designing is a political act

designing, is a political act. not designing, is one too.¹

i encounter several junior (students and) designers today, who wish to be apolitical, neutral, agnostic, ambivalent or practical.²

your work³ can not be separated from politics. if you refuse to take a stance, you're complicit. your stance may not be overt, but, you can't not have one.

politics doesn't necessarily have to be about governance and patriotism. politics is also about dark patterns⁴ in experience design. politics is about working for an oil company or Facebook⁵ or uber for "just a few years till i can save enough money, quit, and then do all the things i really want to". politics is about refusing a project on predatory lending apps; or, at least, about doing the project... like a consummate professional would... and then politely sharing your discomfort with your manager.

politics is about recognising that, indirectly, your continued use of whatsapp ("work demands it") and instagram ("i only look at it casually, in my free time") is contributing to the depression, anxiety and suicidal-thoughts your friend is experiencing. politics is about taking the extra half-hour out of your life to go buy groceries from a kirana-shop, instead of ordering it off an app.

politics is about whether your design process includes the communities most affected by your work, or whether you're designing for them without ever talking with them. politics is about calling out that colleague who keeps interrupting the only woman in your design critique.

politics is about designing subscription cancellation flows that gaslight users into staying⁶. politics is about those "free trial" patterns that auto-renew and you know most people won't remember to cancel. politics is about the logout button you bury three clicks deep.

politics is about your portfolio. what work do you showcase? what projects do you quietly leave out? what impact do you claim credit for? politics is about the side projects you take on, the pro bono work you do, the communities you actually serve versus the ones you claim to care about in your mission statement.

there's no neutral design. there's only design that serves power or design that questions it.