The Four Connection Types in Human Design

When two people sit together, their charts overlay into a single connection chart — every gate from both people, plotted at once. Some channels are now complete that neither person had alone; some centers light up that were open in both. The fascinating part is that each shared channel falls into one of exactly four connection types, decided purely by who holds which gate. Chemistry, in other words, has a wiring diagram.

These four types — electromagnetic, companionship, dominance, and compromise — are mechanical, not mystical. None of them is "good" or "bad." Each is a different texture, with its own ease and its own friction, and every one of them is workable when both people live their own Strategy and Authority. This page explains all four, first for channels (where the mechanics are precise) and then for centers (where the same four words describe a slightly broader picture).

The four connection types, channel by channel#

A channel is two gates joined into one wire. How those two gates are split across two people decides the type. The engine that builds your connection chart classifies every channel between you using these exact rules:

• Electromagnetic — each person brings one of the channel's two gates; neither has the full channel alone, and together they complete it.
• Companionship — both people already carry the full channel on their own.
• Dominance — one person has the full channel; the other has neither gate.
• Compromise — one person has the full channel; the other has exactly one of the two gates (a hanging gate).

(If their two gates only cover one end of a channel — for example both bring gate 5 and no one brings 15 — there's no completed wire, so it isn't a meaningful connection and the chart skips it.)

Electromagnetic: the spark#

This is the classic attraction — opposites completing each other. Each person carries one half of a channel, so together they switch on brand-new energy that neither had alone. It feels alive, magnetic, "I can't stop thinking about you and I don't quite know why." It's also where you can lose yourself or grow dependent, because the pull is real but pull isn't proof. Electromagnetics create chemistry, not automatically longevity.

Companionship: the easy room#

Here both people already have the whole channel independently. You operate on the same frequency in that theme — "we just get each other," no explaining needed. It's the warm room with no weather: safe, familiar, comfortable. The shadow is that there's no charge there, so it can be taken for granted, and shared definition can mean shared blind spots — neither of you pushes the other to grow on that wire.

Dominance: the broadcast#

One person holds the full channel; the other has neither gate, so that area is open in them. The defined person consistently broadcasts and conditions the open person in that theme. For the defined person it's steady and natural; for the open person it can feel overshadowing — and it's also a place of deep learning and wisdom, because openness is where we take the world in. Dominance is structural, not bossiness: it's one person's signal filling the room the other left open.

Compromise: the bend#

One person has the full channel; the other has exactly one of its two gates — a hanging gate that keeps getting completed by the partner. The single-gate person is genuinely drawn in, but it can feel like always bending to the other's way. It's the connection most prone to quiet, recurring friction — and entirely workable once both people can see the bend and share it consciously.

The same four words, applied to centers#

Zoom out from a single channel to a whole center, and the same vocabulary describes how that center behaves in the composite:

• Companionship — both people define the center. A shared, consistent foundation there.
• Dominant — exactly one person defines it; that person is steady in that center and conditions the other.
• Electromagnetic — neither defines it alone, but together the composite defines it. A new shared consistency the pair only has as a couple.
• Open — neither defines it and it stays open in the composite. Shared openness: where the two of you take in, amplify, and learn about each other and the world together.

Centers add one option that channels don't — open — because two people can leave a whole center untouched between them. Far from a flaw, that shared openness is often the most alive, curious space in a relationship. (The number of defined centers in the composite is what sets the pair's overall connection theme — the rhythm of the whole bond.)

Comparison at a glance#

Type	Who has what	What it feels like
Electromagnetic	Each person brings one of the two gates	Spark, chemistry, brand-new energy — magnetic, but easy to lose yourself in
Companionship	Both already have the full channel	Easy, familiar, "we get each other" — comfortable, can lack charge
Dominance	One has the full channel; other has neither gate	Steady for the definer; the open one is conditioned, overshadowed, and learning
Compromise	One has the full channel; other has exactly one gate	Drawn in but bending one way; a friction point that awareness can resolve

None of these is a verdict#

It's tempting to rank these — to hear "electromagnetic" as soulmate and "compromise" as doomed. Resist it. Every real relationship is a mix of all four across its many shared channels and centers, and the texture changes wire by wire: you might be companionship on one channel, electromagnetic on another, and compromise on a third, all with the same person.

What actually decides whether a connection nourishes or drains you isn't the type — it's the awareness each person brings, lived through their own Strategy and Authority. The connection chart shows you where ease and friction naturally sit; it never tells you whether to be together. From here, look at how electromagnetic channels create attraction in detail, how the connection theme sets the pair's overall rhythm, and how defined vs. open centers shape what each person broadcasts and absorbs.