The Expansive Potential of Animal Centered Design

Originally published: January 18, 2023 on pH-auna.com, revisited August 15, 2025

For most of design history, the word user has referred exclusively to humans. But as our world becomes more interconnected—and increasingly shaped by ecological crisis—it’s time to rethink that assumption.

Animals are part of our ecosystems, cities, homes, and inner lives. Including them as legitimate users in the design process isn’t just an ethical move—it’s a practical, creative, and even transformative one.

Animal-centered design (ACD) opens up a powerful range of possibilities that extend far beyond pet products or wildlife tech. Here are three of the most promising applications.

1. ACD as a Design Discipline

At its most straightforward, ACD is a method for designing products and services that meet both animal and human needs.

This includes:

• Veterinary clinics

• Companion animal products

• Farm infrastructure

• Enclosures, shelters, and wildlife interventions

By observing species-specific behaviors, applying ethical reflection, and designing with empathy, we can create environments and systems that support well-being across species.

2. ACD as a Strategy for Understanding & Belonging

This might be surprising, but animal centered design can serve as a tool for teaching empathy and non-judgmental observation, especially effective because, with animals, we naturally begin without bias. Using ACD methods helps people learn how to set assumptions aside and attend deeply to others' needs. These skills then seamlessly translate to any context where understanding and belonging is key - which in all honesty are most human contexts.

Here’s why:

• We relate to animals without judgment.
  From early childhood stories to animal characters in media, we learn empathy before bias. We often suspend judgment when trying to understand an animal’s behavior.

• Nobody is an expert in all animals.
  This levels the playing field—everyone is curious, everyone has something to learn.

At pH‑auna, we’ve used ACD methods to help people examine their own assumptions in non-threatening ways. Exercises that begin with observing and interpreting animals to build skills that transfer directly to more complex, human-focused work.

3. ACD as a Bridge Between Urban Humans and Nature

This third point is speculative—but deeply intuitive.

Since the 1970s, we’ve seen three parallel trends:

• Urbanization has physically and psychologically disconnected people from nature.

• Scientific understanding of climate change has grown.

• Pet ownership has surged—over 1 billion companion animals live with us globally.

What if pets aren't just companions?
What if they are living intermediaries quietly reconnecting us to the natural world?

Most urban dwellers won’t see a whale, tomato plant, or cow in their lifetime. But they will see a dog curled on the couch, or a cat chasing dust motes in the light.

When I ask you what your pet loves, you think of them as an individual. A one-of-a-kind being. If I then ask you to imagine a polar bear or whale the same way, the leap doesn’t feel as far.

Perhaps animal-centered design is not just about designing for animals—but designing with them to heal our relationship to nature.

In Closing

Animal centered design is more than a method. It’s a mindset. A quiet invitation to expand who we consider worthy of design, care, and attention.

The ripple effects, from product design to social belonging to ecological awareness are profound.

And we’re only just beginning.