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Ethical Design: Making Moral and Responsible Choices During the Design Process
Design Ethics is the practice when creating products to be moral and to make responsible choices. Every step of the process, from initial conception of the product idea, to how the design process is conducted and how product features are selected and developed, needs to assess the ethical worth of the product being designed.
Mike Monteiro, co-founder and design director of Mule Design, said that “designers have been running fast and free with no ethical guidelines,” he told me. “And that was fine when we were designing posters and sites for movies. But now design is interpersonal relationships on social media, health care, financial data traveling everywhere, the difference between verified journalism and fake news. And this is dangerous.”
Cennydd Bowles, digital product designer and author, said that “designers as such have a central role in safeguarding digital products so they not only empower but also protect users. This responsibility starts with designers’ own output. Design teams should demand high ethical standards from themselves and their colleagues. Internal product development conversations are where key ethical questions are answered, whether intentionally or not. Designers should be active in these conversations, (…) highlighting ethical concerns even at the risk of short-term unpopularity.”
Florin Rotar, digital lead at Avanade, said that “digital ethics is mission-critical. I don’t see how something that could damage people whether it’s disappointing them annoying them, discriminating against them or excluding them could be considered academic. It’s a question of maturity. We have development managers, team lead, and development managers that are putting together a digital ethics cookbook and adding it to their coding and security standards.”
