Ruined by Design: How Designers Destroyed the World, and What We Can Do to Fix It

by Mike Monteiro

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

in both situations, that act is coming back up on you, and it won’t be pretty.

This notion of destiny and determinism is the problem: it doesn't help people think in probability and feasibility.

Designers are not simply cogs in their machines. We’re the oil that makes it all work.

the reason companies collect the data is that when everything else fails, they can sell that data to someone else. (No, that company won’t know what to do with it, either.) People who know what to do with data also know how to steal it, so they don’t bother to buy it.

asking people for their names is not an easy question. Your name is your identity. Identity is a choice.

Things always fall through the cracks. When your entire system for enforcing violation relies on users policing themselves, you’re not doing your job responsibly.

Is it legal to stalk someone for five minutes after they’ve used your app? Actually, in some places it is, and in some places it’s not. That’s not the point. The point is that it’s wrong.

Is it wrong? It depends on what "wrong" means.

Making ethical calls on what goes on the interface is exactly what you are being paid to do. So, if you’re not doing it, you’re actually not doing your job. You’re as much of a stakeholder as anyone in that building. You have agency and as we said back in an earlier chapter, you were hired for your counsel. Give it.

Pushing a pixel is the absolute least you can accomplish as a designer.

The important work won’t get done at the pixel level. A pixel is just a point of proof in the stage of execution. It’s the period at the end of the sentence. That sentence though? That’s the important thing. To design is to influence people. To design is to build new connections in people’s minds. To design is to build relationships where there previously weren’t any.

Our profession needs to be willing to speak truth to power. We need to say no, ask why, and check receipts. We need to advocate for the people who aren’t in the room and stand up to those who are. That’s the job.

The person who convinces the boss that you need more time for research has done more to influence the design of the product than the person placing the pixels by a long shot.

I enjoy sitting in my living room reading a book more than I enjoy being out with people. I like going to the movies by myself. I avoid crowded places. Being invited to weddings and other social events fills me with anxiety.

Speaking up is part of the job.

Find the people who agree with you or who can be swayed. Find the people willing to have the discussion. Whose eyes lit up when you brought up an issue at a meeting? Who was paying more attention than usual to what you had to say? Who asked follow-up questions? Reach out to them. Use those people skills.

Turns out there were never actually any good guys, just people who were on the better side of history for a slight bit.)

you aren’t just a pair of hands. You’re hired to give as much counsel as labor. The minute your counsel is no longer being heeded, your labor needs to stop as well. Otherwise, you’re doing half the job.

When your labor is being used to unethical ends, you must put down your tools. When your labor is being used to spread inequality, you must put down your tools. When your tools are being used to take away people’s humanity, you must put down your tools.