Ethics in design - an important conversation in emerging markets

As designers, innovators, creators, and generally anyone who creates products, more often than not, we underestimate the power we wield. Many times, we don't give much thought to the impact the products we create have. Instead, we tend to focus on building 'successful' products. Success is often measured by how many users adopt the product and how much money we make. When we solely focus on these metrics as a way to measure success, we forget that tech products can cause harm even when profitable. In most African countries, data privacy laws are inadequate, making ethical considerations even more critical during product design.

Transcript

1. Kirui Kennedy (@kiruik) | Digital Product Designer | Director, iHub Consulting | Co-founder & CEO Tanasuk Africa Ethics in Design UxP Nairobi
2. Kennedy K. Kirui • Product Designer • Co-founder & CEO Tanasuk Africa (dba iHub Consulting) • Product Strategy GDE • Adrenaline junky
5. Who is in the room?
6. Let us start with definitions
7. Designer: • Someone who creates or helps in the creation of a new product • Someone who is involved in the improvement of a product • Examples - UX researchers, entrepreneurs, innovators, product managers, developers
8. “Ethics - a set of moral principles : a theory or system of moral values
9. “ Design Ethics - what we use as a guide so as not to cause harm when we design products
10. ❖ Making choices for our users Choices we have as designers ❖ Building addictive products ❖ Persuasive design ❖ Privacy concerns ❖ Race and disability
11. Making choices for our users
12. Example: NTSA short code service - 22430 • To reset your password, you must subscribe • If you unsubscribe, NTSA can’t send you messages like confirmation codes • Why run other campaigns unrelated to what the user signed up for? • Why force users to use this type of service
13. Building addictive products
15. Persuasive Design
17. Privacy Issues
19. As Designers… Treat our users as people not products Stop using the term users? Only drug dealers do the same Pay more attention to privacy issues Give more thought to unintended consequences of what we design
20. Q & A