Darker affordances: Values as vulnerabilities in an age of disinformation

In an age of pervasive disinformation, values function as conceptual anchors for comprehending complex information. Design-for-values approaches typically frame values as alignment opportunities. But the same values that enable ethical, resonant communication can also be exploited for manipulative and unethical purposes. This paper argues that values in graphic communication design function as 'darker affordances' — relational properties affording both ethical communication and manipulation with equal reliability. Drawing on Master's students' reflections from aproject in which they designed paired climate communication — one ethically aligned,one disinformation — targeting identical audiences and values, it examines how contrastive pedagogy develops ethical literacy around values' dual nature. Analysis reveals three findings: creating disinformation is structurally easier than ethical communication; confronting this asymmetry triggers an epistemological crisis about design's agency; and recognising values' dual potential collapses ethical/unethical binaries, requiring reasoning within moral ambiguity. This research extends design-for-values scholarship by demonstrating that values' stability as anchors for meaning-making is precisely what makes them reliable targets for manipulation.

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