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Are your digital solutions accessible? Is your product fair to your users? Before launching your work, validating it against ethical standards enables you to assess the impact it will have on your users. The methods presented address different ethical aspects to supply you with a wide range of information. Providing users with products that meet ethical considerations ensures that they are beneficial to all.
Motivation Matrix
Motivation Matrix
Actions are driven by six core motivations: incentive (rewards), achievement (competence), social acceptance (belonging), fear (avoidance), power (control), and growth (self-improvement). By mapping these motivations against user contexts, one can predict user interactions with a product, facilitating a deeper understanding of user behavior.
Method: The method involves constructing a Motivation Matrix that maps out different user motivations against potential actions. By categorizing motivations such as incentive, achievement, social acceptance, fear, power, and growth, and relating them to various user personas in different contexts, product teams can predict how users might interact with a product. The matrix is filled in using insights about user motivations (represented with one color of sticky notes) and potential user actions (with another color), which are derived from simplified empathy maps of users.
Time Effort: 1h
When: This exercise is recommended to be done after empathy mapping and during the user experience design phase of product development. It allows for a deeper understanding of the user and should be revisited as more is learned about the user's interactions with the product.
Topic: While the Motivation Matrix itself is not specific to any topic, it can be applied to understand how different users might be influenced by various factors, including issues of inclusion, susceptibility to dark patterns, and gender dynamics. It allows teams to anticipate and design for diverse user needs and motivations.
Outcome: The outcome of this method is a nuanced understanding of user behavior that informs product design. Teams can evaluate the potential actions users might take based on their motivations and context, and develop strategies to encourage positive actions or mitigate negative ones. This results in actionable insights and suggestions for product changes or enhancements.
Suitable for: The Motivation Matrix is suitable for any product or service that involves user interaction and where understanding user behavior is critical to design. This includes digital applications, platforms, and services across various industries such as technology, finance, health, education, and more.
Who: The matrix is a tool for designers, product managers, and user experience researchers to better understand their users and predict how they might interact with the product. It is also beneficial for stakeholders involved in strategic decision-making. Ultimately, the insights gained from the matrix are used to enhance the user's experience with the product.
😍 Highlights:
Maps user motivations to predict interactions, enhancing product design.
Facilitates tailored strategies for diverse user needs.
🤔 Challenges:
Requires deep user insights and continuous updating.
Balancing diverse motivations in design decisions.
Tarot
Tarot
The Tarot Cards of Tech by Artefact are designed to encourage reflection on the broader and long-term impacts of technology and product design, aiming to guide creators in developing products that are not only engaging but also contribute positively to society and the future.
Method: The physical or digital "Tarot Cards of Tech" deck and potentially additional note-taking or recording materials to capture insights and decisions.
Time Effort: The time needed to use the cards can vary. It depends on the depth of the conversation and the number of issues addressed.
When: These cards can be utilized at multiple stages of product development, especially during ideation, development, and evaluation phases, to ensure thoughtful consideration of the broader impact of technology.
Topic: The tool tackles broad themes such as inclusion, avoiding dark patterns (deceptive design choices), gender considerations, and the potential for technology to either alienate or empower users.
Outcome: The outcome is a more thoughtful evaluation of the potential impacts of technology. Users of the tool can expect to gain insights that lead to practical suggestions for change, making products more inclusive and ethically sound.
Suitable for: The cards are suitable for a wide range of products and services, particularly those involving digital interfaces, user engagement, and data management.
Who: The tool is intended for designers, product managers, and development teams. It can also be used in educational settings to teach principles of ethical design, and by end-users or advocacy groups interested in the ethical implications of technology.
😍 Highlights:
Promotes ethical reflection on technology’s broader impacts.
Guides towards more socially responsible product development.
🤔 Challenges:
Requires commitment to deep, reflective discussions.
Balancing innovation with ethical considerations.
Maslow Mirrored
Maslow Mirrored
Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs, a foundational framework in psychology, outlines human needs in five categories, emphasizing the importance of basic needs at the pyramid's base. Later, Maslow introduced a sixth level, transcendence, suggesting humans also seek to assist others in achieving self-actualization and pursue purposes beyond themselves. This framework can be applied to analyze how products or features impact users, recognizing that features often have nuanced effects that can be both positive and negative, despite product teams' intentions for ethical and beneficial design.
Method :
Dual Analysis Approach: The method involves systematically analyzing how a product or feature aligns with each level of Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs, considering both the positive impacts (mirroring the right side of the model) and potential negative impacts (mirroring the left side).
Brainstorming and Discussion: Team members collaborate to identify and discuss both the beneficial aspects and potential drawbacks of their product or feature, relating to physiological needs, safety, love/belonging, esteem, self-actualization, and transcendence.
Documenting Insights: The findings are documented in a mirrored Maslow pyramid, with positive impacts on one side and negative impacts on the other, facilitating a balanced view of the product's effects on users.
Time Effort: 30 min
When:
Design Phase: Ideally, this analysis is conducted early in the design phase to anticipate and mitigate negative impacts before they manifest.
Post-Launch: It's also beneficial post-launch or during updates to reassess the product's impact and address any unintended consequences that have emerged.
Topic:
Comprehensive Impact Assessment: The focus is on evaluating how digital products and features comprehensively affect users' psychological, social, and physiological well-being.
Ethical Considerations: The tool prompts considerations of ethical design, encouraging the development of features that support well-being and caution against those that may exploit or harm users.
Outcome:
Balanced Product Evaluation: Users of this approach gain a nuanced understanding of their product's impact, highlighting areas where it supports human needs and identifying where it may detract from them.
Guidance for Improvement: The analysis provides actionable insights and recommendations for enhancing the product's positive effects and mitigating negative outcomes, leading to more ethically sound and user-centric design choices.
Suitable for: This method is particularly suitable for social media platforms, communication tools, e-commerce sites, and any digital service that interacts deeply with users' daily lives and psychological states.
Who:
Product Designers and Developers: It equips these professionals with a framework for ethical and user-centric design, encouraging them to consider the full spectrum of their product's impact.
Product Managers and Stakeholders: It aids in strategic decision-making, ensuring product features align with broader ethical standards and user well-being.
Users and Society: Ultimately, the broader society benefits from digital products that are designed with a deep understanding of their comprehensive impact on human needs.
😍 Highlights:
Facilitates a comprehensive evaluation of products against Maslow’s hierarchy, ensuring ethical and user-centric design.
Encourages the development of features that support well-being across all levels of human needs.
🤔 Challenges:
Requires thorough, interdisciplinary understanding to accurately assess impacts across Maslow’s levels.
Balancing product goals with the diverse needs and potential negative impacts on users.
The Inclusive Panda
The Inclusive Panda
The Inclusive Panda model is a simple but powerful tool that can help individuals and organizations design and develop more inclusive and ethical solutions.
Method: The Inclusive Panda model uses a visual metaphor of a panda's head to represent different groups of people who may interact with a product or service. It divides them into five circles:
Head: Represents everyone who uses the solution (participants).
Snout: Represents the target group the solution is designed for (included).
Left ear: Represents people who are excluded from the solution despite potential benefit (e.g., people with accessibility needs).
Right ear: Represents people who are intentionally excluded due to potential harm to themselves or others.
Nose: Represents people who participate but experience negative outcomes, either intentionally or unintentionally.
Time Effort: 15 min
When: The Inclusive Panda model can be used throughout the design process, but is particularly helpful during:
Ideation: To consider the potential impact of a solution on different groups of people.
User research: To identify potential risks of exclusion and unintended consequences.
Evaluation: To assess the inclusivity and effectiveness of a solution.
Topic: The Inclusive Panda model primarily focuses on inclusion in design, but it can also be applied to other areas such as:
Accessibility: Identifying and addressing barriers for people with disabilities.
Ethics: Considering the potential negative impacts of a solution on individuals or society.
Gender bias: Ensuring a solution is fair and equitable for all genders.
Outcome: By using the Inclusive Panda model, users can:
Evaluate the inclusivity of their solution: Identify potential gaps and areas for improvement.
Generate ideas for making their solution more inclusive: Consider different perspectives and needs.
Develop strategies for mitigating risks: Address potential harm to excluded or unwanted participants.
Suitable for: The Inclusive Panda model can be used for any type of product or service, including:
Websites and mobile apps
Physical products
Services and systems
Policy and decision-making
Who: The Inclusive Panda model is valuable for:
Designers: To create more inclusive and ethical solutions.
Product managers: To ensure their products meet the needs of diverse users.
Researchers: To identify and address potential biases in their research.
Policymakers: To develop more inclusive policies and regulations.
😍 Highlights:
Encourages comprehensive inclusivity and ethical consideration in design through a simple, visual metaphor.
Identifies and addresses potential exclusions and negative outcomes across diverse user groups.
🤔 Challenges:
Requires careful analysis and empathy to accurately identify and mitigate risks for all represented groups.
Balancing inclusivity with practical design and development constraints.
Workshop Plan: Persona and Customer Journey
Workshop Plan: Persona and Customer Journey
The purpose of this workshop is to create a journey map for a product based on personas with varying abilities. The workshop plans are part of the Playbook for Universal Design developed by DTU Skylab.
Methods: The workshop is split into different tasks. For each method, a step-by-step explanation as well as templates are available. Tips are also listed to help include participants with varying abilities in the activity.
Assumption dumption: Get all the assumptions one might have about a problem or theme to create a shared understanding.
Desk research: Define objectives and create a research plan with all the resources needed.
User Interview: Gain knowledge and empiric data about a topic or situation seen from a user's perspective.
Show me how: Do a walkthrough of your product/service with a user.
Personas: Build personas based on the targeted user group and consider the abilities of your personas.
Journey map: Map out a persona’s journey by narrowing it down to single steps.
Time effort: 5 hours
Material: The workshop plan can be downloaded here.
When: During the design process or for an already developed product with a specific problem
Topic: Inclusion
Outcome: Journey Map and Personas
Suitable for: All types of digital products
Who: Design teams including people of different abilities.
😍 Highlights:
Very helpful to prepare an inclusive workshop, wide range of methods, well-organized website
🤔 Challenges:
The tips proposed to help include participants with disabilities are at times superficial and trivial
Ability Cards (Universal design)
Ability Cards (Universal design)
The ability cards can be used as a stress test for a solution by finding pain points from the perspective of 16 disabilities. The can be a great way to include Universal Design in your design process. The ability cards are part of the Playbook for Universal Design developed by DTU Skylab and can serve as the basis of your next workshop.
Methods: “Who are you currently excluding? What are the mismatches (pain points) between your solution and the extreme disabilities outlined on these cards? Designing for people with permanent disabilities or extreme scenarios can seem like a significant constraint, but can in fact result in solutions that can benefit a much larger number of people.“ Each Ability Prompt Card (e.g. unable to see, to hear or to focus) includes a permanent (e.g. blind), temporary (e.g. Cataract) and situational form (e.g. being in the dark) of disability to consider.
Time effort: Single cards short, all cards ~2 hours maybe and depending on the size of the product
Material: The ability cards can be downloaded here.
When: During design or assessment of existing product
Topic: Inclusiveness
Outcome: Foster empathy & challenge how your solution could scale to a broader group of users
Suitable for: Any digital product
Who: Designers
😍 Highlights:
16 different cards to make sure you do not forget about people who are less able to focus or emote, which can easily be forgotten.
🤔 Challenges:
Not very useful by itself, better in combination with other tools
🛠️ Tool Materials
Principle Cards (Universal design)
Principle Cards (Universal design)
The principles can be used to evaluate and reflect upon existing solutions. Furthermore to accommodate a universal design process not excluding anyone. They are part of the Playbook for Universal Design developed by DTU Skylab and can serve as the basis of your next workshop.
Methods: “The overall purpose of the Principle Prompt Cards is to challenge your ideas. The principles can be used to evaluate and reflect upon existing solution and early stage concepts for further iterations in order to accommodate a universal design process not excluding anyone.” The principles: Equitable use, Flexibility in use, Simple and Intuitive Use, Perceptible Information, Tolerance for Error, Low Physical Effort, Size and space for approach and Use. Each principle’s card includes helpful questions, considerations and an example.
Time effort: all cards ~1 hour
When: challenging a design (during development or already existing)
Topic: Inclusiveness
Outcome: Comparison of current design with Universal Design principles to identify areas of improvement.
Who: Designers
😍 Highlights
Short cards with helpful examples
🤔 Challenges
A moderator should learn about Universal Design beforehand and support the exercise
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