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

by Mike Monteiro

“You are responsible for what you put into the world. And you are responsible for the effects those things have upon the world.”

Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.

We need to fear the consequences of our work more than we love the cleverness of our ideas.

without being a servant. Saying no is a design skill. Asking why is a design skill. Rolling your eyes and staying quiet is not. Asking ourselves why we are making something is an infinitely better question than asking ourselves whether we can make it.

Design is the intentional solution to a problem within a set of constraints.

What about empathy? Empathy is a pretty word for exclusion. I’ve seen all-male all-white teams taking “empathy workshops” to see how women think. If you want to know how women would use something you’re designing, get a woman on your design team. They’re not extinct. We don’t need to study them. We can hire them!

The world isn’t broken. It’s working exactly as it was designed to work. And we’re the ones who designed it. Which means we fucked up.

Large ships turn slowly.

“I like it” isn’t good feedback. It’s shitty feedback. It contains exactly zero information. “This right here is broken” is good feedback. It tells you there is a problem. You can explore that further.

I won’t hire a designer who doesn’t ask why, and I won’t hire a designer whose desire to arrange boxes is more important than their desire to protect users’ data.

They think they hired a pixel pusher. Don’t fall into the trap of behaving like one. Only you know what it takes for you to do your job correctly. They hired you to do a job, you have to tell them what you need in order to do it well. If part of that is being part of these conversations—and it is—then you need to make the case for being in those meetings.

In my presentation workshop, I have participants get up to do five-minute presentations. I’ve started assigning one of the participants to get up at the one-minute mark, and walk out the door. After the presentation is over, they come back in, and tell us what they heard. It’s usually nothing of value.

We’re not creatives, we’re designers. We may think and do our work in creative ways, but we’re not special in that regard. Everyone else in the office who’s worth their salt works in creative ways. Make them call you by your name. That name is designer.

“if you want positive search results, do positive things.”