I spend hours getting the stuff that really matters right. Making sure everything works for keyboard users. Keeping page weight down so everything’s speedy. Locking down privacy settings so personal data doesn’t spill all over the place. Trying to ensure content is actually… well, readable. It all takes time, thought, and more often than not, compromise.
Most developers do this, even though it inflates a project hugely. But then when we’re done, we’re actively encouraged to bury the evidence like a shameful secret.
Accessibility controls should be tucked away in some half-visible corner, because they can’t get in the way of the design. Security? Reduced to a padlock or a logo that no one notices. Green credentials can have a link, or if you’re lucky, a sentence, in the footer.
Strange, isn’t it? The parts of our work that arguably matter most - the ones rooted in care, responsibility, ethics - end up hidden like admin. Something we have to do, but wouldn’t want to draw attention to. We just sort of whisper it. As if being respectful to people - their time, their choices, their needs - is something to keep quiet about.
Somehow over the last 30 years we’ve built up this odd digital culture where the most meaningful things are the least visible. They’re no longer things to proudly shout about, but instead an admin checklist afterthought.
Accessibility controls (when developers are given the time to put them in place) are often buried in settings menus. And yet they’re not for the minority, they could help anybody. Sustainability might get a token mention in a blog post, even though energy efficiency is potentially the biggest global issue the world is facing at the moment. Security doesn’t get a mention at all unless something breaks. If everything’s working, it disappears into the background like some kind of masked superhero.
We’ve been conditioned to treat these things as chores. Necessary, yes - but not worthy of attention. They’re seen as not exciting. Not beautiful. Just ticks in a box.
And yet they protect, include and respect us. They’re the result of deliberate, thoughtful choices - usually made quietly, without much thanks, by people seen as blockers. People often the butt of jokes or the receivers of eye rolls.
It’s not just odd to me, I actually find it quite offensive. We celebrate flashy transitions and clever branding tweaks, but barely mention the work that keeps users safe, included and informed. The stuff that actually matters is getting left out of the case studies. Too dull, obviously.
But it’s not dull. It’s just not going to win you a design award.
And maybe that’s the problem.
There’s a quiet beauty in ethical UX that rarely gets acknowledged. The kind that earns trust through clarity. Interfaces that don’t manipulate, buttons that do what they say, text you can actually read instead of being swamped by adverts. It’s almost impossible to find forms that don’t try to trick you nowadays. I’m sick to death of re-reading the ticked boxes at the bottom of forms to see whether I’m opting in or out to spam newsletters, because they’ve been written as double negatives.
☑ I do not wish to opt out of declining to stop receiving the newsletter.
Just fuck off already. I just want to buy a t-shirt.
Modern development is missing a kind of digital decency. When it’s done well, you feel it. You might not notice straight away, but it shows up in how calm the experience feels. How much easier it is to breathe. To focus. To leave a page without feeling nudged into the wrong decision. To read something without being shouted at by autoplaying videos and in-your-face advertising.
We’ve been told that ethics and creativity sit on opposite ends of a spectrum - as if you can either be responsible or exciting, but not both. But that’s absolute nonsense. Ethical design isn’t the opposite of good design. It is good design. It’s design that actually gives a damn.
And we should be shouting it from the rooftops, not just meeting a standard and moving on, but actually treating it like craft. It’s something to be proud of. If we’re building with care, why are we hiding that care?
Then there’s the flip side of the coin. Agencies that dress themselves up in “we don’t just produce sexy designs, we care about our users” tuxedos. And then when you work with them you realise just how full of shit they actually are. They talk the talk like Great Thunberg with a design degree. But when it comes to actually walk the walk, they strut out with a limp because they’ve got a solid hard on for your marketing team. They don’t respect you as a user, they just want a shiny trophy and big cheque.
Dark patterns are everywhere - dressed up as clever UX, when really they’re just plain manipulative. They’re designed around analytics funnels and mailing lists. Your data is what they’re after, and yet they get celebrated for their achievements in advertising. The web has become all about boosting metrics.
But what if we called that out more often? Not with outrage, or with substack rants like this, that (let’s be honest) nobody will ever read1. With quiet confidence. This isn’t how we should do things. And more importantly: Look how good it can be when we don’t.
Imagine a project that leads with its ethics as part of the aesthetic. Big, clear buttons that your massive thumb can hit without spiralling you into advertising hell. Opt-ins that actually feel optional. Proud sustainability stats upfront. A privacy policy that doesn’t read like a trap, and you can actually understand without having to get ChatGPT to give it a once over. Not as a gimmick. Not for applause. Just because we know it’s better to be honest, kind and trustworthy.
I grew up being told the golden rule - “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you”. Treat others as you’d like to be treated. Nobody of sane mind would disagree with that in the real world, so it’s about time we aspire to bring it into our digital lives. Aspire to wear your ethics openly, without apology. Create experiences that say: we thought about you when we made this. We tried to do the right thing, even if you never notice.
Written by Stu Collett – web veteran & recovering perfectionist.
Enjoying The Byte Stuff? You can subscribe for free to get future posts by email – no spam, no pressure, just occasional digital reflections.
Sorry for the swearing dad.