Design ethics – designers have a responsibility
Last night I went for a run. It’s wintertime here in the Netherlands, so the sun sets a lot earlier these days. I wanted to run in the forest near my house because I prefer the soft ground over the hard pavement. I had to hurry to catch the remaining daylight.
I had a specific workout given to me by my running coach. 8 minutes this, 2 minutes that, 6 minutes this, 4 minutes that, and so on.
I always use my phone to set up my workout and send ot to my Garmin watch before a run. Same routine last night. I checked my schedule, copied the workout into my Garmin app, and tried sending it to my watch.
Didn’t work.
Ugh.
“Ooh well, I’ll drive to the forest. It will probably sync by the time I get there.” I thought.
Nope. It didn’t.
I spent 15 minutes in my car trying to get the f***** workout on my watch.
I ended up running in a dark forest with no light.
Fuck you. 2024 technology.
This got me thinking.
The entire world is obsessed with AI. This technology is here to stay, and what it’s capable of is incredible.
But for me, it feels like it’s coming too soon.
I’ve worked as a designer and art director for almost 10 years. Including my education, that’s 14 years of following the design and branding industry.
14 years ago books were written about the “experience economy.” Brands were supposed to step up their game and provide amazing experience or they’ll fail.They said.
Products had to be functional, reliable, and usable to provide a great experience. They said.
Brands would fail if they didn’t meet all these requirements and made meaningful products. They said.
Micro-animations in UX and UI design were the future. Websites that had none, would not be desirable and meaningful, and thus fail. They said.
But when I go on a run, my workout sometimes appears on my watch, but not always! I don’t consider this usable when there is no feedback on why things don’t work.
When we go to bed and ask Google to shut down all the lights. 1 out of 10 times it tells me ‘no lamps found’. Well, screw you Google, I can see 4 lights being on! There are lights! Don’t tell me there are no light!
99 out of 100 websites are still flat, lack micro-animations and any kind of pleasure and desirability.
So it doesn’t feel like we’ve fully matured in the field of web and digital design.
But for some reason, the majority decided to skip a few steps and dive into the world of AI, NFT’,s and Web3.
This train of thought increased my sense of responsibility as a designer and art director. I couldn’t and didn’t want to create another design that was not a pleasure to use. I want to make something that surprises. Something that wows. Something that might make you smile, laugh, or feel something.
Let’s not just jump to the age of AI and put all our effort there. Let’s make regular websites and apps a pleasure to use while we’re still using them.
I realize we might be moving toward an age where UIs are out of the picture and everything is done through voice and speech. But we’re not there yet. So, let’s make the most of the years we have left. Let’s put some love in UI.
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