Navigating Ethical Design: Principles for Success
What is ethical design and why should we be bothered about it? To begin with a definition, ethical design is about avoiding activities or organisations that cause harm to people or the environment. It's about thinking of other people and considering the impact on others in whatever you do. Seems straightforward doesn't it?
An ethical design needs to be adequate for humans, usable and pleasant to use. This can be illustrated as a pyramid that includes Human Rights at its base, Human Effort in its middle layer, and Human Experience at its peak.
A fundamental principle of this pyramid is that each layer rests and depends on the layer beneath it to ensure that the final design is ethical. In other words, you can only build the next higher layer of a pyramid when the layer below is complete. Moreover, going back to touch a lower layer later will cause the layers above to crumble. Also, your design won't be a pyramid if it only has a base layer. Although you have to start somewhere, it's important to finish what you started and complete your pyramid.
A simple rule of thumb
My simple rule of thumb to ethical design is to ask myself: would I like this if it was done to me or would I like this product if it was in front of me and I was experiencing its effects? While asking myself this question, I will really try to think both down- and upstream. Most of the time, the steps closest to you are tailored to align with your personal sense of ethics.
As an example, let's consider a situation where I'm buying a new pair of jeans from one of the big chain clothing brands. When in the store, everything upstream seems fine: the clothing feels sturdy and long-lasting so is likely to have a sustainable lifetime, and it's made of cotton (which can be recycled).
Downstream, I see happy employees in the store and know that this company treats its employees and manufacturers very well. The company also has a pact to produce ecologically and to waste as little water as possible. But after pondering a little more, I consider how the cotton has been plucked by a farmer and quick research reveals that farmers for this brand are severely underpaid and nothing is being done about issues around child labour. Since I wouldn't want to be treated that way, I decide to look for an alternative brand (like HNST, which uses at least 60% reused cotton).
Although it is impossible to completely reduce the risk of unethical handling, we can make choices to try and at least reduce it as much as possible.
How (not) to design ethically
Design and ethics are both subjective. Although this can make things more challenging, the ethics pyramid and rule of thumb mentioned above can help to distil some guidelines or not-to-do's.
Ensure that human psychology isn't being used against humans. Avoid dark patterns and only use behaviour design in a stimulating manner.
Design for accessibility and inclusion. Although you are designing for your ideal customer, an ethical design will consider everyone. Avoid creating products that are exclusive or encourage stereotypes (e.g. the first black and white cameras could not capture those with dark coloured skin). Unfortunately, most things aren't designed to accessible and inclusive.
Privacy is key, so be cautious with data. Avoid harvesting data to your advantage. Instead, gear it towards the user's advantage and keep ownership with them.
Consider both individual and group ethics. Avoiding harming the individual for the group, and vice versa.
Create and build sustainably. In the end, it's all about sustainability and creating things that last without depleting resources. Find out more about how sustainability and its three pillars can actually drive your business forward here.
Find a solution through human-centred design
Design and ethics are both human-centred and human-drive, which is why these factors are the source for solutions. We can come quite far by thinking about the user that a design will have an effect on and placing ourselves in their shoes.
Designers stand closest to users, so it is our task to defend their rights. Here are some tips to help us accomplish this:
- Test with users. Talk with users to gain their perspective and feedback. Double check that the rules above have been applied and that we aren't doing anything wrong on their behalf.
- Spread word throughout the team. While designing, teams tend to push features onto a product out of love for and knowledge of technology. There's nothing really wrong with this, but it's important to remember that the user is key. to create real added value, share the experience and feedback from user testing with the team, or even take them along with you to the user tests.
- Be transparent. Transparency over how and why you are using resources is essential. Being transparent also builds trust with your users, which benefits you at the end of the day.
- Remember the rule of thumb. Don't forget to ask yourself whether you would like the design if it was placed in front of you. Think about why you would like or dislike it, what needs to be changed and how you can change it if your answer to this initial question is 'no', and remember to check both down- and upstream.
Ethical design – designing for humans, usability and pleasant experience – is a key pillar of The Product Architects (TPA). Talk to us if you need help navigating your venture into ethical design, or if you'd like to create an ethical design together with us.
