Tragic Design: The Impact of Bad Product Design and How to Fix It

Bad design is everywhere, and its cost is much higher than we think. In this thought-provoking book, authors Jonathan Shariat and Cynthia Savard Saucier explain how poorly designed products can anger, sadden, exclude, and even kill people who use them. The designers responsible certainly didn’t intend harm, so what can you do to avoid making similar mistakes?

Tragic Design examines real case studies that show how certain design choices adversely affected users, and includes in-depth interviews with authorities in the design industry. Pick up this book and learn how you can be an agent of change in the design community and at your company.

You’ll explore:

• Designs that can kill, including the bad interface that doomed a young cancer patient
• Designs that anger, through impolite technology and dark patterns
• How design can inadvertently cause emotional pain
• Designs that exclude people through lack of accessibility, diversity, and justice
• How to advocate for ethical design when it isn’t easy to do so
• Tools and techniques that can help you avoid harmful design decisions
• Inspiring professionals who use design to improve our world

Table of Contents

Chapter 1. Introduction
Chapter 2. Design Can Kill
Chapter 3. Design Can Anger
Chapter 4. Design Can Sadden
Chapter 5. Design Can Exclude
Chapter 6. Tools and Techniques
Chapter 7. What We Can Do
Chapter 8. They Are Doing Good
Appendix A. Companies, Products, and Links
Appendix B. About the Authors