Moral Value Map

Published by Thomas Carlock on

Moral Value Map

Method Overview

A worksheet within the Ethics for Designers Toolkit, designed for a team of designers and stakeholders to map value priorities, concerns, and effects of your existing design.

Example of a completed worksheet available from the method website.

Getting Started

Materials:  Overview universal human values, Moral Value Map Worksheet, post-its, pens

Participants: Team

Steps (from the Ethics for Designers website):

  1. State your design. Ensure everyone agrees on what you are working on.
  2. Select the human values that are relevant to your design.
  3. Translate each value into a concern to describe how it is present in the context you are designing for. Write the concerns on post-its.
  4. Map the relations between the different concerns. Discuss any conflicts between stakeholders. Not all conflicts must be resolved, some tension could inspire the design. But it should be clear which values you agree to prioritize.
  5. Write down the design’s effect on each concern. Choose from: The design inhibits / supports / limits / enhances / prevents / enables / reinforces / undermines / challenges this concern.
  6. Discuss the effect of the design on the different concerns. Also discuss any changes that should be made to the design.

This methods microsite is based off of analysis which is available in a preprint manuscript. Feel free to review our methodology and other details! We welcome your comments and feedback ! Please also use this form if you would like to suggest a method as an addition to the collection!