." We are not interested in your polished case studies, your "happy path" user journeys, or your "5 Steps to Innovation" lists.

We want the bug reports. We want the friction. We want the "Incident Logs" of a profession in crisis.

The Narrative: Debugging the Present

We cannot build a meaningful future if we ignore the broken parts of the present. Conversely, we cannot fix the present if we refuse to look at the "messy reality" of our industry—the commoditization of craft, the ethical debt we are accruing with AI, and the operational walls we hit every single day.

This track is the System Diagnostic. It is introspective, critical, and raw. It asks us to look at the machinery of Design as it exists now, identify the error codes, the instabilities, the pipeline flows and failures, and document them with radical honesty.

The Themes: Error Logs

We are inviting you to submit written essays (1,000–2,000 words) that act as "Diagnostic Reports" on three critical system failures:

1. The Decay of Craft (Error 404: Soul Not Found)

The system status:

"Optimization is running at 100%. Quality is at 0%."

We are witnessing the "enshittification" of digital products and the commoditization of creativity. When "good enough" becomes the global standard and generative models replace the messy process of thinking, what happens to the human element of design?

  • The Question: Is craft dead, or has it just gone underground? How do we design for quality in an economy that only rewards speed?

2. The Automation of Thought (Warning: Deprecated Dependency)

The system status:

"Agency outsourced to algorithm."

We are not just automating pixels; we are automating decisions. As we hand over more of the "why" to opaque models, we risk creating a generation of designers who are merely operators of machines they do not understand.

  • The Question: What is the "Ethical Debt" we are accruing by deploying AI without guardrails? What happens when the tool starts shaping the hand?

3. The Operational Wall (Critical Failure: Access Denied)

The system status:

"The seat at the table is broken."

For decades, we fought for a "seat at the table." Now that we’re there, we find the table is gridlocked by bureaucracy, quarterly metrics, and short-termism. The "Bureaucrat" wins every time.

  • The Question: Why are we still hitting the same operational walls? Who is still missing from the room, and why haven't our "inclusive" processes fixed it?
Register to participate – SoD26

How to Participate

Unlike the Future of Design track, which seeks artifacts and prototypes, this track seeks clarity through writing.

The Format: "Incident Reports"

We are looking for:

  • Critical Essays: Deep dives into the structural issues of Design as an industry, a profession, a community, a culture, and a life style.
  • Confessionals: Personal accounts of ethical dilemmas or professional failures (anonymity supported if requested).
  • "Legacy Code" Audits: Arguments for practices we need to "deprecate" (delete) immediately (e.g., the free pitch, dark patterns, the MVP-trap).

Timeline & Process

  • Open Call: Now until February 13th, 2026.
  • Review: Essays will be reviewed for depth and clarity.
  • Publication: Selected essays will be published as the "State of Design 2026" collection in late February.
  • The Event: Authors will be invited to discuss their "Bug Reports" during the State of Design live session (The Anchor Track), serving as the reality check before we pivot to the future.

Submit Your Diagnostic

To submit your proposal or draft, please use the secure channel below. Do not sugarcoat the data. The system can take it.

Register to participate – SoD26
"We can’t fix the present if we don’t know where we’re trying to go. But we can't go anywhere if we don't first weigh the anchor."

Join Track II:

Call for Participation: The Future of Design 2026 // FoD26
Track II: The Sail – Decrypting Signals from the Next Paradigm
Design & Critical ThinkingKevin Richard

Thanks for reading!

Kevin from Design & Critical Thinking.