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Considerations and responsibilities for ethical designers

This article was part of a research paper for the Design Thinking module during my Master’s degree in Digital Experience Design at Hyper Island, Manchester (UK)

Victoria Ng
UX Collective

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Quote ‘Passion Led Us Here’

AsAs design becomes increasingly important in the innovation process, the weight of responsibility on designers’ shoulders continues to grow. Without proper awareness and respect, there could potentially be disastrous long-term implications based on our decisions.

For example, Tesla’s invention of automated cars can undermine the human ability of decision making. From a cynical perspective, this can cause humans to heavily rely on algorithms and technology rather than trusting their own intuition (Harai, 2018). By only focusing on short-term goals and the users’ product journey, designers can often neglect the surrounding consequences and fail to “take into account broader cognitive and social biases” (Artefact, 2017).

As Harai (2018) states, “humans are used to thinking about life as a drama of decision-making” and if designers are not cautious, they can play a supporting role in the shift of power from humans to algorithms. This becomes a major ethical concern as algorithms can potentially control our human minds and “perceive the entire universe as a flow of data” (Harai, 2018). Therefore, in our world of technological advancement, it is imperative to understand the ethical implications of design.

In The Little Book of Design Research Ethics (IDEO, 2015), IDEO outlines the three guiding principles in the ethical practice of design thinking — respect, responsibility and honesty. In it crucial to take note of these principles and in the following sub-categories, we will take a deeper dive into some of these major ethical concerns within our digital age.

Social Inclusion

In order to mitigate the chances of disrupting the system and to become mindful designers, we must think more broadly about the social implications surrounding the product or service. According to ind.ie (2017) ethical design can be assessed by using the Ethical Hierarchy of Needs Framework (See Fig. 1). The pyramid structure helps ensure products and services are built-in respect to human rights, efforts and experiences. Thus, if any layers are broken, the pyramid would collapse — making it an unethical design.

The Ethical Hierarchy of Needs created by ind.ie
Figure 1: ind.ie Ethical Hierarchy of Needs (2017)

Although these factors are fundamental when building products and services, designers should also better understand human values — specifically, their value for social inclusion. By deeply empathising with our end users alone, we can often neglect the societal structure of human kind.

For example, Mark Zuckerburg’s manifesto for Facebook was to build a global community but fails to understand that humans thrive on intimate relationships and deep connections which is virtually impossible to form online. This is because “physical communities have a depth that virtual communities cannot match” (Harai, 2018) and consequently, people are feeling more isolated and lonelier in what appears to be an ever more connected world.

Tackling this pressing matter, Eli Pariser proposes a public-friendly digital design movement because he believes “we need products that don’t just service individuals at the expense of the social fabric on which we all depend” (2019). Ultimately, designers should be widening their perspectives to learn, adapt and acquire knowledge that assures wellbeing for not just the user, but other individuals, societies and cultures.

Long term Implication

At a time where we are discovering new tools and ways of coming together as a society, designers should be extending their timeline and think beyond the present day. A common tool used by designers is the ‘How Might We’ tool and although it has helped create questions that are though-provoking and meaningful, we should also be asking ourselves ‘at what cost?’ (Artefact, 2017).

To put this into perspective, some products and services are not considering its’ long term ethical implications and has either led to exploitation of user data or the control of user’s behaviour and emotions such as the Cambridge Analytica scandal.

According to Tim Brown, “in the past we would finish our design, and launch it into the world, and after that it was other people’s problem” (2019). This mindset is destructive as products do not stay in the same state that we designed them in and continues to evolve over time.

A possible solution is by adopting the planning methodology ‘backcasting’, where designers can begin to consider long term impacts that will improve human living conditions. Backcasting is a method where we envisage the preferable future states, then work backwards to identify the necessary actions to attain those desirable outcomes (Miola, 2008). This approach will not only help connect the present with the future but allows us to consider all the negative implications that we may be required to avoid, creating a solution that is not only innovative but sustainable.

Conclusion

As the role of design continues to expand over time, designers play a pivotal role in building what Eric Klinenberg calls “palaces for the people” (2018) — a place that puts humanity at the heart of every solution. It is imperative for designers to consider the entire ecosystem and adopt a mindset that envisages the future we plan to build today. Our now digitised society creates complex challenges and we need to embrace these matters with a growth mindset and believe that the “true potential is still unknown” (Kelley & Kelley, 2013). Tools and techniques only act as a guide to help teams build a sense of trust, culture and collaborative attitude, but fundamentally designers should be looking for new ways of thinking and coming together as a society.

Reference

Design Thinking
Product Design
UX
Accessibility
Design

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Victoria Ng
UX Collective
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Written by Victoria Ng

Just another creative, who want to be part of anything that instigates a meaningful contribution to the world.

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