5Ps of Loop Design // Design thinking upgrade for the AI Age
Design thinking and Innovation has been close to my heart for more than 15 years. When I started to write The Helix Moment, I was clear that there should be a new way to explore design for the AI Age.
Design is not what happens after strategy. Design is how strategy moves.
In the Helix model, strategy and design are not separate phases but intertwined strands—constantly informing, challenging, and evolving each other within an AI-rich environment. The two strands spiral together, creating a dynamic system greater than either alone.
Design is the primary arena of co-intelligence. Not “design thinking.” Not “AI-enhanced tools.
But real-time, rhythm-based design—where humans and AI partner at every phase, in their natural modes, strengthening the connection between the strategy and design strands.
This is the 5Ps of Loop Design
It’s an AI-age upgrade of design thinking, shifting from products to living systems:
Perceive (〰 Vibes) – Sense deeply: humans bring context, AI brings pattern recognition.
Perform (▲ Lines) – Act with intention: human judgment directs, AI scales execution.
Portfolio (● Loops) – Build options: human boundaries + AI’s parallel exploration.
Pause/Promote (Loops + Vibes) – Curate what matters: humans discern resonance, AI tests outcomes.
Progress (Lines + Loops) – Create learning systems: humans give meaning, AI captures knowledge.
The 5Ps aren’t sequential—they’re a looped operating system that tells you when and how to use the right tool.
1. Perceive – Never Forget the People
〰 Cultural sensing - reading unspoken needs and emerging patterns
This is where we build understanding before solution-building.
Humans bring contextual wisdom and lived experience, while AI brings pattern recognition across vast data. Together, they create 〰 empathetic intelligence that senses what truly matters.
2. Perform – Move with Intention
▲ Intentional execution - converting insights into concrete action
This is where we transform ideas into tangible expressions.
Humans provide ethical direction and purpose, while AI accelerates creation and simulation. Together, they create ▲ focused momentum that converts strategic intent into concrete moves.
3. Portfolio – Designing for Anti-Fragility
● Adaptive resilience - maintaining multiple pathways forward
This is where we maintain strategic options. Humans set value boundaries and priorities, while AI generates and tests variations.
Together, they create ● experimental resilience through meaningful diversity.
4. Pause/Promote – Choose What Matters
●〰 Strategic judgment - combining analytical insight with intuitive wisdom
This is where we make consequential choices. Humans provide values-based judgment and cultural intuition, while AI offers analytical insight and pattern detection. Together, they create ●〰integrated intelligence that filters options through both strategic logic and emotional resonance.
5. Progress – Build Learning Systems
▲● Systematic learning - converting experience into evolutionary capability
This is where learning becomes advancement. Humans synthesise meaning and wisdom from experience, while AI accelerates pattern recognition across iterations.
Together, they create ▲● structured evolution that transforms insights into organisational capability.
Each P activates specific design rules within a rhythmic context, creating a progression that moves from human understanding to evolutionary advancement.
Suhit is the Author of The Helix Moment where he explores how strategy and design changes in the co-intelligence age. He enables organisations to be more co-intelligent through capability building, strategy and new ways of working. (www.suhitanantula.com)