Responsibility of
the Designer
Balance client needs, community impact, environmental responsibility, safety and product longevity.
By the end of class, you should be able to…
Explain responsibility
Outline responsibilities to clients, communities and the environment.
Use standards
Discuss how standards can support user health, safety and well-being.
Explain obsolescence
Distinguish planned, social, style, functional and technological obsolescence.
Connect to TBL
Discuss how obsolescence can affect people, profit and planet.
Design decisions create consequences beyond the user.
A designer must consider multiple stakeholders and impacts—not only whether the product “works.”
Needs + constraints
The solution should respond to the agreed purpose and requirements.
Social impact
Access, inclusion, safety, behaviour and local consequences may matter.
Sustainability impact
Material, energy, waste and product-life decisions affect environmental outcomes.
The same design decision can benefit one stakeholder and harm another.
Single-use medical packaging
Can improve sterility, reliability and patient safety.
Material + waste impact
May increase resource use and disposal burden.
Standards turn safety expectations into repeatable requirements.
What could harm users?
Defines accepted requirements / test methods
Testing shows whether the design meets expectations
Standards are not decoration
A designer is developing a child’s folding stool. The mechanism can pinch fingers if the hinge gap closes unexpectedly.
What is the strongest designer response?
Products can become obsolete for different reasons.
Deliberately limited life
Social norms / status change
Aesthetic fashion changes
No longer performs required function
New technology makes it outdated
Not every short product life is planned obsolescence.
Life is intentionally limited by design / business decisions.
The limitation is deliberately built into the product-life strategy.
A new technical standard or capability makes the old product less useful.
The product may still physically work but no longer fit the technological ecosystem.
Obsolescence can affect people, profit and planet.
Access, labour, user burden, community consequences.
Cost, revenue, repair economics, business viability.
Materials, waste, energy and environmental impact.
Evaluate an upgrade cycle
A connected thermostat still works physically, but after a software platform shutdown it can no longer receive remote updates or app control.
Which obsolescence category is most directly involved?
Product-life decisions can be designed.
Ease of care
Clear maintenance, replaceable wear parts.
Access + replacement
Components can be diagnosed and replaced where feasible.
Adapt to change
Software / modular systems can extend useful life.
Reduce style churn
Aesthetic decisions can reduce pressure for fashion-based replacement.
Your IA decisions also carry responsibilities.
Responsibility vocabulary
Retrieve first. Then check.
Can you retrieve it without looking back?
Discuss whether planned obsolescence can ever be responsible design.
Safety / performance contexts
Some products may need limited service intervals or replacement because degradation creates risk.
Waste + user cost
Artificially short life can increase material use, disposal and financial burden.
Before you leave…
IA Day 4 — Persona, Task Analysis & Pain Points
Keep the evidence chain moving: user → research → decision → test.
C1.1.1 client/community/environment responsibility · C1.1.2 standards and safety · C1.1.3 planned/social/style/functional/technological obsolescence + TBL.