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Can growth design be truly ethical?

And if so, how?

Mary Borysova
UX Collective
8 min readAug 14, 2023
Abstract bright illustration showing different objects on the tabls
Image from Freepik

In the ideal world, growth designers create user experiences that drive business growth while following ethical principles. However, creating and maintaining this balance between growth and ethics was one of my biggest challenges as a growth designer.

Shaping ethical solutions

Growth hacks or so-called psychology tricks have a negative reputation. and it’s not a surprise. Think about the last time you stumbled upon such a “smart” hack — maybe when you were trying to unsubscribe from newsletters you didn’t mean to sign up for, or when booking a low-cost flight became complicated due to numerous upsells.

Ryanair checkout page
Ryanair checkout page
Multiple upsells in Ryanair checkout

The more marketers and people responsible for company growth learn about growth hacks, the more unpleasant some user journeys seem to become.

Some growth design projects by nature limit user’s access to some functionality. While the natural first desire of most designers is to give the most to the users and ensure their best experience, such projects often link back to making money for the company and achieving business goals.

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Published in UX Collective

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