
Ask HN: What pressing world problems should a graphic designer work on? - softwareqrafter
I went through the 80,000 hours (https:&#x2F;&#x2F;80000hours.org) course and felt inspired to do work that matters (rather than just design some stuff for boring corporate companies). As a designer, what would be a pressing problem that I could work on and potentially even get compensated for the work in order to stick with it and pay the bills (so helping out a nonprofit with design might be fun, but it&#x27;s not sustainable)
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zavulon
I work for a company called Mark43.

We make software to help police officers do their jobs more efficiently - our
applications literally help save lives. There's a lot of interesting design
challenges - for example, emergency dispatchers look at our CAD (computer
aided dispatch) software for many hours on large monitors.. how do you design
it so their eyes don't get tired?

And then cops look at the same software on their laptops, as they're driving
to respond to an emergency.. how do you make a notification "suspect is armed"
stand out so they notice it among all other data?

We are looking for designers to help us solve these and other problems:

Product Designer:
[https://www.mark43.com/careers/700918/?gh_jid=700918](https://www.mark43.com/careers/700918/?gh_jid=700918)

Sr. Product Designer:
[https://www.mark43.com/careers/119568/?gh_jid=119568](https://www.mark43.com/careers/119568/?gh_jid=119568)

(New York City)

~~~
seanmcdirmid
Why do you call the position "product designer" when it is definitely asking
for UX designers? I mean, when I think "product designer" I think industrial
design, but this is clearly on the software side.

Ah, I guess this is common confusion; from
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Product_design](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Product_design):

> Product design is sometimes confused with (and certainly overlaps with)
> industrial design, and has recently become a broad term inclusive of
> service, software, and physical product design. Industrial design is
> concerned with bringing artistic form and usability, usually associated with
> craft design and ergonomics, together in order to mass-produce goods.[4]
> Other aspects of product design include engineering design, particularly
> when matters of functionality or utility (e.g. problem-solving) are at
> issue, though such boundaries are not always clear.[5]

~~~
Adrig
A digital product designer is basically a UX designer with knowledge of
product management. While UX rely only on the user experience and the
constraints of the user environment, the P.D. have to incorporate (and
understand) business requests, production workflow, ect.

~~~
seanmcdirmid
That really isn't different from what a UXD already does, and it definitely
doesn't require any ID skills. You might want to cast your net for just plain
old UXDs, rather than people who have been trained specifically in product
design (if there is indeed a real specialty there, I doubt that's true).

------
evanwolf
Healthcare user experience sucks. Last century kind of sucks. Find a job at
Cerner or Epic who account for more than half of all hospital information
systems and help clinicians avoid tragic errors, make faster and better
decisions, understand health records more clearly, capture
ideas/observations/memories.

~~~
jbob2000
I just left a healthcare company very similar to Cerner/Epic. The healthcare
user experience sucks because the parties involved _want_ it to suck.

Older doctors are highly resistant to change and will look for any opportunity
to condemn your product. The nurse's unions will stop you in your tracks for
taking away duties that a nurse should be doing (we had a client tell us we
couldn't auto-fill date fields with today's date, the nurses had to do that).
Patients with chronic illnesses do not want to use any apps at all, they have
tried program after program over the years and are sick of hospitals forcing
them to hop on and off a platform every 2-3 years (our diabetes app failed in
trial because users didn't want to do anything but talk to the doctor).

Give healthcare another 10 years for the generation to turn over.

~~~
le-mark
Cerners longtime CEO and founder recently passed away. It's unfortunate one of
his legacies will be how NOT to communicate via email[1]. It's also
unfortunate the culture he fostered never erred far from this aggressive,
intimidating, almost abusive pattern. It was one of the most toxic
environments I ever worked in[2].

[1] [http://holtz.com/blog/business/threats-and-intimidation-
wont...](http://holtz.com/blog/business/threats-and-intimidation-wont-forge-
workforce-passion-but-conversation-will/4289/)

[2] source: me, contractor 2015-2016.

------
Mz
_(rather than just design some stuff for boring corporate companies)_

Picking a company you can believe in and going to work for their design
department is probably the best way to make a positive difference in the world
while also being able to pay the bills. Plenty of companies are doing "good
work" in the world. The world would be a vastly worse place without _business
as usual_ for all kinds of products. Improving some of those products can make
a meaningful difference.

There is plenty of time to think about how to make a really serious
difference. It doesn't have to be solved today. After you get a bit of
experience, you can pivot to something that you feel fits that criteria.

I tend to not like these types of questions because a bunch of internet
strangers are generally speaking not somehow magically more qualified than you
are to decide how to make a "real" difference in the world. The short list of
people with such answers are typically working on them in some way and it
often doesn't pay the bills.

Best.

------
evanwolf
There's a general design problem of translating abstract massive problems
(like world hunger) into something bite sized that people can relate to and
act on (like feed one starving child). Vast problems like climate change,
water shortages, human trafficking, drug abuse, systemic poverty, lifelong
education, criminal justice. If you can help on this challenge, you can drive
change and make a career for yourself.

------
josmar
City Planning software is something I've been humming over a lot and for a
long time. It's a perfect problem for computation with statistics - figure out
practical actionable things for cities to do when optimising for things like
walkability, public transit available, available storefront-rentals, et
cetera. The world is catching up on the western nations, and the millions of
cities joining the global middle class can be billions of dollars more
efficient. A true way to better the world. The computational parts are doable
(I'll be tech cofounder if required - not a visual artist though) but how is
it best used?

~~~
samstave
I wonder what the chinese do WRT city plannin given the amount of building
they have been doing, and if walkability plays a role in their designs, and
what they use for said designs.

~~~
rch
There's been a lot of visible experimentation, but I've not seen anything
indicative of a definitive strategy. I would be curious to know if there were
any lessons learned from replicating old world European towns.

~~~
thirdsun
It is my understanding that Barcelona and its superblocks often serves as a
showcase for great city planning:
[https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2016/may/17/superblocks-r...](https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2016/may/17/superblocks-
rescue-barcelona-spain-plan-give-streets-back-residents)

Of course this isn't a natural or old layout however.

~~~
rch
It's _also_ an example of failed city planning! The original Cerdà Plan was
considerably more human friendly:

[https://www.failedarchitecture.com/behind-four-walls-
barcelo...](https://www.failedarchitecture.com/behind-four-walls-barcelonas-
lost-utopia/)

------
twiceaday
I'm guessing you have very high earning potential. It is almost certainly the
case that the most impact you can have is achieved by focusing on earning as
much money as possible and donating as much of it as possible to organizations
optimized for making impact. But most people seem to want to optimize the
feel-good hands-on impact instead of the total objective impact.

~~~
arnioxux
The term for this effective altruism strategy is called
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earning_to_give](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earning_to_give)

------
cjcenizal
Anything in the public sector, like utilities' and local governments' websites
( _cough_ DMV), websites for your local library system, websites for your
local law enforcement and/or hospital, public schools. The usability of these
sites tends to suck because they're subject to budget cuts, even though
thousands of people have no choice but to depend upon them.

------
wolco
Not sure about compensated but tools for the blind/deaf to allow them to
experience the everyday design we take for granted

~~~
mellow_
Something about "graphic designer" and "blind" doesn't go together for me...

~~~
kradeelav
Legally blind and professionally employed full-time designer here. :) (Granted
- "blind" can be a spectrum of things; for example, extreme nearsightedness
but still "seeing", vs truly blind.)

Seconding the major need for accessibility awareness, though. Even little
things like increased font color contrast has major payoffs for the elderly
and other buckets of populations.

------
owebmaster
Better user interface, websites and documentation for free software and open
source.

------
arikr
Many people are making suggestions, I'll make a meta-suggestion:

Try and rank your options, and remember that it'll probably look like a power
law distribution.

See the two graphs under this section: [https://80000hours.org/career-
guide/world-problems/#how-to-w...](https://80000hours.org/career-guide/world-
problems/#how-to-work-out-which-problems-you-should-focus-on)

 _Many of the companies suggested sound good, though if you 're really
optimizing for impact, the best one will probably have more impact than all
the other suggestions combined._ No pressure!

------
monk_e_boy
Content for school kids aged 5 to 9. There isn't much out there for them.
Anything interactive and imaginative.

Take a look at the curriculum for ideas of what teachers want to teach, most
schools have laptops, chromebooks or iPads.

~~~
kradeelav
Are you by chance in that industry somehow? I'm (as a designer) with an
organization that's looking to break into this very kind of niche - it's
almost the other end of the problem ironically; we have plenty of resources,
but very little insight in how it should be applied. Are there .pdf examples
online that you would point to as a good base? Would you say the content needs
to be different for parents vs teachers, and if so, what would most helpful
for each?

(Thanks for the comment!)

~~~
monk_e_boy
I've thought about you question for a couple of days. I'm not sure what you
can do that other companies are not already doing.

For example we use the exam board AQA for computer science. They give you:
[http://www.aqa.org.uk/subjects/computer-science-and-
it/gcse/...](http://www.aqa.org.uk/subjects/computer-science-and-
it/gcse/computer-science-4512/teaching-and-learning-resources)

which is tons of stuff to plan and teach computer science for 3 years.

But some of it is pretty crap.

If I were you I'd do something similar for primary schools, for example my son
has had topics on volcanoes, american indians, the oceans etc. Find out what
topic teachers what to teach, the create good resources that code english,
maths, science etc all inside that topic. Give them clear lesson plans that
cover say 8 weeks of work. Make them so cool and so easy and so super
interesting that teachers fucking love you.

Remove all the pain points: \- marking REMOVE THIS \- testing AUTOMATE THIS \-
creating and cutting up resources e.g. a puzzle for each student.

so create a giant crate of stuff, ship it to the teacher quickly - if I order
it in a panic on friday have it there for me on sunday so I can rip it open,
read "lesson 1" and go.

make it cheap so if it saves me time and effort I'll just buy it with my own
money.

Make it shareable - let other teachers in my school use it for free.

etc. talk to a teacher, sit down with them, buy them dinner and a pint and
LISTEN to them. If they moan about marking until 3am every day, SOLVE that
issue. If they moan about stupid testing that punishes kids of low income
families FIX THAT PROBLEM. Invent a smart way of revising/testing that solves
it. I imagine you already have 20 ideas on how to do that.

If the class needs an iPad or two to connect to your app/website - SHIP IT IN
THE CRATE, ask for it back once the topic has finished.

You want the teacher to open the crate of goodies and say HOLY SHIT this is
amazeballs.

------
cirrus-clouds
If there is a cause or issue you feel strongly about, is there a way to
illuminate or explain this issue using a combination of graphics and text, in
a way that doesn't mislead?

I'm not a graphic designer, but during the recent UK election, I created a
site to dissuade people from voting for the Conservative party. One issue I
wrote about was our method of voting in the UK. Here is a (fairly rubbish)
graphic trying to highlight the results of the 2015 UK election. The fact is
that many people simply don't know how our electoral system works or what it's
flaws are. Is this diagram clear without any context? (Probably not!)

[https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/1000/1*OXaiFJ49RtESX0Qjl...](https://cdn-
images-1.medium.com/max/1000/1*OXaiFJ49RtESX0QjljGNfA.png)

Here is the article in which the graphic appeared giving additional context:

[https://medium.com/@dontvoteconservativeuk/uk-general-
electi...](https://medium.com/@dontvoteconservativeuk/uk-general-
election-2017-why-we-need-to-change-our-method-of-voting-74ac31789910)

Often it's impossible to explain a topic or idea without supporting visuals.

Being able to explain things clearly with both text and graphics (whether for
campaigning or teaching or persuasion) is a really valuable skill.

If that appeals to you, perhaps this is an avenue you could pursue? But you'll
have to find the cause, topic or idea that inspires you.

------
old-gregg
I always wanted a (relatively) simple mobile application to navigate public
transportation in different cities. Basically an interactive map for public
transport. They'd be easy to read, easy to understand how connections work,
etc. Every city (or even every agency within a city) uses different, and often
horrible, diagrams of their lines, like MUNI vs BART in San Francisco.

This is 90% designers problem. The engineering side of this is easy. Hard to
say how you'd pay money for it, but if your maps are good, some cities may
agree to pay to officially use them.

Google maps kind of does this for you (if you do "directions") but I just
don't understand why it doesn't work... It gets me to a subway station and I
start searching for the maps on walls.

But if done well, millions of people will be thanking you every day.

------
kyleschiller
We (Zenysis) are a recent YC startup using technology to help Ministries of
Health prevent epidemics and distribute vaccines in developing countries.
Happy to talk if you want to learn more!

EDIT: We're in public health, but compensate competitively, offer significant
equity and provide top-notch benefits.

Job posting on HN:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13727071](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13727071)

Designer role:
[http://www.zenysis.com/designer.html](http://www.zenysis.com/designer.html)

------
taheca
Hey there... There are a LOT of ideas out there (for example, I have a vision
of a mentoring platform that is stuck in my head).

The thing is... like others on this thread have said, there is a ton of
demand. So what interests you?

I have been getting involved with local politics recently, and there is a HUGE
need for designers for political clubs, and organizations.

I'd say find something you are passionate about and start volunteering, and if
you want to help Progressive Democrats then DM me!

------
nerdyworm
Healthcare! My company is currently looking for a designer that wants to make
healthcare beautiful, easy to use, and less error prone. If you really want to
dive into a company that is making a difference and really cares about
changing things for the better shoot me an email benjamin at triceimaging.com

------
bmcusick
Americans are dying because our healthcare is too expensive. Not the insurance
but the actual tests and procedures. They're all crazy expensive compared to
anywhere else in the world. Graphics that really show this clearly could
generate political momentum for fixing that.

------
mac01021
Does "graphic designer" essentially mean an artist whose job is to create
aesthetically pleasing images, or does it encompass UI/UX as well? Most of the
advice here seems to assume the latter, but I would not have thought that was
the case.

~~~
adjkant
It depends on the job. Graphic Design / UI / UX / Product Design is undergoing
a lot of terminology changes and uncertainty brought about by a lack of
typical degree out of academia and a shortage of people working in the field.
Many companies previously had graphic designers who de facto did the
UI/UX/Product Design, while other companies are starting to break up/specify
the roles.

------
baconhigh
Make it security suck less. Security UX is terrible. We need people with
graphic design skills to help.

------
crimsonalucard
Ask HN: I am but a humble bus driver. I too wonder what world problems I
should work on.

~~~
ksrm
Make sure the graphic designers get to work on time!

------
Maken
Do a public campaign to eradicate pie charts.

------
neomeo
A lot of great suggestions in this thread. To add to those, I want to talk a
bit about how to form a strategy that will help you achieve these goals.

First, not every world problem is solvable with design. Being aware that you
are one facet of the solution is both comforting and overwhelming. To have
broad impact you often need a team of experts to cover the pipeline from end-
to-end, so that means things like solving for the terrible Heath Care
experience in the US or UK require massive reformations in how that industry
has been run for almost 100 years. On the bright side, there are lots of
private clinics aiming to solve this - One Medical is a great example (I
promise I dont work for them, just a fan of their approach). If you have the
motivation to aim for this level of impact that is awesome, but most likely
wont be available to you until you have several years of experience under your
belt and area ready to move beyond graphic design and into a role as creative
director (like Jony Ive for example).

The good news? You can start planning for that career path today. Start small
by targeting industries that you already have experience with, even if that
experience is indirect. Got a passion for food culture? Maybe run with that.
Seek out reputable companies that are trying to perfect food distribution to
restaurants and grocery stores. From there you will start to see the pain
points that cause issues like food deserts in inner city areas. Start to
slowly invest time on the side volunteering with non-profits and groups that
are actively trying to solve for these oversights in the food distribution
system. See whats holding them back from making big changes. Regardless of
what industry you focus on, assume you will always be spending time on the
side volunteering with activist/non-profit groups that are already targeting
the crisis at hand.

Your journey now is to marry your charitable 'side-job' with your full-time
job, and your choices will hinge on reducing the gulf between the two. One
day, they can be one and the same job - and youll see the path towards that
goal unfold for you as you roadmap your steps to achieve that goal. Sometimes
this means creating your own company - but it certainly doesnt have to be that
way. Lots and lots of private companies are stepping up to offer people
another option than the current, broken norm, such as One Medical that I
mentioned above.

Lastly, Ill echo what others have said about donating your earnings. Ill take
that a step further and suggest the idea of working a charity initiative into
your regular earnings model. If you are working for yourself - this is a great
opportunity to build your passion for giving into your pricing. I love seeing
places that actively advertise how much they donate and incorporate a
breakdown of that cost into their payment model. The invoices they provide
will outline exactly how much of your payment is donated and to what
organization. By doing this, these companies are not only making a positive
impact, but they are fostering a culture within their industry that values
giving-back. Often clients will seek them out specifically because they want
to support a company that values altruism and sees it as a sustainable
business model.

Sorry for the novel-length post! Ill close with this: just remember - always
ask yourself what you can do TODAY, however small it may seem. You may not be
Elon Musk, but the path to that kind of impact is created step-by-step with
every small interaction. Every relevant experience is a learning experience.
Volunteer, find an open-source project, talk to others who are trying to solve
problems too, and network with like-minded people. We all start out as little
cogs in a big machine, but together we can change the system, one step at a
time.

------
CodeWriter23
Increase people's awareness that they need to wake up. And maybe follow later
in the campaign with ways they can empower themselves.

------
crush-n-spread
Are you passionate enough to work for low pay or free? I would like to build
some web apps to display information about pollution and climate change. If we
made it good enough, it would be a great tool for everyone around the world to
visualize the problem. Obviously I would not make any money - just something
that needs to get done if we are to have any hope of convincing the public
that we need climate change policy review.

What say you?

