Journal
Notes, essays and updates from the Academy.
- Newsletters
[machine-seed] Journal News render-check
Render-check placeholder for the Journal News tab — machine seed, not real content.
July 31, 2026
- Newsletters
What Is Symbiotic Design?
An introduction to a framework that treats every design relationship as alive, never neutral.
July 11, 2026
- Newsletters
Tame, Wicked, or Hybrid? The Question to Ask Before You Choose a Method
Two designers can face the same brief and need completely different approaches. Here is how to tell which one you are holding.
July 11, 2026
NewsFour Weeks Teaching the Design Framework at Henan University
Gonzalo spent four weeks teaching the Symbiotic Design Framework to first-year architecture students at Henan University, leaning on translation apps to bridge the language gap.
June 13, 2026
NewsMore Scenes Where Past Meets Future at Henan Drama Fantasy City
The Academy shares more scenes from Only Henan · Drama Fantasy City, the immersive theatrical park blending ancient history with modern stagecraft.
June 13, 2026
NewsExploring Ancient Bronze and Stone Artifacts at Henan Museum
The Academy toured Zhengzhou's Henan Museum, where Shang and Zhou bronzes sit beside stone carvings defaced in past upheavals — proof that culture lives in people, not stone.
June 13, 2026
NewsWhy Flea Markets Reveal a More Honest History
Symbiotic Design Academy explores why Beijing's Panjiayuan flea market reveals a messier, truer history than museums, home to the raw 'Proto-Design' objects from Symbiotic Design Framework.
June 13, 2026
NewsExploring History and Art in Beijing's 798 Art District
The Academy's founder wandered Beijing's 798 Art District, its Cold War-era factories now galleries, and found a quiet restaurant scene straight out of Edward Hopper.
June 13, 2026
NewsMeeting Tsinghua Professor Sai Ma to Discuss Design, AI and Ethics
The Academy's founder capped a China trip by meeting Tsinghua's Prof. Sai Ma to discuss design, AI, and ethics, and delivering copies of his book to the faculty.
June 13, 2026
NewsMeeting Zhang Jinhuan and Her Ink Shop in Zhengzhou
Gonzalo visited Madam Zhang Jinhuan's ink studio in Zhengzhou, where she hand-grinds pigments to paint devotional Buddhist scrolls and talismans.
May 31, 2026
NewsDiscovering Vintage Chinese Ink Paintings at a Market Stall
Gonzalo found two vintage Chinese ink paintings at a market stall, and a note tucked inside revealed the artist: Hao Shilin, trained at Hangzhou's elite art academy.
May 31, 2026
NewsVisiting the Shaolin Temple in China's Songshan Mountains
Gonzalo visits the Shaolin Temple in Henan's Songshan Mountains, founded in the 5th century as the birthplace of Chan Buddhism and Shaolin Kung Fu, struck by its calm, hierarchical architecture.
May 25, 2026
NewsBook Review of Bruno Munari's How Are Objects Born
Gonzalo reviews Bruno Munari's How Are Objects Born?, arguing the book explains a truth about the design process that even designers themselves often miss.
August 11, 2020
NewsA Post Honoring Philosopher Socrates, 469 to 399 BC
Gonzalo pays homage to Socrates (469-399 BC), the classical Greek philosopher whose method of questioning still underpins how designers interrogate assumptions.
August 4, 2020
NewsFounder Speaks Out on Anti-Mapuche Racism in Chile
Gonzalo spoke out against the racism faced by Chile's Mapuche people, framing it as a human rights issue alongside Amnesty International.
August 3, 2020
NewsChile Bans Free Plastic Bags at Grocery Stores
Gonzalo marked Chile's new law banning free plastic bags at grocery stores, taking effect August 3, 2020, while calling for an outright ban on single-use plastics.
August 2, 2020
NewsRemembering Filmmaker Alan Parker, Director of Pink Floyd's The Wall
A tribute to filmmaker Alan Parker, best known in design circles for directing Pink Floyd's The Wall, following news of his death.
August 1, 2020
NewsChile's 1849 Arts and Crafts School Predates the Bauhaus
Gonzalo noted that Chile's School of Arts and Crafts was founded in Santiago in 1849, seventy years before the Bauhaus, complicating design's usual European origin story.
August 1, 2020
NewsNew Video Shares 10 Tips for Teaching Design Online
Gonzalo's new video lays out ten practical tips for teaching design online, aimed at rethinking the relationship with remote 'virtual students.'
July 31, 2020
NewsA Look at Los Angeles History Through Stamp Design
Gonzalo traces Los Angeles history through the graphic design of postage stamps, reading civic history in a medium easy to overlook.
July 26, 2020
NewsAnnie Leonard's Story of Stuff Challenges Designers on Waste
Gonzalo highlights Annie Leonard's 'The Story of Stuff,' confronting designers with the pollution and labor abuses hidden behind the products they create.
July 25, 2020
NewsDesign Students Reflect on Design's Importance During COVID-19
Gonzalo has all 28 students in his pandemic-era design class each record a short video answering one question: why does design matter more now than ever before.
July 16, 2020
NewsNew Video Argues Design Is Always a Political Act
In a new video, Gonzalo argues design is always a political act, tracing its shift from aesthetics-first thinking toward an ecological, systemic practice.
July 9, 2020
NewsVideo Weighs Academic Publishing Versus YouTube for Research
In this video, Gonzalo weighs publishing academic research the traditional way against sharing it on YouTube, arguing wider access can open opportunities for less-privileged researchers.
July 2, 2020
- Videos
New Design Book Born from Decades of Research
Symbiotic Design Academy unveiled a book distilling eight years of research and 360 designer interviews into a personal, sometimes provocative take on design's ethics and future.
December 17, 2025
- Videos
Symbiotic Design Academy Presented at CV+i Circular Day
Gonzalo presented the Symbiotic Design Academy project at CV+i's Circular Day, an event centered on circular economy and systemic design.
September 28, 2023
- Videos
Symbiotic Design Academy Launches First Course on Earth Day
Gonzalo marked Earth Day by launching the Academy's first course, teaching a design framework centered on sustainability and interconnectedness.
April 23, 2023
- Videos
Explaining the Symbiotic Design Framework and Free Course
Gonzalo explains the Symbiotic Design Framework, an approach centered on the interconnections within design processes, and points viewers to the Academy's free introductory course.
April 21, 2023
- Videos
Congress of Design Policies Explores Design's Broader Role
Gonzalo poses the questions behind the Congress of Design Policies: if design solves problems so well, why isn't it used more broadly as a cornerstone for a better future.
November 3, 2022
- Videos
Founder Shares a Lovely Day in Saint-Cyprien
A brief, sunny moment Gonzalo shared from Saint-Cyprien, a seaside town on France's Mediterranean coast.
August 11, 2022
- Videos
Streets Are Alive: A Look at Public Spaces
A brief video capturing the energy of public space, with Gonzalo simply noting that the streets are alive with everyday activity.
August 8, 2022
- Videos
Home Studio Set Up for a Lockdown Design Project
During lockdown, Gonzalo rigged up a makeshift home studio, using a Sony A7III and iMac setup to keep a new project moving.
May 29, 2020
- Videos
Live Music and Murals Mark Return Trip to Buenos Aires
Gonzalo caught live music from Amor Elefante against a backdrop of Juan Molinet murals on a fourth visit to Buenos Aires, just before the final stretch of his PhD.
July 15, 2018
- Videos
Tomás Saraceno's Spider-Web Installation Featured in Buenos Aires
Gonzalo shares Tomás Saraceno's installation How to Entangle the Universe in a Spider Web, built over six months by roughly 7,000 Parawixia bistriata spiders, on view in Buenos Aires.
March 11, 2018
- Videos
Leon Ferrari's 'Opus 113' Concrete Art Sculpture
A look at Opus 113 by Argentine concrete artist León Ferrari, whose kinetic sculpture work Gonzalo photographs in Buenos Aires.
March 4, 2018
- Newsletters
[machine-seed] Journal News render-check
Render-check placeholder for the Journal News tab — machine seed, not real content.
July 31, 2026
- Newsletters
What Is Symbiotic Design?
An introduction to a framework that treats every design relationship as alive, never neutral.
July 11, 2026
- Newsletters
Tame, Wicked, or Hybrid? The Question to Ask Before You Choose a Method
Two designers can face the same brief and need completely different approaches. Here is how to tell which one you are holding.
July 11, 2026
- News
Four Weeks Teaching the Design Framework at Henan University
Gonzalo spent four weeks teaching the Symbiotic Design Framework to first-year architecture students at Henan University, leaning on translation apps to bridge the language gap.
June 13, 2026
- News
More Scenes Where Past Meets Future at Henan Drama Fantasy City
The Academy shares more scenes from Only Henan · Drama Fantasy City, the immersive theatrical park blending ancient history with modern stagecraft.
June 13, 2026
- News
Exploring Ancient Bronze and Stone Artifacts at Henan Museum
The Academy toured Zhengzhou's Henan Museum, where Shang and Zhou bronzes sit beside stone carvings defaced in past upheavals — proof that culture lives in people, not stone.
June 13, 2026
- News
Why Flea Markets Reveal a More Honest History
Symbiotic Design Academy explores why Beijing's Panjiayuan flea market reveals a messier, truer history than museums, home to the raw 'Proto-Design' objects from Symbiotic Design Framework.
June 13, 2026
- News
Exploring History and Art in Beijing's 798 Art District
The Academy's founder wandered Beijing's 798 Art District, its Cold War-era factories now galleries, and found a quiet restaurant scene straight out of Edward Hopper.
June 13, 2026
- News
Meeting Tsinghua Professor Sai Ma to Discuss Design, AI and Ethics
The Academy's founder capped a China trip by meeting Tsinghua's Prof. Sai Ma to discuss design, AI, and ethics, and delivering copies of his book to the faculty.
June 13, 2026
- News
Meeting Zhang Jinhuan and Her Ink Shop in Zhengzhou
Gonzalo visited Madam Zhang Jinhuan's ink studio in Zhengzhou, where she hand-grinds pigments to paint devotional Buddhist scrolls and talismans.
May 31, 2026
- News
Discovering Vintage Chinese Ink Paintings at a Market Stall
Gonzalo found two vintage Chinese ink paintings at a market stall, and a note tucked inside revealed the artist: Hao Shilin, trained at Hangzhou's elite art academy.
May 31, 2026
- News
Visiting the Shaolin Temple in China's Songshan Mountains
Gonzalo visits the Shaolin Temple in Henan's Songshan Mountains, founded in the 5th century as the birthplace of Chan Buddhism and Shaolin Kung Fu, struck by its calm, hierarchical architecture.
May 25, 2026