Ethics In/Of/For Design

As design increasingly positions itself as a discipline that can help address pressing societal challenges (e.g., migration, climate crisis, the impact of AI), revitalizing the scholarly discussion on design ethics becomes inevitable. Surprisingly though, the scholarly discussion on design ethics remains rather vague, scattered, and theoretically underdeveloped (Chan, 2018). This is partially due to the broadness and complexity of the field and partially due to a lack of discourse on the normative orientations of design that originates from within the discipline (vs. through the gaze of other disciplines).

In the context of this topical issue, we frame design ethics as an invitation to care and argue against reducing it to a methodology, framework, checklist, toolkit, or an afterthought. This broad framing highlights that ‘ethics’ can carry multiple meanings in different contexts (e.g. responsible, critical, democratic) and can be approached from various theoretical perspectives (e.g. historical, cultural, speculative). Consequently, we recognize the need for a nuanced and reflexive discussion on how design and ethics are intertwined. For this, we aim to look back on design, as a discipline and profession, with critical historical awareness, while also looking forward with cautious optimism. We welcome both theoretical papers that unpack specific conceptual perspectives and practice-based explorations (e.g. in communities, organizations, policy-making).