How to Be an Ethical Designer: What I Learned From Interviewing Ethical Designers
Background
I joined the All Tech Is Human Mentorship Program to deepen my own understanding of the Ethical Design field and my place in the field. As part of the program, my mentor and I created a 10-week project with the goal of prototyping some kind of Ethical Design solution. To accomplish this, we first decided that I needed to talk to 10-15 Ethical Designers, at all levels of their careers, to understand their unique perspectives, motivations, and challenges in their practice.
I noticed early into these interviews that participants (designers who identified as Ethical Designers for the purpose of this research, but have different actual job titles) mentioned that they were the only Ethical Designer on their teams, and that although their work didn’t require Ethical Design, these participants would always take it upon themselves to design ethically, even if it required more of their own time. This led to feelings of isolation and stalled progress.
I discussed this with my mentor, and he raised the question whether Ethical Designers are in the wrong roles or at the wrong companies. To find the answer, he suggested that the next step should be to review 100+ design job descriptions to determine which design roles mention anything about ethics, inclusion, accessibility, equity, and other related terms.
Methodology
I reviewed 100+ Design job descriptions on LinkedIn in the U.S. and Europe. I used the job title “User Experience Designer” as a control to see the typical responsibilities and qualifications compared to an “Ethical Designer” (or Inclusive, Accessibility, Equity - Designer) at major technology companies and startups.
Results
1. "Ethical Designer" isn't a popular job title for this work. Other titles I've included in my search: Inclusive Designer, Accessibility Designer, Equity Designer, Environmental Designer, and Sustainability Designer. These weren’t the only job titles that appeared in the search results, however. For example, job titles without the term “Designer,” like “Inclusive Innovation Lead” and “Content Specialist for Ethical & Inclusive Products” frequently appeared. From this, I determined that Ethical Design is not yet a cohesive field with standardized job titles and/or functions.
2. Nearly all descriptions at all companies listed some kind of inclusive employer disclaimer, but made no direct mention of ethical or inclusive design methodology in the job descriptions themselves. From this, I determined that although organizations meet the legal obligations for being an inclusive employer, they are not an Inclusive Design employer. I found only four ethics-focused design organizations that accomplished both.
3. Most design job descriptions listed knowledge and application of "human-centered design" or "user-centered design" as a requirement, but they did not list inclusion as a part of their values, nor did they mention or require specific ethical or inclusive practices. Few mentioned accessibility as optional, fewer as mandatory. From this, I determined that terms like “human/user-centered design” have become commonplace for the field, but few organizations demonstrate the value for the humanity aspect of design in their recruitment efforts, even if they brand themselves as inclusive, innovative organizations. As part of my project, this helped to validate my initial finding that most Ethical Designers are not required to design ethically, but instead, ethical design is seen as an “extracurricular activity.”
4. It seems Big Tech companies are rapidly creating offices, departments, and mostly senior level positions for this work, but ethical design practices are not mentioned in entry to mid-level job descriptions at those same organizations. Basically, only seniors to directors are expected to know the process. Further, the majority of ethical design job descriptions have more specific titles and functions that are unique to the respective organization, like “Responsible Innovation Strategist” at Facebook, “Program Manager, Hate Speech” at TikTok, and “Senior Equity Design Strategist” at Capital One.
These particular organizations mention their similar vision for a “more equitable future for all” and it seems they expect these lone senior positions to be experts in accessibility, diversity and inclusion, institutional racism, systemic racism, marginalized groups, inequity, policy, technology in society, social justice, social responsibility, participatory design, data ethics, innovation, AI/ML, and more. From this, I determined that Big Tech organizations are responding to societal and industry pressure to be more transparent and inclusive, but it seems that these companies are seeking major hand-holding to navigate these issues, and they require these senior roles to singularly teach everyone at the company everything about racism and social justice across the board. Whether the company implements those lessons is for another post.
Breakdown of Job Titles
~ 10% Director
~10% Manager Level
~5% Lead/Principal
~20% Senior Level
~10% Fellowships
~ 2% Designers
~ 43% Other (Officer, Strategist, Researcher, Specialist, Analyst, etc.)
5. Organizations that are more ethics, equity, and justice-focused mention accessibility, equity, inclusive design more often and use more specific terminology to the practice. I found many startups and different kinds of institutes committed to ethics and inclusion work whose job descriptions were far more specific in their requirements and conveyed more passion throughout the role description and how it supports the mission of the organization. From this, I determined that these organizations are ahead of the curve with their design team’s processes and overall approach, and they will likely attract the best Ethical Design talent because they share a more common and passionate language compared to the typical UX Designer job description.
Conclusion
So, maybe, the designers I interviewed feel isolated and stalled because they are in the wrong roles or work at the wrong organizations, but luckily, there are organizations that are increasingly looking for Ethical Design talent as they realize the value and impact of this work. The All Tech Is Human job board is a great place to start if you’re looking for a curated list of roles and organizations committed to responsible design. Aside from the roles and organizations aspect, I’m still researching the Ethical Design field. I will share the next findings soon.
