Evil by Design

I’ll talk about the ethos of “makers”—how making things and simply being creative for the sake of creativity can be a bad thing, if we’re not willing to be responsible for our legacy and pretend that “design isn’t political.” I’ll show many case studies of companies and products that are making our lives and our society worse—sometimes unintentionally. I’ll talk about dark patterns and how they could cost millions of dollars—and, sometimes, human lives. And I’ll share three areas of transformation where we as an industry can get better:

• Good design: prevent dark patterns and ensure accessibility and inclusion
• Good process: ask future-proofing questions to detect ethical risk zones
• Good company: share beliefs and values that empower our partners and us to care about people, together.