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What does it mean to be an ethical designer in 2022? - Coggle Diagram
What does it mean to be an ethical designer in 2022?
Environmentally
Green Washing
creating designs that decrease contribution to climate change
creating products that do not have a linear lifecycle (with a beginning, middle and end)
design products need to be continuously cycled in various forms
creating products that consciously reduce the companies and user's impact on global warming
Culture and Religion
Indigenous communities
retelling the story of colonization from informed perspectives
not further contributing to the mistakes made by our ancestors
consulting Indigenous peoples when designing things that affect them
yarning
People of colour
designs that have been coded to be (unintentionally racist)
eg. google's 'all black women'
eg. a twitter video of a soap dispenser that's sensor only responds to a white hand, not a black one
eg. airbnb has a policy that makes guests apply for a stay by mandatory sharing of a photo and personal information, creating a profile that the host then accepts or denies at his or her discretion. This gives users a sense of safety and knowledge about whole they're doing business with. However, guests reported that their reservations were being denied or canceled based on their race or gender identity.
Blanthnaid Conroy:
According to AIGA, the professional association for design, in 2014 approximately 86% of professional designers in the U.S. were caucasian. That percentage simply does not reflect the rapidly changing society we live in. At the time of the 2010 census, 30% of the population was of non-white origin, and it is predicted that by 2050, over 50% of the population will be made up of people who are now considered to be in minority groups.
Religious obligations
designs made for specific religious groups need to consider their obligations
eg. creating a Sajjādat (Muslim prayer mat) with Allah's image would be unethical as images of all religious figures cannot be made or used by Muslims
considering the overton window
decolonizing design
colonization as the force/one of the roots of oppression
acknowledging that we exist within a system of privilege and oppression
considering how colonial histories have affected the way in which we design
Simba Ncube:
When Western conventions are centred in design, this means that anything else is seen as ‘different.'.. Our reliance on western culture inhibits our ability to incorporate other standards.
When a homogenous group of people decide what’s “good,” it’s detrimental to groups that don't fit the main demographic
challenging the western perspective that only their ideas and methods, only, are correct
having an empathetic knowledge about these marginalized groups in order to create designs that benefit them and their unique lifestyles
Accessibility
Affordances
considering the affordance that people with a varying disabilities will use the design
therefore must consider and test designs in auditory, physical, visual, cognitive and neurological areas
the design should help the user accomplish their task, meet their needs and be easy to use
Designers need to consider what errors may occur and how severe these errors may be if disregarded during the design process
Accessibility should not be an afterthought in the design process
the World Health Organization states that
globally, at least 2.2 billion people have a... vision impairment.
small tasks like selecting accessible colour palettes allow for the inclusion of these groups
Don’t use color as the only visual means of conveying information
Kat Holmes:
For better or worse, the people who design the touchpoints of society determine who can participate and who’s left out. Often unwittingly.
Over 18% of Americans have a disability that makes it difficult for them to use the internet. Hence, it’s imperative that we act now to make accommodations for this huge demographic in their online experiences.
Gender
considering those who do not fit into the binary (eg. using gender-neutral terms)
designing for all gender identities allows for the creation of experiences that do not discriminate based on gender
using language as a tool for inclusion (eg. they/them)
using terms that don't have a gender associated with them (eg. firefighter instead of fireman, spouse instead of wife/husband)
eg. using icons/avatars that don't use gender assumptions
eg. google uses animal icons as default avatars
Many designs being created to suit a male audience; women become the afterthought
eg. Many transport systems are still poorly designed for pushchair users
designs that enforce gender roles and stereotypes
eg. virtual home assistants perpetuate negative gender stereotypes
Male-oriented workplace cultures can restrict the participation of women or in some cases drive women out
designing through a feminist lens
allows for the avoidance of embedding inequalities in society
eg. male public toilets are designed without baby changing tables
designers should instead be explicit about their influence so that they can ameliorate their biases
we must draw from feminist theory to identify values that can provide a counterweight to the ‘male perspective bias’ embedded in the design process
the male perspective holds values of efficiency, individualism, hierarchy and competition, while feminist values run counter to these and include egalitarianism, cooperation, nurturance and democracy
Feminist values focus on the importance of interpersonal relationships, the empowerment of individual and the building of skills, knowledge and capacity
this is most needed when:
designing for women-specific needs such as menstruation
designing products that can be used by anyone but have a gender skew such as cleaning sprays
in the built environment where designs have a long lifespan and cannot easily be revised
argues that we must challenge traditional narratives, embrace diversity, change how we work with others and rethink power dynamics
challenge traditional narrative
traditional gender inscriptions and narratives based on the gender binary should be challenged
This is important so as not to limit the opportunities and range of expression available to us based on our gender
relations to alexa and house sprays
embrace diversity
the importance of having diverse teams leading a design project
diverse knowledge can help avoid problems that are overlooked by certain groups
the need for user engagement with people from diverse and marginalized perspectives
t this would ensure designs were more accessible
this would help designers to anticipate and accommodate future adaptations of use in building projects
we must respect individual voices and embrace diverse lived experience
rethink power dynamics
there is often a structural advantage and oppression that needs to be challanged
co-designing
Differences in experience arising from sex or gender should be examined and communicated sensitively in order to shape the design response
a study on navigation around cities, which showed that women and men actually use different wayfinding strategies to get around. These findings could in turn could have important implications for how we design urban environments.
LGTQIA+
respecting and protecting this community
inclusivity
using inclusive terms
be informed about this group and their needs
making designs specific to this community discrete in order to protect their identity
only ask for/include information regarding sex, gender and preference if absolutely necessary
we must design for diversity
Designers must not make presumptions about the people they are designing for
(relations to POC line)
Ethical Hierarchy of Needs
pyramid by Aral Balkan and Laura Kalbag
each layer of the pyramid depends on the layer beneath it
a systematic approach to help us examine both our choices and their underlying motives
Tony Fry:
…what designers do is destroy value at the same time as they create it…
Designers must understand the impact their designs have on others such as minority groups and the environment
In the process of creating, we have the power to destroy knowledge, the environment, culture etc.
We also have the power to improve quality of life
Safety
we have a moral obligation to create products that are safe
eg. Samsung's Galaxy Note 7 would spontaneously catch fire (an unethical design)
Privacy
ensuring that user information is not accessible by others (links to consumer safety)
must only create designs that monitor and collect user information that is in the best interest of the users
eg. chrome storing passwords is convenient for consumers, however, it poses as a threat when accounts are hacked
irresponsible design vs ethical design
Mike Monteiro:
...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.”
designers working in these fields are responsible for projects that have significant and fundamental impact on the quality of people's lives
must consider the context in which the design is created but also its affordances
human values differ from person to person due to our experiences, culture, gender etc.
Ethics are alive and must be iterative as our knowledge and position about a project grows and changes
considering and understanding the emotional and psychological impact the design may have on the underrepresented
one solution is to constantly re-evaluate and challange our own biases and assumptions
Many of the problems that users encounter with a new environment, are caused by design teams with biases and assumptions about how things should work
unethical designs can create an unequal social outcome depending on the gender, abilities, ethnicity etc. of the users
designers must explore alternative understandings rather than embed their own priorities and assumptions into the design
allows for an avoidance of exclusivity and exclusion
we cannot assume that there is one standard user type that we can define
if you design for one “type” of user, you may unintentionally be excluding many types of users from being able to use what you have designed
designing for companies with important values
eg. not designing for companies that produce products that negatively impact people's lives such as poker machines
choosing to work for organizations that make a positive change eg. charities, companies that don't exploit their workers etc.
photography
The importance of representation
typical image of Caucasian, middle aged men in suits
typical image of people who meet beauty standards
The way an image is circled and the context in which they're found has an effect on the audience
No photograph is ever neutral; Who, how, when etc. determines the photographs meaning
Physiognomic traits: unethical
implications of when images are used to train technology
commercial products that try to guess emotions from facial expressions
once used to legitimize slavery and perpetuate Nazi race “science.”
In a much-contested 2016 paper, researchers at a Chinese university claimed they had trained an algorithm to distinguish criminal from noncriminal portraits, and that “lip curvature, eye inner corner distance, and the so-called nose-mouth angle” could help tell them apart
In 2017, the Stanford professor Michal Kosinski was an author of a study claiming to have invented an A.I. “gaydar” that could, when presented with pictures of gay and straight men, determine which ones were gay with 81 percent accuracy.
Is there such thing as having a neutral body?
Barthes says no
if only photography could give me a neutral, atomic body, a body which signifies nothing!
He can never see his true self in an image cause he's always trying to portray something
Felix Nadar
To photograph people is to violate them, by seeing them as they never see themselves…
Was never photographed because he felt the soul was present like an onion skin and that every time a picture was taken, a piece of your soul would be taken too