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Department of Multimedia

09 de maio de 2019

The ethics and values in User Experience (UX) Design

We are inevitably still stuck in a cycle of technological power, but fortunately, some are now questioning the price of being stuck. Our generation lives in an unpredictable time where data can mean power. The way we design for technology is essential to its success and we must keep questioning ourselves.

With all of our technology and innovations, the truth is that more individuals are becoming vulnerable to seemingly simple interactions that designers are laying out for them to use through digital platforms. Designers are starting to realise their power behind decision making in organisations, considering if they have had any effect on the negative events that occurred through their technology creations.

The evidence of our power is everywhere: we have not simply conquered nature but have also begun to defeat humanity’s own worst enemies. War is increasingly obsolete; famine is rare; disease is on the retreat around the world. — Yuval Noah Harari

Our generation needs to feel meaning and wants to experience products or services that help them — not hinder them. How do we control the human judgement of these designed experience when our generation has unpredictable tendencies that can counter our best beliefs in design? About design decisions two questions still remain: How do we control the implications if our design does go wrong AND How can we prevent it?

According to the Fjord trend report for 2018 “Organizations have started to take political stances on issues of general concern” — This comes as a reaction to organisations that can’t afford to be a business but a collection of people with values in order to deliver what is best for its customers, particularly the organisations that already have large stakes in the majority of our lives.

“We know that design is powerful and it can herd people toward certain actions. So how do we encourage designers to make sure they’re wielding that power ethically and responsibly?” — Mike Monteiro

As we have seen, it’s been okay for organisations to wait until something has gone wrong but our generation is starting to demand more. Organisations must be proactive and this calls for our design to also be considered proactive — yet another challenge brought with the evolution of design in technology.

The solutions are not simple but one we can identify is education. You can get through four years of design school, take courses in UX design yet never take an ethics class. Mike Monteiro suggests: “I think this field needs to be licensed. I think it needs to be treated with the same sort of seriousness in which we treat the legal profession and the medical profession — professions that have a serious impact on people’s lives.”

Whatever solution you can come up with we think it’s important starting to embrace ethics as a part of our UX design approach as the power of technology holds over us becomes greater. It's imperative so that we can take responsibility for the implications our design decisions will have on other lives.

Starlight Software

By Irene Tello

Department of Multimedia

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