The Tarot Cards of Tech

As designers, we want to design products people love. We also want to create technology that leaves a positive mark on the world, and that takes more than just asking if a product is engaging and enjoyable. We also must ask: Are we designing products that support the world we all want to live in, today and tomorrow?

Artefact is proud to introduce The Tarot Cards of Tech: a tool to inspire important conversations around the true impact of technology and the products we design. The Tarot Cards of Tech encourage creators to think about the outcomes technology can create, from unintended consequences to opportunities for positive change. The cards are our way of helping you gaze into the future to determine how to make your product the best it can be.

The Tarot Cards of Tech are a way to put humanity-centered design into practice, helping all of us think bigger picture and longer term about the products we create and their effect on the world. As an industry, we are waking up to ways in which the best intentions can lead to harmful outcomes. From mismanaged data to fake news, it’s clear that the effects of our most celebrated products are not always positive. When you “move fast and break things,” well, things get broken – or worse. We can do better.

Now is the time to slow down and ask important questions of our work. It’s not only the right thing to do, it’s how we create better products.

Visit The Tarot Cards of Tech website to download your deck. Bring them to your next brainstorm or team meeting to start a conversation about questions of scale, of what usage really means, and how equity and access play a role in the technology we create. Perhaps the cards will help you expose a potential negative outcome that can be avoided, like a feature that could be abused or alienate people. The cards are also designed to help reveal opportunities to increase the positive aspects of technology, like ways to create more inclusive products or connect people in more meaningful ways. Either way, let us know how you use them. We would love to hear about your experience and the dialogue that results!