Mike Monteiro

There’s no quicker way to destroy someone’s confidence than teaching them that what they’re saying isn’t as important as what you’re saying.

Mike Monteiro in Ruined by Design

there’s a certain amount of creativity in design, but that’s just one part of a very meaty, robust toolkit. Teaching a designer to be creative without teaching them ethics is akin to a medical school teaching a surgeon how to open up a torso without teaching them how internal organs work. Anyone who wants a career as a designer is going to need to speak about someone’s business and organizational goals. They’re going to have to learn how to analyze data, and how to measure effectiveness. They’re going to have to learn how to build and extend brands and to do goal-driven work. Most of all, they need to learn how to measure the effectiveness of their own work. Not only for the company, but more importantly for society at large. Design is not about expressing yourself. Design is not about following your dream. Design is not about becoming a creative. Design is about keeping people from doing terrible things to other people.

Mike Monteiro in Ruined by Design

“be ready to discuss how your previous experiences can help us do x”.

Mike Monteiro in Ruined by Design

As design educators, we need to stop pulling out a syllabus that was put together while watching the Nixon impeachment hearings, and we need to stop convincing students they’re special unicorns immune to consequence.

Mike Monteiro in Ruined by Design

The biggest problem, by far, is they confuse solving design problems with personal expression.

Mike Monteiro in Ruined by Design

Try this: go to your Twitter content settings and change the country to Germany. The Nazis go away! It’s the software equivalent of D-Day. Nazis gone. The next time Twitter tells you they don’t know how to find the Nazi stuff, be assured they’re lying. They’ve already had to tag it. Why don’t they turn it off worldwide? Great question. In fact, I asked Jack Dorsey that question in person. He said it’s not illegal in the United States. It may not be illegal, but giving a voice to someone who uses it to silence others is indecent, unethical, and cruel. As designers, our job is to protect the people who come in contact with the tools we build. Sometimes the law can back us up, like with the GDPR. Sometimes the law may be lagging a little bit behind.

Mike Monteiro in Ruined by Design