The ‘Cuteness Matrix’: Mapping cuteness as an affective strategy for purpose-led communication design

Cuteness is often dismissed as trivial or decorative. Yet research across neuroscience, psychology, and cultural theory reveals it as a powerful affective force that captures attention, evokes empathy, and encourages prosocial behaviour and well-being. Cute’s affective potency also renders it ethically ambivalent, capable of manipulation as much as comfort. Despite its ubiquity, cuteness remains under-theorised in design research, a notable gap for a discipline concerned with communication, emotion, and human connection. Addressing this gap, this study conducts an interpretive systematic literature review of publications from 1943 to 2025, identifying 65 key scholarly sources. Interdisciplinary insights are synthesized into the ‘Cuteness Matrix,’ a diagnostic framework mapping two central tensions in cuteness studies: power and purpose. The study reconceptualises cuteness as a relational affect that can be intentionally designed to nurture empathy, participation, and care. Ultimately, it asks: can cuteness be reimagined as a purposeful and ethical design strategy—Cute for Good?