Below is a video and summary of a recent talk by Mike Monteiro. A transcript is available. N.B. NSFW language.
The world is bad because we made it this way. “The world is designed to work this way.”
When people talk about changing the world, ask: “How? For who?”
For all the excitement about Uber and AirBnB, the service economy is nothing new. “There’s nothing disruptive about rich people getting richer.”
How to change the world
- Get ignorant.
- Look like the world.
- Design the right thing
Realise that the world as designed works in our favour. What if that wasn’t the case?
The Veil of Ignorance is “The single most important political and ethical concept in a designer’s toolbox.”
“Our diversity is our strength, and we’re idiots for not leveraging it.”
If people have narrow life experience, you just get “white boys solving problems for white boys”.
“They’ve never been harrassed, so it doesn’t even occur to them that that’s a problem you have to solve for.”
Similarly with cabs refusing to stop, or being assaulted,
“Empathy is not enough – we need inclusion.”
The point isn’t that any particular experience or classification makes you a better designer. People are just better informed about themselves than they are about others.
Our teams need to reflect the diversity of who we design for. It’s not just about race or gender, but experiences, needs, thinking, solutions.
The AK47 is easy to use, easy to manufacture. But design is about more than this.
“Nothing who’s primary purpose is to kill can be said to be designed well.”
“Attempting to separate an object from its function, in order to appreciate it for purely aesthetic reasons, or to be impressed by its minimal elegance is a coward’s way of justifying the death they have brought into the world and the money with which they’re lining their pockets.”
“Design is a trade done for money, but we have a choice about how we make that money.”
“Your role as a designer is to leave the world in a better state than you found it.”
“You are responsible for what you make.”
There are big design problems for us to solve
- Global warming
- The migrant crisis
- Guns in the US
We’re lucky people – so we’re responsible for helping others who weren’t as lucky.
Change how we design and who designs.
Use your time on this world in the interest of making others free.