Mike Monteiro

The world is working exactly as designed. And it's not working very well. Which means we need to do a better job of designing it.

Ruined by Design

Karolina

Yes, design is political. Because design is labor, and your labor is political. Where you choose to expend your labor is a political act. Who you choose to expend it for is a political act. Who we omit from those solutions is a political act. Finally, how we choose to leverage our collective power is the biggest political act we can take.

Good work cannot be done in situations where the work is to hurt people, deceive them, or manipulate them.

Design is not about expressing yourself. Design is not about following your dream. Design is not about becoming a creative. Design is about keeping people from doing terrible things to other people. 

The boy kings of Silicon Valley love a good algorithm-they've designed some great ones over the years. But there are problems even the best math can't solve. There are times when you physically have to walk over to a server and pull the plug. I get why they want an algorithm to do it-lack of accountability. Intentionally pulling the plug on someone who's trolling women on your service is a decision. It requires agency, leadership, and a point of view. different matter.

lf it’s impossible to eliminate the negative impact of the work, it's your job to stop it from seeing the light of day. In other words, we're not hired to just dig a ditch, but to evaluate the economic, sociological, and ecological impact of that ditch. If the ditch fails those tests, it’s our job to destroy the shovels. 

The world is working exactly as designed. The combustion engine which is destroying our planet's atmosphere and rapidly making it inhospitable is working exactly as we designed it. Guns, which lead to so much death, work exactly as they're designed to work. And every time we "improve" their design, they get better at killing. Facebook's privacy settings, which have outed gay teens to their conservative parents, are working exactly as designed. Their "real names" initiative, which makes it easier for stalkers to re-find their victims, is working exactly as designed. Twitter's toxicity and lack of civil discourse is working exactly as it's designed to work.The world is working exactly as designed. And it's not working very well. Which means we need to do a better job of designing it. Design is a craft with an amazing amount of power. The power to choose. The power to influence. As designers, we need to see ourselves as gatekeepers of what we are bringing into the world, and what we choose not to bring into the world. Design is a craft with responsibility. The responsibility to help create a better world for all. Design is also a craft with a lot of blood on its hands. Every cigarette ad is on us. Every gun is on us. Every ballot that a voter cannot understand is on us. Every time social network's interface allows a stalker to find their victim, that's on us. The monsters we unleash into the world will carry your name. This book will make you see that design is a political act. What we choose to design is a political act. Who we choose to work for is a political act. Who we choose to work with is a political act. And, most importantly, the people we've excluded from these decisions is the biggest (and stupidest) political act we've made as a society.If you're a designer, this book might make you angry. It should make you angry. But it will also give you the tools you need to make better decisions. You will learn how to evaluate the potential benefits and harm of what you're working on. You'll learn how to present your concerns. You'll learn the importance of building and working with diverse teams who can approach problems from multiple points-of-view. You'll learn how to make a case using data and good storytelling. You'll learn to say NO in a way that'll make people listen. But mostly, this book will fill you with the confidence to do the job the way you always wanted to be able to do it. This book will help you understand your responsibilities.

How Designers Destroyed the World, and What We Can Do to Fix It

Fabian

We confuse solving design problems with personal expression.

A professional designer brings to the act of making products is intention, so behave intentionally. We are the gatekeepers of crap.

The people affected by our actions are always more important than our intent.

Diversity in a team is important because they cover each others blind spots.

You can justify anything if you try hard enough. Or just want to.

You were not hired to green light someone else’s work without a second thought. You were also not hired to get someone’s approval.

You work for the people who will ultimately come in contact with your work. You work for the people who aren’t in the room. The success we crave isn’t our own, it’s the success of the people we work for. The ones on the ground. We want the work we do be successful for them. That’s the job.

When people’s main driver is financial, that means the health of the people using the product and the products effects on society are by definition secondary.

Fear of doing research is always about ego and fear, which is a horrible combination.

It’s our sole duty to make sure our work is well thought out, beneficial, and as free from error as possible once it’s in their hands. Even then, we owe them vigilance.

Tobias Möritz

Monteiro’s ethical call to designers should be a mandatory read for everyone building for the web, forcing them to carefully evaluate the consequences of their complacency.

Lewis Ngugi

We need to set standards 

In my virtual book club, the lead started us out with this book. My, it a powerful! Also another designer friend kept mentioning in his talk and I now see what the two of them meant and stand for. Love it! Can't wait for the Association 🙌

Jesper van Haaren

Although the book does strike some very valid points about design ethics, it sometimes felt repetitive and a bit like a rant. It’s also very US focused. Some very good points nonetheless.

Josh Clement

I’m surprised I bought this, considering I’d long “unsubscribed” from Mikes tweets. His message is important, and worth the quick read.

Lucas Coelho

Around 2015 I received the best piece or advice from a mentor when I was in some sort of existential crisis. She looked at me and said: “Lucas, you have a job to do. Do your fucking job!”.

This book, for me, is a longer version of that advice. 

Thanks Mike from asking designers to stand up and do our fucking jobs, and also, to helping us figure out how to do deliver great work.

Luke Jones

It was hard not to compare this to Future Ethics. Where Cennydd Bowles tries to be objective, Mike Monteiro brings a strong opinion and ways to act – I respect the heck out of this book for that.

This is a must read for every designer. If you read it and think 'oh we're not that bad', then you're the problem.

Rob Brogan

DESIGNER? 
READ THIS!

DEVELOPER?
READ THIS!

Marketing, product, business person etc in the tech industry... read this please :)

Ruined by Design

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