Product design can go wrong and affect users negatively. How do your users feel using your product? What’s the impact that you cause? Can we build better products if we follow certain standards or principles? This talk will explore how to better care about users and improve their experience by taking a more ethical approach. Most importantly, this talk will hopefully be an inspiration, question the status quo and help us build for a better future web.

1. The Untold Benefits of
Ethical Design

3. Holger Bartel
Designer/Developer
Hong Kong
h@foobartel.com
Twitter: @foobartel

5. Build a “Better” Product
User Interests & Benefits
Challenge Status Quo
Ethics at the Core

6. Ethical Design

7. 1
ethics plural in form but singular or plural in construction : the discipline dealing with
what is good and bad and with moral duty and obligation
2
a : a set of moral principles : a theory or system of moral values the present-day
materialistic ethic an old-fashioned work ethic —often used in plural but singular or
plural in construction an elaborate ethicsChristian ethics
b ethics plural in form but singular or plural in construction : the principles of
conduct governing an individual or a group professional ethics
c : a guiding philosophy
d : a consciousness of moral importance forge a conservation ethic
3
ethics plural : a set of moral issues or aspects (such as rightness) debated
the ethics of human cloning

8. A Guiding Philosophy

9. The discipline of dealing with
what is good and bad and
with moral duty and obligation

10. Ethical Design:
Design created with the
intent to do good.

11. Design with good intent
can still go wrong.

13. We spend a lot of time thinking about tools,
technologies and frameworks.
How much time do you spend thinking
about the impact of what you’re building?
@foobartel

14. “Make the world a better place”

16. Note
Surveillance
Capitalism

18. “Systems that make decisions about people
based on their data produce substantial adverse
effects that can massively limit their choices,
opportunities, and life-chances”.
http://crackedlabs.org/en/data-against-people
Data against People

19. Dark Patterns

20. Dark Patterns are tricks that
make users do things that you
didn't mean to.

21. Dark Patterns pressure users into
making a decision.

22. Dark Patterns suck.

24. Stress
Loss Aversion
Anxiety

32.
Stressed, anyone?

33. What’s really good for our users?
Human Centered Design

34. User Experience

35. User Experience
Accessibility Inclusivity
User Flows
Security Privacy
Respect
Impact
Responsibility
Performance
Copy Writing
Legibility

36. If you don’t consider these essentials
for your “great” user experience, it will
only be “so great!” for some of us.
@foobartel

37. When designing, we have a responsibility
that will eventually define the relationship
of our users to our product.
@foobartel

38. I want some peace of mind!

40. Note Sou

41. Note Sou

42. –Troy Hunt
“Another day, another breach.
It still blows my mind how frequently
this happens.”

43. We’re spending a lot of time thinking
about how to collect more and more data.
How much time do you spend thinking
about how to secure that data?
@foobartel

44. Security Rule #1
The data you don’t have stored,
can’t be leaked, lost or stolen.
@foobartel

45. Web Performance

50. 9MB?
8 Hero Images?
$^#&*$?
OMG!

51. Respecting Users

61. Respect your users.
Happy users will be much more likely to forgive.
@foobartel

62. Rethinking the
Approach

63. The Internet is still young and we are
experimenting.

66. 1885

67. 1910

68. 1885 1910

69. 1885 1910 1950

70. 1885 1910 1950

71. 1885 1910 1950 1970

72. 1885 1910 1950 20151970

73. 1885 1910 1950 20151970 2018

74. The Internet is still young and we are
experimenting.
For a sustainable future we might have
to reconsider and adjust the direction.

75. We have learned how to build stuff.
Now it’s time to get people focused
essentials built in.

76. Essentials
for a Future Web

77. Responsibility
CSSHTML
JavaScript
SecurityPrivacy
Web Standards
Web Essentials

78. Responsibility
CSSHTML
JavaScript
SecurityPrivacy
Web Standards
Web Essentials

79. Responsibility
CSSHTML
JavaScript
SecurityPrivacy
Web Essentials

80. Too much work!

81. “We don’t have a budget
for that CSS thing!”
–Nobody, ever

82. –Joel Gascoigne, Buffer
“People are starting to really care
about companies having heart. The
mentality of maximizing growth at any
cost will in fact no longer maximize
growth. […] They want companies
that do good in the world and do right
by their team.

84. How would you like to be
treated?
What are you willing to do for it?

85. Accessibility
Inclusivity
Responsibility

86. Data
Tracking
Privacy
Web Performance

87. Security

89.
Great! But…

90.
Great! But…

91. —Mike Monteiro
“Don’t ask how you’re going to pay
your rent working ethically.
Ask why you’re open to behaving
unethically in the first place.”

92. We need to get our values right.
@foobartel

93. By thinking about the user, how to treat
and what to serve them, it’s possible to
achieve better performance, offer
improved privacy and security and
become better at our craft.
@foobartel

94. A moral compass.

95. We can start with the small things and
make the web and our experiences more
pleasant. And then go from there.

96. Design with the intent to
do good.

97. Design with the intent to
do good better.
@foobartel

98. Do better every day.
@foobartel

99. Thank you.
Find me on Twitter: @foobartel