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

by Mike Monteiro

If defending the world from monsters doesn’t get you just a little bit excited, this might not be the right book for you.

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

Never do work you’re ashamed of putting your name on.

The world isn’t usually changed by special people. It’s changed by ordinary people who take it upon themselves to take a stand because they’re trying to lead ordinary lives and something stupid gets in their way.

A designer uses their expertise in the service of others 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.

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!

you simply cannot correct a problem that management doesn’t see as a problem.

It is difficult to get a man to understand something when his salary depends upon his not understanding it.

“You may be hiring us and that may be your name on the check, but we do not work for you. We’re coming in to solve a problem, because we believe it needs to be solved and it’s worth solving. But we work for the people being affected by that problem. Our job is to look out for them because they’re not in the room. And we will under no circumstances design anything that puts those people at risk.”

making things at the expense of someone else’s freedom is fucked.

The more allies we gather, the braver we feel.

Beware of trading in your ethics for petty perks.

Companies where employees aren’t taking a stand, companies where employees aren’t awake to the complicity of their labor, companies where employees aren’t willing to put the tools down and take an ethical stand, will eventually die. They’re creating a workforce no one wants to join, and building toxic products no one wants to use.

If we choose to work collectively, we have a ton of power. If we continue to behave like servants, we’re not just letting ourselves down, we’re letting down everyone whose lives we swore to improve.