3 Things You May Not Know About Human Design Types

Types to Human Design are like Sun signs to astrology. They describe an overarching theme that hits your primary behaviors, patterns, and experiences, but it’s not always the full picture. I like to think of the Types as an explanation of the sort of energy you have at your fingertips. If you’re a Manifestor, you’re readily able to “do” and make things happen. Generators and Manifesting Generators are receptive creators – they take in information from their outer reality and act based on what feels exciting. Projectors are like human Scantron machines (if you understand this reference, high fives all around), designed to observe and correct. And lastly, Reflectors are the mirrors of society, tuning in to the energy of their space and embodying it so we can understand how and why things work.

We all have unique superpowers based on our personal energy and the lessons it holds for us. I love looking at Type because it shows you the bird’s eye view map of you. When you understand your Type, you can get your barring and start to understand what is needed to navigate your individual life experience. I would urge you to relate to your type as a navigational device and avoid making it your identity. What I mean by this, is the Types are well, archetypes, they speak to generalized energetic themes but you are a unique and special iteration of that archetype. There is some nuance needed in the discussion of Human Design Types and while it is a TON to get into, here are a few key things I’ve picked up along the way.

1. Human Design Didn’t Always Use Types

Although the Types are an essential part of Human Design now, this was not always the case. In Das Human Design System, aka The Black Book, one of the original manuscripts from Alan Krakower (Ra Uru Hu), there is no mention of Types. Rather, there is an emphasis on the centers and the role they play in coloring and describing the individual’s experience. Starting from the basic level, the Rave Bodygraph gave a physical illustration to the imprint of the Neutrino stream as it moved through the planets both at the time of birth and three months prior. Krakower writes, “A Human Being is a balance between what is defined, permanently connected centers and what is receptive, the partially opened channels or the channels not opened at all.”

Focusing on the channels and centers, the individual can get a basic understanding of their particular strengths and growth edges. In fact, the Black Book gives more credence to the individual components of Human Design – the I-Ching, astrology, Kabbalah Tree of Life, and Chakras – as lenses through which we can interpret the experience of being “dualistic” beings who are in fact part of a totality.

Many Human Design readers subscribe to the teachings of Zeno Dickson, an original student of Human Design who broke off from Krakower’s teachings, who created “Zen Human Design” which states there are only two types – those designed to do and those designed to wait. According to Zeno, the types were introduced by Krakower as a way to explain the nuance between different kinds of waiting. Essentially, the flavor of waiting comes down to the defined centers in the chart. For example, the defined sacral needs to wait for the sacral response while the solar plexus needs to wait for the emotional wave, and the spleen needs to wait for intuitive guidance. Simplifying this idea down to the Type and authority makes for a much more shorthand way of explaining the experience of waiting/doing (or both!).

If you’re having trouble understanding the strategy of your type, start by exploring your centers and how they function. Which center rules your authority? Start there and expand.

2. There are 4 Types

You may come across some sources that state there are 5 types: Manifestor, Generator, Manifesting Generator, Reflector, and Projector. Usually, this is because the Manifesting Generator and Generator are split into two separate categories of type when technically they represent one type.

This is a great place to utilize the idea of centers as the foundation for describing the essential function of your energy. Of the 4 types, Manifesting Generators and Generators are the only ones with a defined sacral center. The sacral center is a magnet that notices things in its surroundings and selectively picks out that which it is attracted to and that from which it is repelled. As such, the Generator aura can be visualized as big and enveloping because it’s designed to pull information in.

Type is short for “aura type” so if you consider the makeup of your centers and how they operate, you can start to picture what an individual’s aura may look like. Manifestors have the signature of a defined throat center that strives to identify an urge and act on it. The Projector has a balance between receptivity in their design and focus through their defined centers, illustrating their powers of perception and discernment. Reflectors with their open and undefined centers are like pebbles skipping on a pond, sampling their environment as they move through it fluidly.

All this to say, there are only four different types as determined by the centers and what sort of strategy they follow.

3. You’re More Than Your Type

Given all the elements and flavors and opportunities for unique expression, I will leave you with the final thought that you are so so much more than your Human Design type. While the type may allow you to categorize and understand the lens through which you experience the world – it’s not the only part of your design doing the talking. I like looking into the astrology layer behind the centers and channels of the chart to explain why you may be a Projector who feels called to initiate or you’re a Generator who really needs a lot of rest. Depending on the elements that show up in your chart you may feel called to express yourself intellectually while others are more emotionally attuned. Perhaps you’ve got mostly Cardinal signs in your chart that want to take action and lead or you are more Fixed and focus on building and maintaining. With all the subtle layers and clues and yes, nuance, in a chart, it becomes vividly clear that you are so much more than any one archetype. If the Types help you to create language and a framework to express your experience and validate what you know to be true deep inside, go forth and wear your type with pride! If the descriptions of the types you’ve seen on the internet or in books just don’t seem to match up with your experience – do not worry, there is nothing wrong with that.

Human Design, astrology, the I-Ching, Chakras, Kabbalah Tree of Life, just like the Enneagram, Myers-Briggs, or DISC are simply meaning-making systems that allow you to understand and integrate parts of yourself. Your life and existence has a specific geometry and resonance that is special and has purpose. You see, feel, and experience life in a mode that only you can and that perspective is important. After all, we’re all just parts trying to come back to a whole, and all you have to do is show up as yourself.