The Role of Ethical Design in Sustainability
When we talk about sustainability in design, the conversation often instinctively centres on the planet, like how to best optimise the energy efficiency of websites ([can link to Shuang Han’s article]) or lower carbon emissions. These efforts are critical, but the conversation doesn’t end there. If you take a closer look at the UN’s 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) – you’ll notice something striking while they include environmental targets, a significant portion is focused on social and human priorities. Sustainability, then, is about creating systems that support not only the planet but also the people who inhabit it.
Ethical design is central to this vision. It asks us to create systems that respect users, safeguard their well-being, and build trust.
Does our design foster trust or erode it?
Does it empower the user or manipulate them?
What are the long-term consequences of our design choices?
Ethics, however, are rarely clear-cut. You can’t always point to a design and conclude if it is ethical or not. Often, ethical decisions are made in shades of grey, caveated by business priorities.
Recognizing these nuances is the first step. Advocating for better practices is the next. As designers, we have a unique responsibility – not just to design with ethics in mind but to champion these principles in the spaces where decisions are made. So how do we advocate effectively for ethical design?
Blurred Ethical Lines
What comprises unethical design may feel subjective, but there's little doubt that some of the following examples have crossed the line. Dark patterns – strategies deliberately crafted to manipulate users – are among the first examples that come to mind. Think of fake countdown timers that nudge us into rushed decisions, and subscription flows designed to make cancellation an impossible task.
Another prominent example is Facebook’s 2018 data scandal: what appeared to be an innocent personality quiz app revealed itself as something far more insidious – a calculated breach of user trust to extract personal data without consent. The incident peeled back the veneer of seemingly harmless design, exposing how exploitative these practices can be.
Yet, not all ethical dilemmas present themselves so plainly. Many design choices fall within a grey area, challenging us to think critically about what it means to design responsibly.
Consider a familiar feature: Instagram’s "Suggested Posts” – a design intended to keep users engaged by offering an endless stream of personalized content, akin to infinite scrolling. This feature stands in stark contrast to another introduced just two years earlier: the 'end of feed' notification. Positioned as a tool to promote mindful use of the application, Instagram notified users when they had seen all recent posts from accounts they follow. This shift – from encouraging restraint to engineering addictive behaviour – reveals a striking inconsistency in the social media conglomerate’s stance and raises questions about whether such designs truly serve their users, or the platform’s bottom line. It’s also a reminder that these ethical dilemmas are far more pervasive than we realise.
This is not to suggest that all these design choices are born of malice. More often, they are symptoms of the pressures and constraints within the systems we operate in. One such constraint is corporate overreliance on metrics focused on short-term growth. Designs that deliver immediate results often take precedence, even if they come at the expense of nurturing sustainable digital spaces that prioritise well-being and trust.
Equally pervasive is the phenomenon of copycat design – the impulse to replicate competitors to stay relevant. As manipulative tactics gain traction within individual platforms, they quickly become normalized as industry standards, making it harder to draw the line between what is ethical and what simply “works.”
In a world dominated by performance metrics, how do we advocate for more sustainable approaches that prioritize long-term trust over fleeting gains? How do we argue for designs that champion trust over engagement at all costs?
These pressures do not excuse unethical choices, but they highlight the systemic challenges designers face and call for us to take the lead in shaping more ethical practices.
How Designers Can Advocate for Ethical Design
Advocating for ethical design can feel elusive at times, like championing an ideal that is difficult to ground in the practicalities of day-to-day work. Here are some strategies for grounding abstract principles in meaningful, practical action.
1. Emphasize the Business Case for Ethics
Trust is one of the most valuable assets a product can cultivate, and eroding it comes at a cost. While manipulative tactics like dark patterns may deliver short-term wins, the long-term consequences can be far more damaging. Studies have shown that users exposed to dark patterns often report feelings of anger, irritation, and stress. Half end up distrusting the site, with many abandoning it entirely. Even legitimate offers risk being dismissed once trust is broken – a clear sign of how fragile user confidence can be. Highlighting these risks with stakeholders can help demonstrate why ethical design is not just a moral imperative but a sound and sustainable business model.
2. Reframe Metrics of Success
For many projects, success metrics default to immediate indicators like click-through rates and conversions, which while valuable, are often shortsighted. Ethical design requires steering the conversation toward long-term goals. Metrics like user retention, trust, and loyalty (measured through Net Promoter Scores or Customer Satisfaction Scores) offer a more sustainable gauge of success. They show not just how many users you attract but how many stay, engage, and advocate for your product over time. Framing these metrics to future-proof the business can make this shift more persuasive to stakeholders.
3. Highlight Regulatory and Legal Trends
The push for ethical design is not just about principles – it is becoming a legal necessity. Globally, regulations against manipulative practices are gaining momentum. In the U.S., the FTC recently introduced stricter rules requiring subscription cancellations to be as easy as sign-ups, while Europe’s GDPR has set a high bar for user privacy by invalidating consent obtained through manipulative designs.
The consequences for non-compliance are significant. In a notable case, Google paid a $392 million settlement after misleading users into believing they had disabled location tracking, only to continue collecting their data – a stark reminder of the increasing accountability for unethical practices.
Even if specific legislation hasn’t yet reached your country, global standards are steadily shaping local regulations. Positioning ethical design as proactive risk management makes it an even more compelling case for stakeholders.
Conclusion
If we are serious about building a sustainable future, ethical design must be part of the conversation. It’s about more than meeting immediate needs; it’s about creating systems that respect both their users and the world they inhabit. By weaving ethics into our work, we contribute to a future where design isn’t just functional – it’s responsible.
