Why & how ethics matter in design

In a world filled with sleek logos, trendy packaging, and visually stunning websites, it’s easy to get lost in the allure of design for design’s sake. But amidst the sea of pixel-perfect aesthetics and eye-grabbing visuals, it feels like the purpose of design somewhat lost its way.

Most folks can attest that the design industry is littered with terms and definitions given its broadness. As such, it's hard to define what design stands for in the first place, with plenty of endless back and forth discussions. To prevent making this entire read about semantics, here’s my starting point;

I like to think of design as the process of finding a solution for a problem. I’m aware this is still somewhat vague as ‘a problem’ can mean anything; from figuring out how to rebrand a business after a PR disaster up to having to endure a crying baby on a very long flight (somehow a common problem of mine). But for design, that wide spectrum is exactly the playground for exploration and innovation.

Designers, as broad as that title is as well nowadays, are the ones trying to find a solution to whatever problem is presented to them, preferably in some kind of unique way through the use of all kinds of processes & mediums. The value of design’ output is currently usually derived from:

• Figuring out what the actual problem is.
• Knowing how big this problem is.
• How effective the solution for said problem is.
• How unique the solution is compared to what’s already been invented.
• And, ultimately, who is willing to pay for this solution.

Putting lipstick on a pig

I’d argue one of biggest missing points is whether said solutions are in any way ethical. Generally there’s a growing awareness around this, as it’s not exactly a new topic, but it’s still hardly ever a guiding principle.

Instead, there’s primarily a focus on the last point; willingness to pay. Most of the design industry uses it as a starting point, as design is mostly in service of others by nature. There’s nothing inherently wrong with this approach, we all need money to survive. But it does cause designers to become dependent on external party’ presented problems, limiting the playground to the type of problems that usually boil down to creating another solution to sell / shill another product or service (Wasting a lot of design talent and causing burnouts in the process).

At glance it might seem impressive to work for well-known brands like Nike, McDonalds, Coca Cola, Apple, etc. And in fairness, creatively speaking, it does offer a lot of room to develop something that has a strong concept and/or high production value due to the big budgets & time resources associated with it. It can be a great learning experience on how to collaborate, manage complex team dynamics and deal with deadlines. Heck, you might even win some design awards for campaigns or product design if they perform well. But underneath the shiny layer of it all, what problems does this kind of output really solve?

Ad for Nike by NotReal, crafted by over a dozen people. Looks great, but solves nothing.

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

While undeniably influential and filled with very talented designers, design studios like Pentagram, Wolff Ollins and Landor occasionally get criticised for prioritising high-paying clients and flashy projects over designs that truly make a difference in people’s lives. Sure, you can make a good penny on new ad campaigns for Marlboro, Shell, etc., but is that really worth it? (Although you can still win ‘awards’ as well for running the most harmful or worst greenwashing campaigns e.g.)

Less in the spotlight are studios like VeryNice, Common Thread, Brains, among others. It’s usually these smaller-scaled studios that work on some of the most pressing issues around the world, like how to provide healthcare for vulnerable groups, how to reduce the impacts of plastic or carbon emissions, how to make sure children have access to education in war torn areas, etc. It’s less flashy, often comes with lower budgets and can be more complex to navigate, but it could affect more people positively down the line.

From the outside, it can seem like the impact space is mostly filled with scientists, engineers, developers, etc. but design is much needed here. Not only to translate ideas & concepts to more understandable communication to get the masses on board, similar to things like Kurzgesagt, but also because designers have the innate ability to think up ideas that are new and novel. Most designers are rather good at keeping a target audience’ wants & needs in mind, understanding the importance of solid testing, adapting to challenges and creating a story that resonates.

Technology can come a great way in solving certain issues (potentially). But today’s problems also require a mindset shift of organisations and the public at large if we want to make any tangible changes. Design is a powerful tool to contribute to this, as technology alone won’t change anyone’s habits (No, AI won’t either). Design leaders equipped with some basic business sense can be exceptionally good at building these kinds of endeavours, even if they aren’t domain experts or scientists.

The road to hell is paved with good intentions

Plastic bags were supposedly invented with the intention that we’d have to use less materials given people would be able to reuse everything that was made out of it. Sadly that didn’t exactly turn out as planned.

Intentions can be great, but keep your eyes peeled for what results actually come out of them. It’s been a growing ‘trend’ that companies run fancy campaigns with claims about their sustainability goals, whilst being little but greenwashing. Whether it's Apple’s Mother Nature campaign on carbon-neutral manufacturing while being notorious for their anti-repair practices, airlines’ claims of sustainable flights or even supposed NGO’s saying that PET plastics are a great sustainable option, it’s all drenched in hypocrisy at best.

Good intentions, poor messaging.

Working on these types of projects as a designer however, it might feel like you’re actively trying to make a positive mark. To exemplify, the marketing & website for the aforementioned PET plastics campaign was created by Anchor Marketing. A small boutique agency that primarily works for NGO’s & nonprofits to make the world a better place, ironically. I doubt the people working on it actually had any bad intentions, as they seem like a capable bunch otherwise. (Although their name was quickly scrubbed from the website after this was presented at the INC-4 plastic treaty negotiations in Canada, smooth). But it goes to show that, despite having inherently good intentions, you got to keep questioning and evaluating whether claims can be backed up.

There’s plenty of examples of overly optimistic saviorism campaigns, bold claims of (scientific) world-saving solutions and businesses making statements that backfired by not continuously evaluating if the mission is still solving the issue it set out to help with in the first place.

After inspections, 96% of H&M’s sustainability claims were proven to be false.

We all make mistakes, which makes sense given how complex some of these problems are. None of us have the perfect answer and we‘re collectively quite terrible at overseeing grand scale consequences of our actions as a species so far. But instead of turning into a defeatist, I think the only way forward is continuously learning, actually admitting faults and pro-actively making changes the more we learn over time. Companies like Patagonia and Tony’s Chocolony are well-known for admitting they aren’t perfect either, but at least they keep adapting and try to push the boundaries of the industry to do better bit by bit. Ultimately, that’s all we can do.

Back to reality

Now, I could be an old man yelling at a cloud by saying money, capitalism or consumerism are evil and the cause of everything bad. But I don’t think that’s inherently true. It’s just a shame that the brightest minds in the world tend to spend most of their time creating output which primarily serves to generate money over anything else (independent of industry).

I understand how this can come across as pointing a lecturing finger at all the designers out there not designing ‘for good’. We all need to put bread on the table, hone our skills and do what we need to do to stay afloat. And working for any organisation, regardless of their impact, can provide such a thing. But I hope it makes you reflect on what problems you really want to solve with your design skills, and what the consequences of those designs are. Regardless if you’re a junior just coming into the industry or are a seasoned design veteran, we all have a choice where we put our time and talents. Whether you like to push pixels, dive into strategy or come up with crazy ideas, the world can use your skills right now.

Some actionable steps

Spewing critique is easy, but that’s not very actionable. And I’m aware that it can still be tricky to get a design job in the impact space. So below I’ve listed some resources on how to use design for issues that try to make the world a slightly better place. (No, I’m not affiliated nor do I get paid for this whatsoever, these are just examples of what I’ve found useful personally).

This is both for the people who want to move to more impact related jobs altogether, or are currently in a organisation that doesn’t necessarily have impact as a top priority. There’s plenty of positive outcomes you can achieve in any organisation, both big and small. You can optimise your company’s website to reduce energy usage and carbon emissions, advocate for using sustainable materials in product development, or be a brand guardian by calling out possible greenwashing e.g. It might be scary at first, but small steps go a long way.

Learning:

• Brands for Change — Anne Miltenburg’s work focuses on how to use branding for good and shares how through her book & methods.
• Verynice — Design studio that gives away half their time to impact projects, and share free resources & tools on how to do the same.
• Terra Do — Learning platform on how to transition to a climate career.
• Winners take All — Anand Giridharadas book on how companies and the rich are mostly causing the problems they state they’re solving.
• School of Moral Ambition — Rutger Bregman’s project to activate people to use their talent for work that actually makes a difference (Dutch-only)

Job boards & communities:

• Design Gigs for Good — Job board & community for impact designers.
• Creatives for Climate — Job board & community for impact designers.
• Climate People — Job board for climate work.
• Green Jobs board — Job board for climate work.
• Climate draft — Job board for climate (tech) work.
• Idealist — Job board for social impact work.
• Climate Base — Job board and climate fellowships.
• Climate Tech List — Job board & community for impact tech.
• Work on Climate — Community and support to get into climate work.
• Women & Climate — Climate community for women & non-binary.
• Clean Creatives — Community around impact marketing.
• MCJ Collective — How to get into climate and find funds.
• Open Door Climate — Free career mentoring specifically for climate.
• ADP list — Free career mentoring.

It’s a wrap

Pfew, quite the long read huh. Cool that you made it this far. I’d be happy to hear your thoughts! Was this helpful in any way? Is there anything I’ve missed or did I say something stupid? Leave your thoughts, give it a thumbs up for the almighty algorhitm and let me know any questions you’d have!