A quick primer for ethics in design

The following list of questions and subjects helps a designer to orient herself to the problem of ethics in design. The list is by no means exhaustive, but illustrates what kinds of problems may be embedded in design process and propositions from a point of view of ethics. If a designer wants to act in an ethically responsible manner, it is imperative to put forth personal effort in understanding ethical conflicts rather than trying to follow any predefined safe rules. Ethics is a process of learning – not a process of obedience.

What are ethics?

Ethics is a (rational) study of moral dilemmas in (human) action. Morals are shortly defined as codes or guides of conduct (implicit or explicit) that are based on personal long-lasting beliefs and values or those of surrounding society. A personal act can be considered moral, immoral or amoral from the point of view of ethical studies:

• Moral - an act or though that is in line with personal and societal moral codes
• Immoral - an act or thougth that is against personal or societal moral codes
• Amoral - an act or thought that does not reflect choice based on moral codes

It is very easy to understand that almost any act or thought can be considered both moral and immoral at the same time, if one considers proper points of view. However, this does not make the study of ethics (i.e. The study of moral dilemmas) any less significant: just like in design there are no single right solutions – only choices that have pros and cons attached to them.

To prepare yourself for the multitude of ethical considerations you can start by examining your own stance as a designer, your own values, who you are designing for and what kind of values are you trying to embed in your design solutions and why?

Ethics in goals

• Do you think it creates a better world?
• To who?
• How?
• Why?
• Is someone's good someone else's bad?

Designers as shapers of users

• There is no such thing as a user, except in your mind
• Humans use things, but that does not make them users (i.e. they are much more complex in scope than the idea of “user” conveys)
• Beware of the user image that you conjure up in your mind – it is a limited image of a human being
• What we shape, shape us afterwards. You can't design into a vacuum
• Build a kind of user that you think would be ethical from your point of view
• Be ready to reflect upon your user and compare your own ethics towards those of others

Needs and wants

• Serve needs not only wants
• Learn to identify what people really need instead of what they want, because of external influences
• Do not get slave to needs, appreciate wants as well
• Practise the balance between the two

Ecology and environment

• What is ethical in terms of ecology?
• Are you solving the problem or merely contributing less to it?
• Are you promoting ecological preservation or just paying lip service to it?
• Beware of 'greenwashing' (appearing to be ecological just for the added marketability)
  

Multiculturality

• Are your goals bound by cultural imperatives?
• Which and why?
• Should you change them?
• Should you make your design solution local (works for specific cultures) or global (works in as many cultures as possible)?
  

Ethics in practise

• Would you like the design be done to yourself?

Means and ends

• Ends may not justify the means (nor vice versa)
• Practise is part of what makes the solution
• Designing ethically is not just about making solutions that are ethically sound, but exposing the practise to ethical scrutiny as well

Methods and tools

• Adopt methods and tools to local, national and other cultures
• Do not obey methods mechanistically if it ethically unsound
• People and group-based methods involving conversation offer a better hope of achieving results with ethical considerations in mind

Ethics in design propositions

• Would you use it yourself?
• Would you like everyone to have one?
• What would that mean in practise?
• Can your design be easily misused?
• Can and should you even try to prevent that misuse?

Design for all

• Can you avoid the common pitfall of “designing for a 25-year old university educated healthy caucasian single male with a tendency towards new and technical”
• Who is “all”?

Individual and collective

• Design solutions are not used in a vacuum – they have influences beyond the scope of a single user (or a group of users)
• Does the need of the many outweight the need of a one (or vice versa)?
  

Form and function

• Both need to co-exist – if one dominates at the expense of the other, problems may arise.

Innovation and tradition

• If you innovate you force people to change traditional ways
• Imposing change vs. introducing alternative ways of using
• Should you bow to tradition just because it is?

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