DESIGNING OUT EVIL

how designers can create a better world

evil bobs and weaves…

Human Universals

Colour white Pronouns Dreams Levers Right and wrong are distinguished Incest and rape are proscribed Some forms of violence are prohibited

Diagnosing evil can be tricky

Curious social system design features in the last 150 years

Abandoning grandma in the icy wastes of Greenland: was sometimes ok

Hitting people’s heads with a sharpened hardwood paddle: sometimes ok

Directly or indirectly supporting the cage-hen eggs industry: sometimes ok

what’s your moral compass?

AbsolutismThere are a bunch of rules. Follow them, and you’re all good.

UtilitarianismGreatest happiness for the greatest number.

RelativismThere are no absolute rights and wrongs – good and bad depend on context.

A very humanist approach:• Act in the best interest of everyone• Do no harm and if possible provide benefits• Provide all resultant data (UPA)

what is this evil?

3.3cm

Lambeth, Greater London

$420M

1,200+ doctors

Packaging design: 0.6% - 25%?Research: New chemical recipes?Interaction design: Wrappings?

Evaluating evilness of a design

Perceptible

Imperceptible

Harmful Beneficial

Holistically evaluating of design outcomes

OVERTLYGOOD

SNEAKYBAD

OVERTLYBAD

SNEAKYGOOD

TRIPLE BOTTOM LINE THINKING:

Planet Profit

People

actual

perceived

Teh healthy!!1

5

Evaluating evilness of organisation

KNOWS(enough to act)

CA

RE

S(e

noug

h to

act

)

well-meaning

brutish

good

evil

Actively concerned for the user?

Holistically evaluating the organisation

Unintended user consequences?

Favouring the org over the user to the harm of the user?

Disinterested in user consequences?

This stuff is hard…

It’s usually less like this…

EVIL is incremental

and more like this…

5

knowing up

KNOWS(enough to act)

CA

RE

S(e

noug

h to

act

)

well-meaning

brutish

good

evil

Shifting people along the x (knows) axis

User evaluationEthnographyPersona developmentHolistic user analysisVisibility pathways

5

caring up

KNOWS(enough to act)

CA

RE

S(e

noug

h to

act

)

well-meaning

brutish

good

evil

Shifting people along the y (cares) axis

Executives as observersWetware, not dryware: enriched storytellingMoral capital as a differentiatorChampion-finding: the bicycle-down effect Modelling alternatives as feasiblePick the strategic ( = huge) battles

Design can choose to engage or not.

It disgusted me to see that they were prepared to throw experts in performance and usability at a project that would, if successful, increase the opportunity for people to lose their money.(scenariogirl.com)

Part of this strategy needs to concern itself with profiling target users, selecting the online gambling activities that will maximise revenue generation and designing an interactive experience that is usable and compelling to the target groups. The aim is to satisfy the key motives driving the user’s gambling behaviour and to stimulate return visits.(another usability firm)

Eg: - Lower socio-economic groups-Widows-Young men-Older people

$15.4B offline – 2005/06

- WHAT WOULD YOU DO?- IS THIS A PLACE YOU CAN AFFECT A CHANGE?- DOES THE SCOPE OF YOUR ENGAGEMENT ENABLE GOODNESS?

- Continuity- Emotional engineering (excitement, relaxation, challenge)

Online gambling

- Money, thrill, fun, stimuli/spontenaiety- Only passing mention of “plungers”, no mention of “addiction”- Elsewhere: addiction as an opportunity, but a regulation risk

[“… I’ve said no in the past and it felt GOOD.”(scenariogirl again)]

KNOW: YEPCARE: NOPE

Compared to…

The challenge of awareness

The Well-Known and Ubiquitous CouncilOf Ethical Design (that doesn’t exist)

Certifies that

____________________________________

IS NOT EVIL

Acme Products and Services Ltd

Knows and Cares Certification

ISO1234Sort of like this for interactions

One last human universal: empathy(AND DESIGNERS CAN ENABLE THIS)

Questions?