tw suicide - a design caused this: "This is an interface issue, they have slick interfaces. Confetti popping everywhere,” says Brewster referring to the [colorful] confetti @RobinhoodApp [shows] after customers make trades. “They try to gamify trading." bit.ly/2AMpiOJ
every single design decision matters. every time someone higher up shuts someone down for bringing up a concern, you could end up causing serious harm. maybe causing someone to take their own life. you might think it's okay to cut corners cause it's a "small project" - don't.
i can't even tag this as a "#darkpattern" because it wasn't intended to be one. i don't think the team had any bad intentions in displaying the amount. they probably thought it was a good thing to be super transparent? but they didn't think through how someone might interpret it.
it troubles me to think that someone might have said something at some point in the project launch and it got brushed off as an "edge case". we need to /stop/ this kind of talk. senior designers, managers, VPs please use your voice and seniority when others aren't being heard.
this feels like a weird statistic to pull into this but it is relevant: "more than 2,500 left-handed people are killed each year due to using right-handed products." i'm reminded i'm an edge case every time i use scissors, notebooks, desks, mugs (yes), gas pedals. all designed.
if you can block out 30 minutes, an hour, or an entire half day to do "future thinking brainstorming workshops" with your team, you can all make time to think about unintended consequences too. be the one to advocate for this on your team.
kind of repeating myself here but maybe some of you will relate. i don't like being a designer in tech. i don't like the kind of work we're asked to do a lot of the time. i want and sometimes actively try to run away from all this because it feels disappointing. (continued)
it's not just that it's disappointing. i want to leave because i feel guilty. but this death made me realize that maybe running away from design isn't the right thing to do. if the people who care about ethics leave - if we're not there in the room to speak up - who will? 😔
i know a lot of us in tech feel guilty because we feel like we're not doing anything "impactful" but let this article be a reminder that everything we work on does matter. even if you're asked to "update an icon", treat it as a big deal.
ok im going to go and take a walk : /
