What to Know About Human Design

For every therapeutic technique vetted by psychologists and empirical research, there’s a popular philosophy or system of self-reflection that isn’t rooted in science at all—and as long as you aren’t using it for clinical treatment, that’s totally OK. The personality and purpose assessment tool, Human Design, falls into this category.

We utilize new-age modalities like astrology, the enneagram, Myers-Briggs, and tarot as lenses through which we observe ourselves more clearly. Their legitimacy lies not in their ability to provide us with clinical or absolute truth, but in how they encourage us to cultivate self-awareness on our own terms. And while technically pseudoscience, most people who use them just think they’re fun and occasionally helpful.

Human design is one such personality assessment philosophy founded by Alan Robert Krakower, an advertising expert, in 1987. Followers of Human Design prefer to call it a genetic blueprint or a “‘user manual’ for your life” with the goal of helping users figure out who they were born to be. It is “woo-woo” certainly, but generally harmless.

In this article, we’ll look at how human design became popular, what it means, where its fans and practitioners feel it’s useful, and where its limitations lie.

Human Design and Its History

Human design has an air of mysticism, largely due to its founder, Alan Robert Krakower. Krakower was a Canadian-born entrepreneur born in 1948 who claimed to have had a calling delivered to him by an entity known as the “Voice” during time spent in Ibiza, according to the International Human Design School (IDHS). 

The IHDS links this occurrence with the discovery of a supernova around the same time. After writing down the principles of the system, which we’ll dive into in a moment, Krakower would later take the name Ra Uru Hu, publishing his findings in 1992. He is commonly known as the “messenger” of the system and died in 2011.

Like many schools of thought. Including the ones it draws from to build the foundation of its methodology, human design has spawned a wide array of teachers, certifications, and online resources. Human design doesn’t rely on drawing from one philosophy but takes inspiration from a wide variety of similar traditions. Those include astrology, I Ching, Kabbalah, and Vedic Philosophy. It also claims to draw on understandings of genetics and physics.

Core Concepts

The stated goal of human design is to gain personal transformation or personal development, though marketing materials tend to have a slightly more mystical air, using words like “awakening”.

The IHDS calls it “…a synthesis of ancient wisdom and modern science.” Human design requires you to enter your birth chart—similar to astrology—including your time of birth. From there, a report can be generated looking at the core fundamentals of the system. It should be noted that the IDHS has been embraced by celebrities known to endorse unscientific work, like Gwenneth Paltrow’s website, GOOP.

Energy Types

Human design splits people into five different types, called energy or aura types, along with associated strategies or ways of being in the world:

Manifestors: Also known as “initiators”: Manifestors are often described as disruptors and innovators. A Manifestor is good at doing the upfront work required to get a project moving, and then let other people take the lead so that they can retreat and rest.

Generators: Also known as “builders”: According to the Jovian archive, the vast majority of the population are generators and these are the people who are meant to be pushing the planet forward and responding to the issues of the day.

Reflectors: Also known as “discerners”, Reflectors are the least common group. They are seen within the human design movement as people who find what others can’t, providing guidance where needed as they take the time to figure out the gaps and provide knowledge others may have missed or ignored. In line with the inherent mysticism practices like human design, they are described by the Jovian Archive as “without definition.”

Projectors: Also known as “guides and advisors”. The sage guides of human design, projectors are the ones who provide guidance. The idea is that they are inherently in tune with the needs and wants of others. As a result, they’re able to provide actionable advice.

Manifesting-Generators: a hybrid of Manifestor and Generator types, the Manifesting Generator is a “jack of all trades”. These people share characteristics with Manifestors and Generators but tend to be focused on one more than the other. They are the ones with all the ideas who are frequently jumping between projects—but this behavior benefits them. While generally recognized as its own energy type, The Jovian Archive, the organization founded by the creator of Human Design, combines Manifestors and Manifesting Generators together in their materials.

“Any framework that helps to inspire growth or give meaning to one’s challenges has a place and should be considered,” said Lauren Farina, MSW, psychotherapist and founding CEO of Chicago-based Invited Psychotherapy and Coaching, “From an ethical perspective, the application of human design in the context of informed consent is critical. My clients understand that human design is not an evidence-based therapy intervention, but rather, one tool of many that can help them gain insight and self-awareness.”

Energy Centers and the Bodygraph

Human design borrows from a variety of traditions when it talks about the nine energy centers of each human. According to the methodology, similar to chakras in certain Eastern traditions, energy centers are connected to different parts of the body and also to how you’re received in the world

They include the:

• Ajna
• Head
• G
• Spleen
• Root
• Sacral
• Solar Plexus
• Heart
• Throat

When identifying your energy centers, human design revolves around the use of a bodygraph, a type of chart that maps these energy areas. The thinking goes that if one of your energy centers is open—meaning it is receiving directions from the outside world—as opposed to defined or closed, then you are going to be influenced that way. The initial chart process includes sharing your name, the time you were born, and where you were born.

The Jovian Archive, which is the founder’s company, gives the example of an open-head center leading you to overthink. Human Design calls these outside influences conditioning, which leads to your “not self”. In essence, the methodology is arguing that, if you are in touch with your body and your mind in a particular way, then you are in control and not have to fear bad decision-making.

The charts don’t stop with the bodygraph as Human Design also incorporates the mandala, with their version including aspects of the I’Ching, western zodiac, paths of the kabbalah, hexagram, and chakras. Much like other new age philosophies, this incorporation of a body map is meant to show the flow of your energy.

Authorities, Definitions, and Profiles

One of the key selling points of Human Design is that it is supposed to provide you a holistic pathway to take better actions. Once you’ve identified your aura types and strategies, you can be sorted into a variety of what are called inner authorities. Those are: 

From there, we can look at definitions, which str focused on how your energy flows. Those are split into five categories, with the IHDS describing their benefits as, “Understanding how our energy flows within and how it connects with others helps us understand our unique way of being, processing information and being in relationship.”

Lastly, we have profiles, where all of these aspects of yourself come together, not entirely unlike Meyers-Briggs personality types. There are twelve profiles with names like “the investigator martyr” and “the heretic hermit.”

Benefits and Criticisms

As with any approach to self-discovery, there are a fair number of advocates for and detractors of Human Design. Let’s start with those who see Human Design as beneficial in some circumstances. Farina said that the approach can help bolster one’s sense of self. 

“Human design can help shed light on our strengths, challenges, and opportunities for growth. It can also give context to some of the patterns and frustrations that people face in their lives and endeavors.”

However, Farina sees the methodology as a tool in a tool box and not as a replacement for rigorously tested methods. 

“I think the drawback to human design, or any other personality inventory or belief system for that matter, is that it runs the risk of becoming dogmatic for people. I caution folks to use human design as a tool, or as a data point to inform their self-concept, but not as absolute truth. It is not meant to substitute for one’s own sense of self, only to enrich it.”

Some online commentators have likened Human Design to a cult or a multi-level marketing scheme. Most of these commenters express doubt at the connections Human Design purports to have found between its methodology and genetics. 

In terms of studies that are being done, research into the dangers of pseudoscience is ongoing. In a 2017 essay published by EMBO Reports, Princeton’s dean of the college and a history professor, Michael D Gordin, argues that the very term itself poses issues. 

“…pseudoscience is science’s shadow. Specifically, it is the shadow of professional science, and just as a shadow cannot exist without the object casting it, so does every object necessarily cast shadows. During the past two hundred years, demarcating what stands as legitimate, mainstream science from its less reputable counterparts on the fringe has been a central mechanism of how various disciplines have developed.”

In addition, a 2020 report found that belief in pseudosciences had increased since the lockdowns initiated due to the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Keep in Mind

Like many other knowledge systems with unreliable—or non-existent—scientific backing, Human Design is on unsure footing. There are people who believe it can be useful in terms of your own self knowledge or understanding, but they stop short of seeing it as having broad use within sectors like mental health.

While the history of science is littered with examples of methodologies once thought to be useless, which turned out to be helpful; and a variety of Eastern medicine approaches, like acupuncture, have faced resistance from the West, Human Design appears to be a school of thought that can be used as a useful tool, in very select circumstances, to affirm one’s sense of self, but that it should not be thought of us an evidence-based practice.