Vincent Hofmann on Design Ethics

About Us

Free Association is a design agency focused on digital products and brand systems. We’ve built longstanding partnerships with companies like Google, Facebook, Toyota, eBay, PayPal, Waze and a range of new ventures. We pursue meaningful work and surround ourselves with talented, inspiring people.

Syllabus

1. Great Works of the 21st Century

Making the case that designers have a responsibility to be change-makers.

Cited works by: Thomas Berry

2. Zooming In and Out

Rooting our day to day design work in a greater societal context.

Cited works by: Ray Eames, Victor Papanek, Mike Monteiro, and John Calco

3. Design Coming of Age

Changing the expectation of what designers should be good at.

Cited works by: Anne Marie Willis, Batya Friedman, Peter-Paul Verbeek, Cennydd Bowles, Jared Spool, and Don Norman

4. Ethical Patterns and Evaluation

Tactical strategies for making ethical design decisions.

Cited works by: Baumer-Silberman, Donella Meadows, Data & Society, Koos Design, Ethical Design Thinking, Joe Edelman, Disrupt Design, RSA Blueprint for GoodWork, Markkula Center for Applied Ethics, Dave Snowden, Sonja Blignaut, Society Centered Design

5. Enduring Ethics

Final thoughts on putting theory into practice.

Cited works by: Donella Meadows, Emanuel Moss, and Jacob Metcalf

About Vincent

Vincent Hofmann is an employee experience and technology designer. He works to make work, work, for everyone. Vincent is the co-founder of Inquisition, SiGNL and The GoodWork Society and a fellow at The Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce.

Let’s work together.