Master's Thesis: Perceived Benefits and Drawbacks of Ethical Design

The background research was initiated by taking a deep-dive into the (non-) existing literature about Ethical Design and case studies where it was attempted to be defined. It quickly became apparent there are not any agreed-upon definitions and all the terms surrounding the topic carry no clear definitions either. For the purposes of the research, I defined it as a layer on top of Human-Technology Interaction and grouped several things under it so it's more graspable. This is shown in the figure in the vicinity of this paragraph.

UX design has a strong tradition of trying to support business either with direct effects – a good experience increases sales – or indirect effects, such as brand value. This explains why royalty-of-investment and cost-justified usability are so associated with UX. At the same time, there is a strong mindset that UX designers are on the side of the users and sheltering them from malicious technology corporates. That is, interesting conflicts of values and different beliefs. This creates an interesting tension to research.

Ethical design has taken its first steps and gained foothold in the design community. There are several different manifestos, guides, toolkits, and frameworks for ethical design available on the internet but the consensus about the definition is still lacking. Although ethical pondering is generally recognised as important, it inevitably incurs costs and at the same time the benefits are vague. Ethical examination is basically considering the different dimensions of good and evil and identifying the contradictions and compromises related to them. However, it is not all black and white; things can also be neutral. This goodness-badness spectrum can be and is being used in design. Ethical Design, descendant of Value Sensitive Design and Human-Technology Interaction, emerges as a promising design paradigm and interesting topic of research.

This study was initiated by diving deep into the definitions of ethics in design, case studies and the wide selection of ethical design guidelines none of which is considered as a standard. That provided a basis for in-depth interviews with professionals. This research sought to uncover the benefits and downsides of ethical design.

Ethics in ethical design carries multiple mutually nonexclusive meanings. I was stated unanimously that ethics is a complex construct that aims to do good while recognising the meaning varies from person to person. Ethics was described as being “relative” and, “multidimensional and branches into many directions”, but also as “strive to do good, and such a pursuit of good is a guiding star”. Moreover,the relativity of ethics is an important thing to keep in mind while working with ethical issues: realisation that what is ethical and responsible for me is not necessarily so for others.

There is a mutual understanding that to tackle ethical issues a communal effort is required. It was directly mentioned that active open communication is the key to pondering difficult matters together. The impression was that different people observe the world from different perspectives rendering them to notice different things whereas an individual can only focus on so much.

Developing ethical design further starts from the defining work; what it is, what it is not. The benefits of it are direct. Two of the participants mentioned clear definitions makes it easier to discuss with clients, especially if you could highlight the known benefits. Defining “makes it tangible”. Unambiguous definitions that sprout from values within an organisation leads to more cohesive results. Yet in other words, a mutual understanding requires wider perspectives and therefore ensures the communal benefits better.

Good design requires awareness; “If there is no awareness nothing can be done better. We would just stay in our own comfort zones.” A similar notion was commonly mentioned in all the interviews although it was sometimes defined as “social bubbles” rather than “comfort zones”. Nonetheless, the quality of design is affected by the designer’s skill in escaping these restrictive zones.

This is merely a quick overview of the identified effects of ethical design. If you are interested in the research, I highly recommend reading the thesis in whole. Furthermore, I'd be happy to tell you more about my research.