Ethics and Values in Design: A Structured Review and Theoretical Critique

A variety of approaches have appeared in academic literature and in design practice representing ethics-first methods. These approaches typically focus on clarifying the normative dimensions of design, or outlining strategies for explicitly incorporating values into design. While this body of literature has developed considerably over the last 20 years, two themes central to the endeavour of ethics and values in design (E + VID) have yet to be systematically discussed in relation to each other: (a) designer agency, and (b) the strength of normative claims informing the design process. To address this gap, we undertook a structured review of leading E + VID approaches and critiques, and classified them according to their positions on normative strength, and views regarding designer agency. We identified 18 distinct approaches and 13 critiques that met the inclusion criteria for our review. Included papers were distributed across the spectrum of views regarding normative strength, and we found that no approaches and only one critique represented a view characteristic of low designer agency. We suggest that the absence of low designer agency approaches results in the neglect of crucial influences on design as targets of intervention by designers. We conclude with suggestions for future research that might illuminate strategies to achieve ethical design in information mature societies, and argue that without attending to the tensions raised by balancing normatively strong visions of the future with limitations imposed on designer agency in corporate-driven design settings, meaningful ethical design will continue to encounter challenges in practice.

Automated summary

The academic literature and design practices have explored various ethics-first methods in recent years, focusing on designer agency and the strength of normative claims informing the design process. The absence of low designer agency approaches was noted, which could impact the effectiveness of ethical design practices in corporate-driven settings.