![Ruined by Design: How Designers Destroyed the World, and What We Can Do to Fix It by [Monteiro, Mike]](https://images-fe.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/41P0vehqsRL._SY346_.jpg)
With the arrogance and lack of wordly perspective only a designer could muster (and one whose expertise is making computer interfaces at that) the author makes a polemic argument that somehow designers are responsible for the impact of all that they design in the world. He has some valid points when it comes to the closed worlds of Facebook and Twitter, but loses all grasp with reality when extending the argument farther afield from what he knows. As if the designer of the internal combustion engine in your car is somehow responsible for the policy failures of our government to curb global warming, or even has the levers to rationally address global warming. I'm sympathetic to the idea we need more ethics in corporate work, but this book is the simplistic ideology of a person who hasn't thought very deeply about the problem but simply sees his chosen profession as the hammer to fix all too many problems in the world. At least we can be thankful he didn't go into law.
Should we blame the designers of cars because making cars effective at their job also makes them easy to abuse without governments providing for proper urban planning and public transportation? Should we really blame Twitter for the abuses on its platform any more than we should blame the designers of other open forms of communications? Should we blame the original designer of the book for the hateful books that are written? Should we blame Alexander Bell for not doing more to preclude abusive phone calls?
What the author fails to understand is that design cannot fix culture, and he's got the tail and the dog reversed. Designers cannot save us, and only a designer would have the arrogance to see such responsibility.
The premise of taking responsibility for moral choices in corporate work is appealing--for anybody in any role--but the execution here is deeply disappointing. If you have any illusions as to the maturity of thought you'll encounter inside these pages, I encourage you to use Amazon's "read this" feature to read the introduction to the book. You'll see that you're in for a provincial and naively leftist view of the world from somebody who flatters themselves and their chosen profession with nearly infinitely more impact than they actually have.
Product Description
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.
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.
