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Summary
Design systems, processes and guidelines have made UI design more consistent and more efficient from concept to implementation, but what comes after better and faster design? In this talk Craig challenges UX practitioners to take on perhaps the most pressing issue in technology today – creating more ethical design.
Key Insights
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Design systems increase product development efficiency by at least 25%, but their impact goes far beyond speed and consistency.
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Dark patterns—UI designs that trick users—are widespread, especially in free Android apps, affecting well over 90%.
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Manipulative design leverages human psychology and emotion to create addictive behaviors, often unintentionally at first, as with infinite scroll.
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Extractive user experiences prioritize business growth and data monetization over user wellbeing, resulting in a race to the bottom of design ethics.
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Ethical design is rarely integrated in design systems at scale, unlike accessibility, which has become foundational.
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Embedding ethics into design system principles can make it easier for teams to do the right thing and harder to do harmful design.
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Competitive analysis often perpetuates dark patterns by encouraging copycat designs that prioritize engagement metrics over ethics.
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Performing consequence scanning exercises helps teams anticipate potential harms and prevent unethical designs from scaling.
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Governance processes for design systems should include ethical design reviews and collaboration with cross-functional teams like marketing and legal.
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Leadership buy-in and alignment on ethical principles are crucial for systemically addressing unethical design patterns and reducing organizational risk.
Notable Quotes
"Going from no design system to a system increases product development efficiency by at least 25%, and more as the system matures - Justin Baker."
"Under a system which promotes growth at all cost and views engagement of time and data as monetary gain, digital products converge to race to the bottom - Katz from Design Ethically."
"Dark patterns trick or manipulate users into doing something they wouldn’t normally do or against their own or society’s best interests - Craig Vor."
"Making something easier isn’t always better; it can create addictive behaviors - Aza Raskin, inventor of infinite scroll."
"If you’re not paying for the product, you are the product - common phrase summarizing the attention economy."
"Doing nothing is not a neutral act. Ignorance may be bliss, but it doesn’t absolve you from responsibility - Paraphrase of Reverend Desmond Tutu."
"Make it easy to do the right thing, and as a side effect, make it harder to do the wrong thing - guiding principle from Salesforce Lightning Design System."
"Designers need to speak truth to power and engage their creative abilities to materially change how and what is produced - Diego Rodriguez."
"The only form of ethical persuasion that exists is when the goals of the persuader are aligned with the goals of the persuading - Tristan Harris."
"Competitive analysis perpetuates dark patterns and accelerates a race to the bottom; instead trust your own problem solving - Craig Vor."
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