The Ethical Design Handbook (eBook)

About The Book

Many business models thrive on ingeniously deceptive and manipulative digital products. Not because they have to; mostly because dark patterns have become such an accepted norm. But what happens when ad-blockers, cross-browser tracking protection and data regulation (e.g. GDPR & CCPA) become a norm, too? That's when an honest, ethical design could be a competitive advantage.

To grow a sustainable business, we need to learn how to leave dark patterns behind. We also need to figure out how to make honest digital products financially viable. Products that enable and respect customer choices and are built and designed with ethics in mind.

It's not just the poor state of the web that brings us here though. It's the lack of alternatives that companies can rely on. Ethical Design Handbook explores alternative, sustainable business models and shows how businesses can move towards ethical design and become more profitable as a result. It’s a very practical and tactical guide for designers, developers and management, with case studies and techniques applicable to every digital product.

Towards Ethical Design

Recently we’ve started seeing a shift in user perception. People are increasingly fighting back against tracking, manipulation, overwhelming advertising and ambiguous interfaces. There is a growing expectation of transparency and respect. Failure to meet these expectations is regulated by law, in the form of GDPR and CCPA, as well as the press and the people taking it to social media.

Now is a good time to shift to ethical design to get things right. But first we need to understand what ethical design actually means, then make the case for ethical design principles, and then introduce an ethical transformation roadmap. By adopting and embracing a new set of design principles, we can grow a sustainable digital business.

These tasks aren’t easy, and you might need some help to get there. The Ethical Design Handbook helps you get through all of it. It’s a practical guide on ethical decisions with guidelines on how to help companies leave dark patterns behind and boost business KPIs along the way.

About The Authors

Trine Falbe is a human-centered UX strategist, designer and teacher who works in the intersection between people and business. Trine is deeply passionate about ethical design and designing for children, and she is also a keynote speaker at conferences and a UX advisor in strategic projects.

As a serial entrepreneur since the very first browser, Martin Michael Frederiksen was born with a practical appreciation for the crossroads between business and digital development. He has published the books Cross Channel and the CEO’s Guide to IT Projects That Cannot Fail. He works as an independent consultant for businesses that need a devil’s advocate when trying out new strategies and ideas.

After training at an international advertising agency, Kim Andersen quickly left print media for digital design. Owing to his amazing memory he always leaves design meetings with an empty notebook, only to attend the following meeting armed with drawings where nothing has been forgotten and everything is drawn in great detail. He owns the digital design studio Onkel Kim, where he loves working on difficult and complex design tasks where the brain is working overtime.