Log in or create a free Rosenverse account to watch this video.
Log in Create free account100s of community videos are available to free members. Conference talks are generally available to Gold members.
Design Systems for Ethical Design
Summary
Key Insights
-
•
Design systems can increase efficiency by over 25% but also risk scaling unethical design patterns if ethics are not embedded.
-
•
The tech industry shifted focus from providing user value to extracting user data and attention, driving widespread manipulative dark patterns.
-
•
Dark patterns are pervasive, found in up to 95% of free Android apps, and often fall into ‘dirty tricks’ or psychological manipulation categories.
-
•
Infinite scroll, originally designed to reduce friction, unintentionally created addictive behaviors, illustrating the unintended consequences of design choices.
-
•
Ethical design must be planned and embedded early in systems and governance to prevent amplifying harm at scale through reusable components.
-
•
Competitive analysis often encourages copycat design patterns, perpetuating harmful norms and mediocrity rather than innovation or ethics.
-
•
Legal frameworks like the FTC and GDPR are increasingly focusing on regulating dark patterns, making ethics a business risk issue.
-
•
Design principles can help depersonalize ethical debates within organizations, fostering collective responsibility around ‘doing the right thing.’
-
•
Cross-department collaboration, especially with marketing and legal, is essential to eradicate dark patterns embedded outside core product teams.
-
•
Design systems offer unique leverage points to intervene in systemic deception by promoting ethical behaviors through platform changes and governance.
Notable Quotes
"If going from no design system to a system, you should see an increase in product development efficiency by at least 25%."
"Under a system which promotes growth at all cost and views engagement of time and data as monetary gain, digital products converge as they all race to employ the design patterns that generate the fattest bottom line."
"Dark patterns are UI designs that trick or manipulate users into doing something they wouldn't otherwise do or that go against their or society’s best interests."
"Making something easier isn't necessarily always better and can create addictive behaviors."
"If you’re not paying for the product, you are the product."
"The only form of ethical persuasion that exists is when the goals of the persuader are aligned with the goals of the persuading."
"Make it easy to do the right thing, and as a side effect, make it harder to do the wrong thing."
"Doing nothing is not a neutral act. Ignorance may be bliss, but it doesn’t absolve you from responsibility."
"Stop being the unquestioning executors of a marketing plan based on 20th century logic and values."
"Designers need to speak truth to power and engage their creative abilities to materially change how and what is produced."
Or choose a question:
More Videos
"Tech workers in the UK are five times more depressed than the UK average, with stress killing creativity."
Dr. Karl JeffriesThe Science of Creativity for DesignOps
January 8, 2024
"You have to understand how the business actually makes money to align UX with it."
Amy MarquezINVEST: Discussion
June 15, 2018
"The core of it is really putting yourself in that other person’s shoes—it’s basic but essential empathy."
Steve Portigal Chris Chapo Kelly Goto Christian RohrerDiscussion
May 13, 2015
"Splitting people’s allocation across different teams created work-life balance issues requiring more oversight."
Alicia MootyDesign Staffing Models
September 30, 2021
"I believe there's really no such thing as a boring place at the state of mind."
Ana Maria Montero Barrantes Aditi Dhar Michelle Kaplan Nate Osborne Matt LaurenceThe Authentic UX Talent Show
January 8, 2024
"We can’t complain about not having a seat at the table if we don’t offer one of our own."
Lada Gorlenko Sharbani Dhar Sébastien Malo Rob Mitzel Ivana Ng Michal Anne RogondinoTheme 1: Discussion
January 8, 2024
"I didn’t want to be part of that as a founder, hacking attention just to fulfill engagement metrics."
Sofia QuinteroThe Product Philosophy Behind EnjoyHQ
March 10, 2021
"The incentive structure at a big company is set up to reward people for entirely different stuff than innovation requires."
Laura KleinUnique challenges of innovation in enterprises
April 23, 2020
"Embedded squads build domain expertise but risk losing knowledge if someone leaves, while centralized teams help reduce duplicated effort."
Andrew MichaelBuilding a Product Insights Team
March 10, 2022
