Ethics for Designers
Incorporating ethics into the design process
0
Background.jpg

Home

 

Design needs ethics

Design has a huge influence on how people behave and live their lives. As designers, we are trained to solve problems and make people’s lives better, but rarely do we consider what 'better' actually is. It is important to understand that what we design is not neutral. In fact design is an inherently ethical activity. That’s why I believe designers should understand ethics and learn to incorporate it in your design work. And for that, you’re in the right place. Check out the toolkit for practical resources for approaching design from an ethics perspective.

 
0
 

A designer's ethical skills

If you want to engage with the ethical dimension of your designs, invest in learning the following skills. This will allow you to understand and engage with ethics within each different design project. Mastering your ethical skills will help you grow as a responsible designer.

 
Moral_sensitivity-07.png

moral
sensitivity

 

moral
creativity

 

moral
advocacy

 
Ethical tools
De-scription
framing, moral sensitivity
De-scription
framing, moral sensitivity

Learn to recognise and deconstruct the scripts of existing designs. By questioning why a design is how it is, you’ll uncover the underlying intentions and world-view of its designer.

framing, moral sensitivity
Moral Agent
envisioning, realising, moral creativity
Moral Agent
envisioning, realising, moral creativity

Challenge yourself to make the most ethical design possible. What would that be and how would it work? This ideation game will help you tackle ethical issues in a fun and challenging way, using bluff and creativity.

envisioning, realising, moral creativity
Moral value map
validating, framing, moral advocacy
Moral value map
validating, framing, moral advocacy

Values are an important concept in ethics. With this tool you will look at which values are relevant to your design and how your design affects them. It can help to do this exercise with different stakeholders.

validating, framing, moral advocacy
Ethical disclaimer
framing, envisioning, validating, moral sensitivity
Ethical disclaimer
framing, envisioning, validating, moral sensitivity

This tool helps you set the ethical terms at the start of your project. Use your imagination to think of unethical situations and discuss what you’ll take responsibility for as designers.

framing, envisioning, validating, moral sensitivity
Ethical contract
framing, validating, moral advocacy
Ethical contract
framing, validating, moral advocacy

Designing is never a solitary act. Therefore it is important that everyone is on the same page. This technique guides you in a value negotiation with all stakeholders involved in order to find common ethical ground.

framing, validating, moral advocacy
Normative design scheme
envisioning, realising, validating, moral creativity
Normative design scheme
envisioning, realising, validating, moral creativity

As a major field of philosophy, ethics has a lot of knowledge to offer. However, it can be overwhelming to start. This tool introduces you to the most commonly known theories of normative ethics, the study of ethical action.

envisioning, realising, validating, moral creativity
Articles
How Technology Hijacks People’s Minds — from a Magician and Google’s Design Ethicist
How Technology Hijacks People’s Minds — from a Magician and Google’s Design Ethicist

Tristan Harris, former Design Ethicist at Google, explains how technology is designed to hijack people's attention.

Read More →
How Design Designs Us: Part 3 | The Ethics of Design
How Design Designs Us: Part 3 | The Ethics of Design

In part three of a series of reflections on how design designs us, Leyla Acaroglu explores some brain-provoking arenas of design and technology ethics and exposes the conundrum that we currently face as a species.

Read More →
The ethics of UX: when is it good design and when are you just tricking people?
The ethics of UX: when is it good design and when are you just tricking people?

From dark patterns that trick unsuspecting users to mass social experiments conducted by internet giants, we take a look at the murky, increasingly complicated rights and wrongs of design – and the moral questions you should ask yourself as a designer.

Read More →
Did Hitler have great designers? Can good design be bad design?
Did Hitler have great designers? Can good design be bad design?

Our role as a designer has become more influential and powerful than ever. The work we do makes an impact and naturally brings up the discussion around ethics, responsibility and accountability. In this article Tobias van Schneider invites us to think about this with him.

Read More →
What your designs say about you
What your designs say about you

What does your chair say about what you value? Designer Sebastian Deterding shows how our visions of morality and "the good life" are reflected in the design of objects around us.

Read More →