Thinking with Tentacles in design

Why design Needs Tentacles

Coined by Donna Haraway, tentacular thinking takes inspiration from nature’s most curious and connected beings like octopuses, fungi, and corals to reimagine how we understand and engage with the world. It encourages thinking through touch rather than just sight, embracing entanglement over control, and viewing knowledge as interconnected rather than siloed. Instead of neat theories, it values messy experimentation and learning by doing. In design, this means creating systems that are sensory, adaptive, context-aware, and open to multiple perspectives all at once.

The Tentacular UX Framework (TUX)

Here’s a practical 5-part framework for applying Tentacular Thinking in your UX process:

1. FEEL → Sense the Ecosystem

“Tentacles don’t observe from afar they explore from within.”

Ask:

• What social, emotional, environmental forces surround this product?

• What does this feature feel like to different users joyful, risky, confusing?

• What are the unseen relationships (e.g. between features, between users, between systems)?
  
  

  
  

2. TANGLE → Embrace Complexity

“Octopuses don’t follow one path they explore many at once.”

Ask:

• What contradictions exist in the user journey?

• Where are the edge cases, frictions, or surprises?

• Can complexity be a feature, not a flaw?
  
  
  

3. TOUCH → Design Through Trying

“Tentacles don’t plan they poke.”

Ask:

• How can users explore, test, or feel their way through this experience?

• What happens when things don’t go ‘right’? Is there room for curiosity?

• Are there moments of micro-interaction that build relationship?

4. KIN → Make Cross-Species Connections

“Tentacularity means making kin with the unexpected.”

Ask:

• Who or what is excluded from this design—and why?

• How does this design consider the environment, AI, or non-users?

• What are the ethical ripples of this product?

5. CO-THINK → Share the Tentacles

“No tentacle thinks alone.”

Ask:

• Who do we co-design with? Whose voices shape the product?

• Are there feedback loops across the lifecycle?

• Can the system adapt based on use?
  
  

Tentacular Thinking isn’t just a theory, it’s a design attitude. One that celebrates uncertainty, embraces weirdness, and prioritizes connection over control.