Business ethics
Our organizations can choose where we exercise our values or not. Perfection does not exist here, but I am committed to being a constant work in progress. These values help me work in a way that feels better to me.
I don’t live in a fantasy that this will fix anything. I'm a hypocrite in a number of my choices and actions. I certainly am not saving the world (at best we can protect some of it from ourselves). No job is perfect, we all live in the same system. Though we’re all individuals that make up this system, we largely require systemic action, even to stimulate individual action where appropriate. Ultimately, these values help me spend my privilege and have fewer nightmares. In tiny ways, I hope that my work contributes or furthers the goals of the gender, racial, disability, biodiversity, climate, and environmental justice movements, but at the least, does not hold us back. You don’t need to believe in all of the below for us to work together; that’s also part of bringing people with varying backgrounds and experiences onboard. And if you do already, we're going to have lots of things to talk about. We are all in different circumstances with different choices.
Donations
I spent many years using about 40% of my income to support projects, families and children in Cambodia alongside social enterprise management to pay scientists and other experts. As I moved away from unsustainable workloads, I have decreased this and I now donate 10 - 15% of my annual income to projects I work directly with in Cambodia to send girls to University (including rent, transport, school fees and equipment), support families in setting up small businesses, growing new foods in the face of the climate crisis, upgrading home structures, creating toilets, and installing or purchasing water sanitation, electricity, bedding, and bicycles, alongside people in my region experiencing homelessness, and some other causes throughout the year. I feel guilty that it is not higher, and I have incredible privilege living in a beautiful, safe region of the world with access to regular, local fresh food, and the ability to rent a small, old, wonderful apartment. I have no idea how to solve this, nor the hundreds of problems in the world, but in this moment, this is where I am at.
Ethical and inclusive design
I do not design decepetive (dark) design patterns and will attempt to change any that exist. I’ve worked with a consultant on decolonizing and inclusive language and design practices. I will point out issues with inclusivity or perpetuating of biases, and potential solutions. I am well versed in environmentalism and will provide everything from a new lens to review a service, through to alternative materials in production. I have experience in unintended consequences and will highlight these on relevant projects. Nowadays I design with accessible practices in mind and aim for every product to meet AA compliance and better consider perspectives such as color blindness (approximately one in twelve men experience a form of this). When working with existing products and design systems, I implement a program to transition to meeting accessible standards wherever possible. I regularly support busineses with using more inclusive, respectful, and clearer language. I also really like animals, insects, birds, trees, rivers, lakes, flowers, and fungi. While my work always hopes to improve the lives of humans, human-centred design has centred certain humans a bit much, so I prefer inclusive and ecosystem design where we thrive collectively and take care of our impact. I am always asking, whose story is missing from this? I think hostile design architecture is abhorrent.
Businesses and industry
I do not work with arms and weaponry, destructive and extractive industries (including fossil fuels and mining as nearly all seize land, ignore restoration obligations, and do not prioritize re-use), products with planned obsolescence, gambling, non-ethical pornography, animal exploitation, MLMs and pyramid schemes, predatory financial services, ultra-processed foods, tobacco, and business models that promote increased, unsustainable consumerism. Also, businesses that have a consistent record of lobbying, campaigning, funding and organizing for environmental and human rights abuses, or against positive change. Unfortunately this probably cuts my potential market size by 80%, maybe much more. A quick question I ask to guage a business; if the business or charity achieves its goals, would I want to live in that world? A good question for deciding to continue, do I respect or admire the people that are running this? There have been instances where companies have shifted from ethical clients to signing contracts within these industries. Unless your core model is to actively work to create change in them, and you can demonstrate the successes you are having at a material scale, I have chosen to kindly leave. It is a privilege to be able to do so, as long as I can place bread on the table.
Pay and price transparency
I believe in price transparency and you can find my rates listed on my services page. Paying me for our work together allows me to cover my living expenses, and helps my mum stop worrying. I minimize my life expenses which helps in ensuring my work aligns more with my values. I add a little bit to a savings account. When supporting clients with recruitment, I require salary disclosure or realistic minimum and maximum ranges for job roles. Where it's possible, I encourage trialing parity pricing for products, I have dabbled in sliding-scale pricing, and I'm always happy to chat through other pricing models. I love seeing these experiment results.
Data and artificial intelligence
My work is humanmade and tries not to destroy people, nor the environment, much more. I can recommend privacy focused analytics and data gathering systems. My Figma has AI training switched off so your data remains secure. AI is for utilitarian purposes. AI does not create art, it uses art made by creatives to generate outputs. It's lovely paying artists for their work. A world without artists seems bleak to me. AI does not necessarily always code or debug well, but it can help with creating skeletons, generating ideas and ideating solutions. This is useful when you understand development models and how the language functions. I believe in deep and accurate research, and truly understanding the problem space to be able to develop recommendations, so I do not use AI in research, outside of using utility tools such as Elicit to surface academic papers more effectively. I think critical thinking, empathy, and nuance is really valuable to the work we do. I find learning from experts, members of the public, and writing, incredibly useful tools of understanding, communication, and brainstorming, so I do not use AI for this. I do use grammar and translation tools at times for checking work or new words, which use machine learning. I work with machine learning teams in projects where appropriate in processing large datasets or creating language or communication models, with privacy and consent. Digital tools required to run something specific will be set up in your account so you are the owner of these. If I provide you with a project handover folder, please download this so you have the assets safe on your end.
Taxes
I pay my taxes. I don’t have an address in, nor have I moved to, a more favorable tax country, in order to reduce or evade taxes. I certainly don’t support everywhere my tax money goes, I often want to cry when I see one-third of my earnings head out the door, and I definitely have some ideas about who should be paying less, and who should be paying more. I’m pretty sure I won’t be getting a decent pension in return and I'm uncertain as to what will happen if that social contract breaks. But I believe deeply in public and equal access to good education, food, and healthcare, democratically owning key services, and I am very grateful for art, music, events, bicycle laneways, conservation and restoration that does exist, public green spaces, safe buildings, laws that encourage environmental accountability, and programs that support those experiencing difficult circumstances or those who have been less fortunate. I'm also really glad for weather systems, firefighters, community services, disastor aid, statistical agencies, and funding for science. Taxes, taxes, taxes - the rest is bullshit as Rutger Bregman famously said.
Transport
A few times a year I go to London for work. I love it. It takes me between 9 and 12 hours, four or five trains, and I work during them and marvel at the fact it’s possible to do this even though it stupendously costs more money than flying. Though I took a few too many flights when I was younger, when we know better, we can do better. I limit my flying to an average of one return flight per year for work and personal means. This means some years I don't fly at all, and others I might do two trips. This isn't perfect, most flights still explose our carbon budget for the year. It's not justified, but this feels somewhat more fair and slightly more responsible whilst remaining selfish enough to see some of the world, friends and family. Generally I can easily travel for work across the UK and Europe, and everywhere else needs some more planning.
Teams
I’ve put in place recruitment plans and strategies, developed job descriptions for various positions to encourage more diversity in candidacy pools, created interview practices for a wider range of candidates, implemented changes at numerous businesses to create healthier environments, and had hundreds of conversations on terminology, culture, sexism, and true representation (including but not limited to sex, race, culture, education, experience, income levels, household makeup, home ownership, faith, beliefs, neurodiversity, and disability). I don’t always focus on this, usually where I have taken on a management role. Within direct projects I’ll always voice support for representation and reducing stereotypes, and highlight how this can be done. I am forever learning and grateful for the significant more work others do in this space.
Technology
Buying hardware requires land to be destroyed, and relies on the exploitation of animals, plants, cultures, and humans; often people in low income environments, particularly impacting Black and Brown communities, Indigenous peoples, and people experiencing poverty. I try to make my technology last as long as functionally possible, and buy secondhand where it is practical. I buy a new phone once every five years on average. I buy a new laptop only when it dies. My iPad is eight years old and was purchased secondhand. Half of my photography gear is secondhand and I try to make each item last at least ten years. I finally upgraded from the mark 5d ii in 2024 from a guy switching his kit. All the gear is loved long and hard except for one of my filters which sadly smashed to pieces on a hike. I loved you for a short time little polarizer and I’m very sorry.
Banking and investment
I don’t have money invested, but for a few hundred Euros in onshore wind energy. I would never knowingly invest in fossil fuels, fast fashion, arms or gambling. In the past I have moved pension funds to an ethical, independent provider run by women (hard to find, highly recommended). I doubt I’ll see any of the pension money I pay through my taxes, but if I do, it’s unfortunately wherever the government decides to put it. If you can control your own pension funds, moving them away from fossil fuels is one of the most impactful things you can individually do. I’m trying to figure out the status of my bank.