The chapter traces the story of George Mallen’s time at the RCA from 1971 to 1983, asking what Mallen brought to the pioneering Department of Design Research there, and how the RCA changed along with him. It connects his innovations to the intellectual concerns of the time including cybernetics and systems thinking, to which Mallen brought his own unique contributions. The chapter prioritises design over other disciplines, reflecting not only the primary job that Mallen was employed to do at the RCA, but also his conviction that design presents special properties as a human – and perhaps machine – activity.