Ethical Design Review - assessing the ethical footprint of digital products.

The problem

The infrastructure of our personal lives is highly influenced by the tools and design tricks of digital products: guided by commercial interests and not always with the best consequences for users and society. But how do we overcome conflicts of interests between business and users? How can digital products be designed more ethically?

Ethics for design is not a matter of individual moral convictions, rather it is a practical methodological approach that can be implemented in organizations of any size. Ethics should not be a one-off shot, but build on and complement the design process of digital products. If practiced regularly, the tools of ethical design will become an inherent part of any company’s workflows.

Ethical design review as a service

The Ethical Design Review builds on three pillars: Defining the ethical imprint of the product’s concept, reviewing the product for unethical design practices and assessing the design process for its ethical coherence.

Our first step is to challenge your concept in order to ensure an ethical foundation to your product: What values are represented in your vision? How are these values affecting your product features list?

The second step is to review your product: we audit your product for dark patterns and highlight the behavioral and cognitive vulnerabilities these design patterns exploit. We run an ethical risk assessment, anticipating potential unintended consequences and harms of your product. The product review will result in a list of prioritized ethical problems and concrete recommendations on design alternatives.

Finally, the third step consists of assessing the design process for ethical coherence. We check the alignment between the business goals and the ethical foundation of your product. We check for conflicts of interests in business metrics and provide you with best-practices for ethical design processes by embracing a human-centered approach, resulting in products that are ethical-by-design.

What is in it for you?

The Ethical Design Review results in responsible products that treat users fairly, increasing user satisfaction and thus consumer trust and loyalty with your product and brand. A commitment to ethical UX/UI design allows you to position yourself as responsible front runners in the digital sphere.