Why designers need to talk about ethics

It’s time for designers to start thinking about the long term implications of their creative decisions if they want to make the world a better place, Doberman CEO Lisa Lindström tells CR

This week, Swedish and US design agency Doberman premiered a new film exploring the future of design. Frontiers features interviews with some of the world’s most influential creatives – from Ikea’s Head of Design Marcus Engman to Google AI’s Principal Designer Matt Jones – who reflect on some of the biggest challenges facing their profession.

Frontiers was created to mark Doberman’s 20th anniversary. CEO Lisa Lindström says the agency wanted to reflect on how far design has come in the past two decades and explore what’s next for the industry.

What the agency ended up with is a film filled with people coming to terms with a new-found responsibility. As technology advances, designers are playing a bigger role in our lives than ever before. The devices and apps they create have the potential to change and shape our behaviour – from the way we communicate with others to the way we carry out daily tasks. Facebook and Twitter have transformed the way we interact while Netflix pioneered the idea of binge-watching and box-set marathons.