Why Is Human Design All Over My Feed?

Move over, astrology—the influencers are onto a new divination.

October 14, 2025

I first became aware of the phrase “human design” while watching the second season of Love is Blind UK earlier this year. In the show, one of the castmates, Patrick Justus, repeatedly said he was “trusting his spleen” when determining if he vibed with any of the women. (This is one of human design’s core principles—that some people should rely on their intuition, or spleen, for decisions rather than logic or emotion.)

I didn’t think much of it at the time—but then I started to see human design everywhere. Human design coaches saying they “found their true identity” were suddenly all over TikTok, and when I scrolled through Instagram I’d inevitably run into reels from wellness influencers like Jenna Zoe and Jordan Younger promoting apps, readings, and podcasts about the “holistic self-knowledge system.”

After so much of this, I decided I needed to figure out what TF human design is. So I called up Mari Smith, a certified human design analyst and faculty member with the International Human Design School, and had her field all of my questions—like, you know, is this legit? And what are the alleged benefits? Here’s what she said.

What is human design—and where did it come from?

When I told Smith I’d been calling human design “the cousin of astrology” she said that’s actually not too far off. Its genesis occurred in 1987 when a guy named Alan Robert Krakower (who later rebranded to Ra Uru Hu) traveled to Ibiza and had a mystical experience in which he received a message from a voice that revealed the “mechanics of life.” (Stay with me.)

Using this new knowledge, he created a system—i.e., human design—combining the teachings of astrology with those of other ancient texts, including I’Ching, Kabbalah, and the chakras, along with genetics and quantum physics. The idea is that, based on all of these elements, each person has a “genetic footprint” (technically called your “body graph”) that explains how you’re predisposed to make decisions. As the official website states, your body graph—which is generated using your date of birth, time of birth, and location of birth—is a “tool for living as yourself.” (For context, Jovian Archive is where you’ll find all of the original teachings; I say this because there are many offshoots extrapolating and repurposing Ra’s work.)

Anyway, according to Smith, many of us have been deeply conditioned to live in a way that contradicts who we are, deep down, in order to fit in societally. As a result, you may wind up in the wrong job or relationship—maybe because your family put pressure on you or society convinced you there’s a right or wrong way of doing things. “We end up deviating away from that inner knowing, that genetic imprint, that we basically got at birth,” Smith tells SELF. Needless to say, living life this way can feel infuriating or frustrating or uncomfortable, depending on your makeup, she adds.

Human design supporters claim that your body graph—and, ideally, an interpretational reading from an analyst certified by the Jovian Archive’s training program, International Human Design School—gives you the tools to be true to yourself and trust your intuition. And when you start making decisions that align with who you are instead of, say, external pressures and other people’s expectations, you can, in theory, feel more satisfied, at peace, and fulfilled, says Smith. “It’s about being true to yourself and discovering who the heck you are in the first place,” she says. That’s when good things will start happening for you, she adds.

What, exactly, can human design reveal about yourself?

I’m going to keep this relatively simple despite the fact that human design—and the insights your body graph provides—is extremely complex. Each body graph, which reads like a report card, is broken down into multiple sections.

First, there are four types of people—and each type dictates how you strategically move through life. There are manifestors (the initiators who act independently), generators and manifesting-generators (the doers and worker bees), projectors (great guides and teachers), and reflectors (the mirrors of society, absorbing and reflecting the energy of those around them).

Then, there’s your inner authority, or the part of you that ensures you make decisions that align with your true nature. There are seven kinds of authorities—some people trust their guts, others like Justus go with their spleen (an immediate but fleeting intuition), and some need to reflect a lot or wait until the answer comes to them naturally.

There are also nine centers that uncover how energy moves through you, and finally several gates and channels that reveal your strengths, personality traits, vulnerabilities, and natural talents.

To put this into practice: I filled out the inquiry form and, with the help of Smith, learned that I am a manifester whose inner authority is in the solar plexus (meaning I take my sweet time with big decisions). My profile is 2/4 (in that I’m a hermit slash opportunist) and I have a bunch of random channels suggesting friends and family are incredibly important to me (true), but I only really care about being social when I’m in the mood (also true). I’m also apparently musically gifted (I’m not) and enthusiastic (debatable).

Why is human design suddenly so popular?

If this all sounds sort of woo woo to you, well, it kind of is. There are some studies on the validity of astrology and the chakras—though those are fairly inconclusive—but human design is a newer offshoot. As such, the empirical evidence just isn’t there.

What we do know from research on astrology is that people turn to these kinds of approaches when they feel unsettled. “When people are facing uncertainty or rapid social change, astrology can offer a way to reflect and feel a little more grounded,” Shiri Noy, PhD, an associate professor of sociology at Denison University, tells SELF.

Many say types of divination like astrology help them make sense of the world and find meaning in their life. “It also gives people language to talk about emotions and identity, which might be especially useful when other institutions feel unstable,” says Dr. Noy. It’s not so much of a belief system, she says, but more a tool for self understanding—like Myers-Briggs or Enneagram—but with a softer, more reflective edge.

With that said, you can see why human design has exploded in popularity in recent months (do I even need to reference the intensifying political divide, multiple wars, fall of public health, threat of artificial intelligence, rising cost of living, housing crisis, climate change, and everything else terrible going on?).

If you ask Smith as to why human design is having a moment, she’ll give you a different answer: The planets are influencing the earth in such a way that our old systems (think: school, church, government) are breaking down. As a result, people are seeking more authentic ways to navigate life, which is pushing us into a new era of individuality and self-reliance, she told me.

Planets at play or not, I think we can all agree that the world is exceptionally chaotic right now, and having anything to turn to—whether that be a daily horoscope or body graph—that feels clear and concrete can feel comforting. I’m not here to convince you if this is legitimate or not. After all, I’m just a 2/4 manifester, writing from my home office about this belief system I keep seeing all over social media.