Misusability workshop at Interaction 18 in Lyon

@axbom
MANAGE MISUSABILITY
DESIGN FOR DIGITAL
PER AXBOM @axbom
WITH A CONSCIENCE

Workshop safe space
There are no wrongs, only learning.

MANAGE MISUSABILITY: GAMEPLAN
Design for Digital with a Conscience
A workshop with Per Axbom
START
CODE OF
CONDUCT
THE RIGHT
THING
FALLACY OF
FRICTIONLESS
WHY WE FAIL
THE OTHER
STORY
OUTCOME, IMPACT AND
SUSTAINABILITY
THE POWER OF
REFRAMING
IMPACT ASSESSMENT
MAKING IT
HAPPEN
STOP
START
KEEP
KEEP MOVING
THE FRICTION
THAT CAN SAVE
US ALL
GETTING READY WITH
PRE-SCRIPTING
DESIGN FOR
HUMAN THINKING
UNDERSTANDING
MYSELF
Juﬆ follow
along, and when
in doubt, throw
the die.

The overall eﬀect of food aid programs is the
disruption of local agricultural markets, making it
harder for poor countries to develop their own
resources and feed themselves in the long run.

Loss aversion
Sunk coﬆ fallacy
Anchoring
Bandwagon effect
Decoy effect
Expectation bias
Confirmation bias

Biases are a human trait, and 
can be a weakness.
Bias is the tendency to have an
opinion, or view, that is often without
considering evidence and other
information.
As designers we are not learning about human
weaknesses so that we may exploit them. 
Our job is to remedy them.

My boyfriend just saw two suspicious African-
American men in a car. They drove their car
up the street, made a U-turn, and parked.”
The private social network for your neighborhood.
Imagine having to realize that the platform you built
to bring communities closer is in fact creating great
divides within them.

"I'm a person of color so it really cut deep.
We hated the idea that something we built
would be viewed as racist… I hadn't seen
it in my own neighborhood's Nextdoor and
so didn't realize it was an issue for us. Once
I got past that, I was powered by the
challenge to do something about it."
Nirav Tolia, CEO of Nextdoor

✓ Listening
✓ Assuming ownership
✓ Transparency
✓ Positive friction
✓ Leadership buy-in
How NextDoor managed
negative impact

Whenever I’m asked to autograph a copy of
“Nudge,” the book I wrote with Cass Sunstein,
the Harvard law professor, I sign it, “Nudge
for good.” Unfortunately, that is meant as a
plea, not an expectation.
– Richard A Thaler

WEIRD
Weﬆern, Educated, Induﬆrialized, Rich, Democratic
Replication Crisis

“UX is
about
putting
people
ﬁrﬆ”

@axbom
The fallacy of frictionless

A B
“Thanks for giving me a break buddy!”

profit
buyer uses reptilian brain
LOW HIGH
BRAINPOWER

76
work days
http://techland.time.com/2012/03/06/youd-need-76-work-days-to-read-all-your-privacy-policies-each-year/

Designer
Company/Organization
Federation/Alliance
Recipients
Society/Policy/Lawmakers

It would appear… that designers
are also human beings.
“Life is a Long Journey between Human
Being and Being Human. Let's take at least
one step each day to cover the distance.”
— Drishti Bablani

“This works really well. 
Yes, I understand completely.”
Choice-supportive bias
Conﬁrmation bias
“I believe you.”
Framing

16 out of 20 users found the search
function on the website.
4 out of 20 users could not find the
search function on the website.

Many designers express an ethical
boundary of not working for tobacco,
gambling or even soda companies…
…yet have no problem working with solutions that
encourage people to submit to a sedentary lifeﬆyle, engage
in addictive behavior or pursue short-term rewards.

the anxiety is real
the nudges don’t make it easier
what is right?

“The design industry is part of the problem. There is an
idea that we constantly have to produce new things. The
industry is oriented around launches and designing a
new one and another new one.”
– Florian Idenburg, principal of SO-IL

The problem-solver 
is part of the problem.
Wherever you go, there you are.

The paradox of “a seat at the table”.
Inﬆead of focusing on people,
designers are focusing on numbers.

ACTION
NEGATIVE
IMPACT
I saw that coming
but I don’t care.
Whoa! I did not see
that coming…
I saw that coming
but didn’t have the
power to stop it.

ACTION
NEGATIVE
IMPACT
I saw that coming
but I don’t care.
Whoa! I did not see
that coming…
I saw that coming
power to stop it.
What can I do to
gain power?
What can I do before
it happens?
What can I do after it
happens?

ACTION
NEGATIVE
IMPACT
I saw that coming
but I don’t care.
Whoa! I did not see
that coming…
I saw that coming
power to stop it.
What can I do to
gain power?
What can I do before
it happens?
What can I do after it
happens?
How do I even
know this?

PER AXBOM
Underﬆanding myself

The mental discomfort (psychological
ﬆress) experienced by a person who
simultaneously holds two or more
contradictory beliefs, ideas, or values. A
consequence of a person’s performing an
action that contradicts personal beliefs,
ideals, and values; and also occurs when
confronted with new information that
contradicts said beliefs, ideals, and values.
Cognitive dissonance
Coaching can help more
than giving advice.

Raise your hand and take it down when you hear a
queﬆion you do not agree with.
✓ I have lied.
✓ I have lied to someone I care about.
✓ When I lie it is often to protect the
feelings of the person I am lying to.
✓ I believe I will continue to lie.
✓ I have based design decisions on too
little data.
✓ I will continue to design with too little
data.

Am I a good person?
You are a human

Token absolutism
Relativism - Absolutism
Utilitarianism
Kantian ethicsSituation ethics
Virtue ethics

Ethical miﬆakes in design are not resolved
by reading Kant or Bentham.
Altruism
Asceticism
Cognitivism
Consequentialism
Cynicism
Humanism
Individualism
Moral Absolutism
Moral Anti-Realism
Moral Nihilism
Moral Realism
Moral Relativism
Moral Skepticism
Moral Universalism
Non-Cognitivism
Utilitarianism
Virtue Ethics
Deontology
Egoism
Epicureanism
Ethical Naturalism
Ethical Non-Naturalism
Ethical Subjectivism
Eudaimonism
Hedonism

PERSON 1: “Does my hair look good.” 
PERSON 2: (lying) “Yes.”
PERSON 1: “Awesome; I’ll keep going to this
new hairdresser I’ve found then.”
Outcome: Everyone feels good in the moment.
Impact: Person 1 will keep having bad hair.

You are never juﬆ working on an interface
or an information architecture.
You are working on a slice of other
people’s lives.

When do you make poor decisions?

Internal
External
Unawareness
Self-serving bias
Performance/speed
Overconfidence bias 
Confirmation bias
Choice-supportive bias
Framing
Fatigue
Morning morality effect
Organisational pressure
Social pressure
Conformity bias
Culture
Context
Situational factors

Internal
External
Unawareness
Tired, rushing, illness,
don’t want to admit
weakness
emotional stress
hungry
Listen more to
others than
myself
Uninformed, habits,
“best practice”

Internal
External
Unawareness
weakness
emotional stress
hungry
Listen more to
others than
myself
Uninformed, habits,
“best practice”
When we are
designing, we are
the external force.

My work is
good for me
My work is
good for other
people
My work is
good for the
planet
My work
aligns with
my values
My work is
what I do
well
My work is
what the
world needs
I control the
work I do
I do what I
want to
I do what I’m
able to
Task / Job
self-assessment
Feeling / explanatory words / actions
Description
Self-assessment
1. I have a clear idea of what I want to accomplish in my
professional life and what impact I want to have on society.
NO YES
2. In my professional life I want to act in
accordance with my own value system.
NO YES
4. I feel comfortable taking risks
NO YES
3. I feel responsible for voicing my values in
my design work.
NO YES
5. I feel comfortable with confrontation
NO YES
6. Can you think of a time when you have consciously
stood up for, and acted in accordance with, your values?
Write it down. Think about the circumstances
that made you want to take a stand.

Internal
External
Unawareness
weakness
emotional stress
Listen more to
others than
myself
Uninformed, habits,
“best practice”
When we are
designing, we
are the
external
force.

@axbom
The material outcome of design

o bir mühendis he is an engineer
o bir doktor he is a doctor
o bir asker he is a soldier
o bir hemşire she is a nurse
o bir öğretmen she’s a teacher
o bir polis He-she is a police
Hän on ruma He’s ugly
Hän on kaunis She is beautiful
Hän on insinööri He is an engineer
Hän on sihteeri She’s a secretary
Hän on asianajaja He is a lawyer
Hän on lastentarhanopetta She is a kindergarten teacher
Original Google Translate

Prejudice that causes negative impact
is already woven into the fabric of the Internet.
If you don’t take a ﬆand and make considered choices
for change, minorities and underserved groups will
keep being hurt.

The legacy of city planner Robert Moses

People who are already being hurt
are the ones who are moﬆ likely to
get hurt by your design.
We talk a lot about empathy in UX
but we rarely talk about how
empathy itself is prejudiced.

Gender and sexuality minorities
Religious minorities
Racial minorities
Ethnic minorities
Age minorities
People with disabilities
People in poverty
Suﬀerers of crime

adjective having or showing laziness or negligence.
Synonyms: lax, negligent, neglectful, remiss, careless, slapdash,
slipshod, lackadaisical, lazy, ineﬃcient, incompetent, inattentive,
oﬀhand, casual, disorderly, disorganized;

The Chlamydia Home Teﬆ Kit
male
female

vagina
penis

vagina
penis
A United Nations fact sheet eﬆimates that up to 1.7 per cent
of the population “is born with intersex traits”.

I will never get inclusion on my own. No matter who
my friends are. I need to work hard to include a
diverse mix of people in the design process. And I
need to liﬆen for negative impact all the time.
My name is Per and I am a white man. I am a
middle-aged, cisgender, privileged, liberal
designer with a boatload of prejudice. 
I am not a person you should truﬆ for answers.
I love my job but I need to love people ﬁrﬆ.

How Period Apps Are Profiting Off Your Private Data & Selling Your Sex Life
Pennsylvania schools spying on students using laptop webcams, claims lawsuit
Search Risk – How Google Almost Killed ProtonMail
Google is under fire for watching you while you shop even when you're not online
When a computer program keeps you in jail
Designers have a choice: Build for a better future or build to add to the noise
Using a fitness app taught me the scary truth about why privacy settings are a
feminist issue
The Rich See a Different Internet Than the Poor
Former Facebook exec says social media is ripping apart society
Don’t Nudge Me: The Limits of Behavioral Economics in Medicine
Google lets you report ads that know ‘too much’ about you, but there's a creepy catch
Laptops And Phones In The Classroom: Yea, Nay Or A Third Way?

IF YOU SEND AN EMAIL TO
FRANCE ON THE WEEKEND,
DOES ANYBODY READ IT?

The other ﬆory
2. GOAL/PROBLEM
3. ENCOUNTER
4. CLIMAX
5. GAIN
1. PERSON

Excluded Unwanted
Participants
Included
People who may beneﬁt from the
solution but no effort is placed into
designing for them.
People you do not want using the
solution. They could get hurt, or they
could hurt others.
All people who are taking part in a
solution by reading, buying, listening
or otherwise engaging. People
outside are non-participants.
People who manage to
use the solution anyway,
but could be thrown out
any time because you are
not looking out for them.
People who manage to
use the solution anyway,
putting themselves and
others at risk. You may not
be aware they’re there.
The people you are
intentionally designing
for, measuring and
following up on.
A segment of the people you
are intentionally designing for
but who are still experiencing
negative impact.

2. GOAL/PROBLEM
3. ENCOUNTER
4. CLIMAX/CRISIS
5. IMPACT/GAIN/LOSS
1. PERSON
The ﬆory of getting hurt

@axbom
The friction that can save us

A higher conversion rate
is not equivalent to
“better for the person”.

when it is better to NOT
pursue the higher-performing
option in an A/B-teﬆ.
It is the responsibility of UX
professionals to help decide

YOUR WEBSITE HOME INFO ABOUT CONTACT
WE ARE UNIQUE
READ MORE
We are extremely unique and different from our competitors
by having a website that looks exactly the same.
Always. Three. Columns.
We could have four
columns. But everyone
else has three.
Feeling creative we
added pic of smiling
woman here.
Yup, the website
layout says we can
offer only 3 services.
Idea stolen, with utmost respect, from Dave Ellis. / novolume.co.uk

You will find the password by reading the
welcome information carefully.
In this film you will find the password for logging
in to the booking system, 5 small characters. Your
username is in the confirmation e-mail.
Code of conduct explained
whilst giving out one letter of
the password every thirty
seconds.

Friction creates loyal, active
and serious relationships.

•Error prevention
•Prevent misuse
•Stop people who will not benefit
•Filter out “bad” users
•Build Skills
•Build Knowledge
•Encourage Self-reflection
•Focus on goal fulfilment, not
task completion
Why friction?

We design thinking
LOW HIGH
BRAINPOWER
LOW HIGH
BRAINPOWER

Adding friction
How to limit phone-use
across the day.

input
investments and
resources
output
product/service
provided
outcome
immediate
achievements
impact
medium/long-term
consequences
cultural
economic
environmental
health / well-being
political
scientific
social
technological
measured rarely measured
Impact represents an intended or unintended significant change that affects people on an individual or societal level.
Impact represents an intended or unintended significant
change that affects people and/or the planet.

input
investments and
resources
output
product/service
provided
outcome
immediate
achievements
impact
medium/long-term
consequences
cultural
economic
environmental
health / well-being
political
scientific
social
technological
In finance, we have developed shared fundamentals, which include
risk, return, liquidity, volatility… to manage financial goals.
For impact, there is a shared underﬆanding that impact refers
to material effects experienced by people and planet, both
positive and negative and include 5 dimensions:
what, how much, who, contribution and risk.

Own
chocolate
Inveﬆ in
chocolate
Weight gain
Acne
Addiction
Eat
chocolate
Soon hungry again
Hungry?
INPUT OUTPUT OUTCOME
IMPACT
✓ Hunger corrected

Notifications
built
Communicate
need
Stress/Anxiety
False positives
Concentration lapses
Notifications sent 
User reminded 
People act
on the
notification
Lower work performance
Lots on your mind?
INPUT OUTPUT OUTCOME
IMPACT
PUSH NOTIFICATIONS
Diminishing truﬆ

Your go-to design choice for 
interrupting human relationships
and disrupting concentration.
Notiﬁcations
LOOK OVER HERE!

WHAT HOW MUCH WHO CONTRIBUTION RISK
Induced
stress
A lot
Overworked
psychologists
Big
Patient
harm
The Impact Management Project is the voice of over 700
practitioners from across geographies and disciplines.
Online behavioral therapy. Notiﬁcations to psychologiﬆs.

Peak Notiﬁcation
Hey friend! I just
wanted to take a
slice out of your
life. Bye!

Peak Asshole
Allow
notiﬁcations?
YES
NO

input
investments and
resources
output
product/service
provided
outcome
immediate
achievements
impact
medium/long-term
consequences
cultural
economic
environmental
health / well-being
political
scientific
social
technological
The beﬆ way to adopt an ethical mindset is to include
impact risk assessment in your work.

What
How
much
Who
Racial proﬁling
People of color
Important
negative
outcome
Important
positive
outcome
Neutral
Marginal effect Deep effect
For few For many
Short-term Long-term
Slowly Quickly
Well-served Underserved
IMPACT
ASSESSMENT
Adapted from www.impactmanagementproject.com

AI therapist
Effect:
Negative
WHAT
HOW
MUCH
WHO
CONTRI-
BUTION
RISK
Positive
For few For many
Brief Long-lasting
Well-served
Much worse than
what will likely occur
Likelihood that this effect will happen Likelihood that this eff
Much better than
Underserved
Low High
Marginal Deep
Effect:
Negative
For few
Brief
Well-served
Much worse than
Low
Marginal

Effect:
Negative Positive
For few
WHO:
For many
Favored
Much worse than
doing nothing
Much better than
doing nothing
Unfavored
Short term Long term
AI therapist
Barn rapporterar
övergrepp till ett AI.
Barn i hem med våld

Effect:
Negative
WHAT
HOW
MUCH
WHO
CONTRI-
BUTION
RISK
Positive
For few For many
Brief Long-lasting
Well-served
Much worse than
Likelihood that this effect will happen Likelihood that this effect will happen
Much better than
Underserved
Low High
Marginal Deep
Effect:
Negative Positive
For few For many
Brief Long-lasting
Well-served
Much worse than
Much better than
Underserved
Low High
Marginal Deep

@axbom
Taking action
How to follow your value syﬆem

Internal
External
Unawareness
weakness
emotional stress
Listen more to
others than
myself
Uninformed, habits,
“best practice”

Ethics fatigue
Practice makes our voice and action more likely.
It’s not about deciding what the right thing to do is, but
rather about how to get it done.
Even though we may all sometimes act
unethically, the fact is that we all do
sometimes also act ethically.

What enables a voice to speak up?
Anticipating situations where their values would be tested.
If we feel confident that voice and action are
possible, we are able to see issues more clearly,
our raise questions that make our collective
clarity possible.

Sometimes individuals can more
effectively address values conflicts in the
workplace by talking about what
discourages ethical action and engaging
colleagues in addressing those factors
than by tackling the issue head-on.
CHANGE THE FRAME

Talking to someone else is often critical.

Expected or Standard Practice
“Everyone does this, so it’s really standard practice. It’s
even expected.”
Materiality
“The impact of this action is not material. It doesn’t
really hurt anyone.”
Locus of Responsibility
“This is not my responsibility; I’m just following orders
here.”
Locus of Loyalty
“I know this isn’t quite fair to the customer but I don’t
want to hurt my reports/team/boss/company.”
Gentile, Mary C.. Giving Voice to Values: How to Speak Your Mind When You Know
What’s Right (Kindle Locations 2326-2330). Yale University Press. Kindle Edition.

“Everyone does this, so it’s really ﬆandard
practice. It’s even expected.”
If everyone really is doing this, what would be the
consequences for business practice and consumer trust?
Would we be comfortable if everyone knew we were doing
this?
Who do we want to know we are doing this and what does
that tell us?
If it is accepted, why are there often so many laws,
regulations, policies against it?

What if you were going to
act on your values, what
would you say and do?
FROM 
SHOULD we voice
our values  
TO
HOW should we voice
our values?

We need to do this.
Hang on, I’m concerned
about the impact of this
decision. Maybe you have
the answer.

What long term impact can we
expect? What is this in 10 years?
SHORT TERM / LONG TERM

What alternative routes have we
considered?
ALTERNATIVE PATHS

At what point are we
willing to abort?
What is the indended longevity
of this solution?
ADDICTIVE CYCLES

emotion/health/security/
autonomy/economy
What values are we supporting?
What values are at stake?
COST CONSIDERATION

What story are we supporting?
What stories have we not considered?
people/culture/nation/politics
THE OTHER STORY

You either design the system or you get designed by the system.

@axbom
Final words
Your promise to your profession

✓ I didn’t know it
✓ I didn’t mean it
✓ I was forced
✓ It wasn’t me
✓ I didn't understand
Inﬆead of this…

✓ Listen (for real)
✓ Assume ownership
✓ Overcome your biases
✓ Be transparent
✓ Use positive friction
✓ Make ethics and impact
assessment part of your process
✓ Use pre-scripting to practice and
prepare
…do this.

In every work situation you are in, ask yourself:
1. Who is in this room?
2. Whose voice is being heard?
3. Whose voice(s) are missing?
Then, for each question, ask why.
1. What problem are we solving?
2. How do we know it’s a problem?
3. Why are we solving it now?
4. What can go wrong?

The ﬁrﬆ dishoneﬆ act is the
moﬆ important one to prevent.
– Dan Ariely
100%
attentiontoethics
97%
90%
80%
70% slippery slopeincrementalism

Responsible design is a muscle that
needs practice to grow.
Don’t ignore it, exercise every day.

We will have to take risks - even
career-threatening ones - at some
point in our work lives.
Juﬆ because we CAN make something
doesn’t mean we SHOULD.

Workshop take-aways
What I will STOP doing
What I will KEEP doing
What I will START doing

Free book preview: misusability.com
in progress
Worksheets: misusability.com/workshop/lyon
per@axbom.se

Misusability workshop at Interaction 18 in Lyon

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