A designer’s professional activity involves creating or changing the human environment and filling it with new material objects and spiritual meanings. He or she is forming the way of actions and thoughts, feelings and emotions. The role of the designer’s personality, his or her tastes, views, and worldview is extremely great. Ergonomic, aesthetic, and other properties of the designed object will always reflect the personality of the designer, and his or her values. But there is another side – the customers and consumers of the object, to whom the designer is responsible for the results of the design. The norms of professional ethics are designed to regulate the process of cooperation, reflecting as much as possible, taking into account and harmonizing the interests and needs of each subject, avoiding and smoothing over possible conflicts.
What is design ethics?
Design ethics deals with moral behavior and responsible design choices. It defines how designers:
- Work with clients, colleagues, and end-users
- Organize the design process
- Define the function of products
- Evaluate the ethical significance or moral value of their products
In other words, ethical design is the “good” designers bring through their work to people, society, and the world at large. Awesomic highlights 6 things that professionals should look at to make design ethical.
Usability
Today, usability and ease of use have become major requirements for interfaces. Products that are difficult to use are considered failures. And this is correct. Designers have a moral obligation to create products that are intuitive and safe.
The nuclear alert incident in Hawaii reminds us how important usability is. Then a missile alert was mistakenly sent out to residents of the state. The operator issued a real one instead of a drill alert. It was easy to confuse the buttons, and the employee made a mistake.
But what would have happened if it had been the other way around: a missile was flying toward Hawaii, and people got the message about the drill?
Accessibility
Along with usability, inclusivity is a standard requirement of many designers and companies for a product. There are many negative situations when companies and designers don’t pay attention to accessibility. For example, there were situations when people tried to use some website with a screen-reader and got stuck in a cookie message.
Inclusive design benefits everyone because with it you can meet the needs of as many people as possible. But it’s worth asking yourself tricky questions when working on a project: “Who will benefit from our solutions? Who is accidentally and intentionally left out? Who is going beyond the target customer segment?”
Privacy
Every week there are new privacy scandals all around the world. In the digital age, privacy has become almost synonymous with design ethics. It’s no coincidence that more and more people use DuckDuckGo instead of Google.
Corporations have access to a lot of consumers’ personal information. Designers use it to improve products and services. As professionals, designers have to take this responsibly. Designers have to determine how much information people are willing to provide they need.
Persuasion
Ethics determines the extent to which designers allow themselves to influence user behavior and thoughts. Sometimes good endeavors turn to evil. Conversion optimization can easily turn into “How to squeeze more money out of customers by manipulating their unconsciousness?”
Focus
Elements of the digital landscape today compete for a person’s attention. The designer can save the user time and help them work faster only by designing it right. The designer’s goal is to limit anything that can distract from the task, make an interface that the user won’t depend on, and create an atmosphere of calm interaction.
Impact on society
The Center for Human Technology created a Ledger of Harms, a list of the negative impacts of digital technology on society. It damages in various ways, including in the areas of human relations, mental health, and democracy. Designers who care about society need to consider how their work affects the world economy, communities, politics, and health.
Conclusion
The awareness of ethical norms of professional activity in the world has been developing since the inception and formation of the design profession as such. That is since the second half of the 19th century. In 1957 national organizations of industrial design were united into a non-profit community, legally registered in Paris. After that, the International Council of Societies of Industrial Design (ICSID) was founded. ICSID became the platform based on which designers all over the world establish professional contacts, define common goals and interests, and make sure that the quality and dignity of the profession are preserved while respecting social responsibility.
In modern civilization, virtually every professional community cares about its reputation. Hence the ethical side of its activities. It is the norms enshrined in ethical standards that make a particular person’s activities in a given profession obvious, legal, and tacitly agreed upon for him/herself, as well as for his/her colleagues and clients.
