What Designers Éthiques does

Designers Éthiques (legal entity: Association Les Designers Éthiques) is a French non-profit association (association loi 1901) headquartered at 200 rue de la Croix Nivert in Paris's 15th arrondissement. Founded before February 2019, the association promotes ethical, sustainable, and accessible digital design practices and operates a community of approximately 30,000 digital design professionals served by roughly 20 active contributing members. Its mission is to empower designers and digital professionals to produce digital services that are emancipatory, sustainable, and desirable. The association operates across four thematic verticals — eco-design, persuasive design (avoiding dark patterns), systemic design, and accessibility/inclusion — and serves UX/UI designers, content designers, product owners, organizational teams, and students/young graduates.

Its core product is a Creative Commons-licensed content library comprising multiple long-form guides (notably the eco-design guide for digital services authored by Anne Faubry and Aurélie Baton, the dark patterns guide by Flora Brochier, the systemic design guide by Mellie La Roque, and the visually-impaired accessibility guide), the Index Conception Responsable (ICR) tool that federates criteria from RGAA, RGESN, and RGPD into actionable checklists, and the Fresque des Designers Éthiques — a card-based 2-hour awareness workshop on designer responsibilities. The technology stack is intentionally lightweight and privacy-respecting: Kirby CMS (file-based, no database), Matomo analytics (cookie-free), Mattermost for community, and self-hosted PeerTube for video. There is no proprietary platform or SaaS architecture; the technology serves content distribution rather than monetizable software.

The business model is hybrid non-profit: free content distribution under CC licenses generates reach and credibility, while Qualiopi-certified professional training (1-day fundamentals, 2-day expert courses, accessible design training, half-day team workshops) is the primary paid revenue stream. The Ethical Design Fresco is offered to organizations with a suggested €100 donation per workshop. Institutional funding comes from Fondation de France, Caisse des Dépôts, ADEME, and ANR; voluntary donations flow through HelloAsso. Since 2025, the Bourse Éthique Numérique grant (€2,400 endowment for 2026) extends the model into grant-making for student/young graduate projects, funded from banking interest income. The association holds no patents, has no subsidiaries, and operates without a parent entity. Geographic footprint centers on France with local chapters in Rennes, Nantes, Lyon, and Brussels, plus limited activity in Switzerland and Canada.

Name

Designers Éthiques

Legal name

Association Les Designers Éthiques

Website

https://designersethiques.org

Company type

Private

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Designers Éthiques is a French non-profit association that promotes ethical, sustainable, and accessible digital design through free Creative Commons guides, federated reference tools, and Qualiopi-certified training for UX/UI designers, content designers, and product owners.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Digital Design Education and Training Services

NAICS

Graphic Design Services (541430), Other Specialized Design Services (54149)

SIC

Services-Mailing, Reproduction, Commercial Art & Photography (7330)

akta.pro primary industry

Accessibility & Inclusive Design Tooling for Authoring (WCAG/508) (EDAFAHAL)

akta.pro secondary industry

Digital Arts & Design (Graphic Design, Illustration, Animation) (EDAMAAAB)

Keywords

• Ethical digital design
• Eco-design services
• Accessible design training
• Digital responsibility guides
• Responsible design workshops

Headquarters

HQ city

Paris

HQ country

France

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B and B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Training programs: Professional training programs on eco-design, accessible design, and ethical design certified under Qualiopi process. Programs include 1-day fundamental courses, 2-day expert courses, and half-day workshops for teams.
2. Donations: The association operates as a non-profit and solicits donations to support the creation and free distribution of guides, articles, and tools. A donation of 100€ is suggested per Ethical Design Fresco workshop conducted.
3. Bourse Éthique Numérique grant funding: Since 2025, the association has offered an emergence grant (Bourse Éthique Numérique) of 2,400€ to support student and young graduate projects contributing to ethical digital design. Funded from banking interest income.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels5 records

Marketing channels10 records

Core offering

Designers Éthiques is a non-profit association that creates free, openly-licensed guides, tools, and professional training programs on ethical digital design. Its core offerings include guides on eco-design, dark patterns avoidance, systemic design, and accessibility for visually impaired users, along with the Index Conception Responsable (ICR) tool and the Fresque des Designers Éthiques awareness workshop. The association also delivers Qualiopi-certified training programs and organizes flagship events including the Ethics by Design conference and the Journée de l'Écoconception Numérique.

Product overview

Designers Éthiques operates as an association producing free resources and tools on responsible digital design. The core offerings include four main guides covering eco-design, dark patterns avoidance, systemic design, and accessibility for visually impaired users. Additional products include the Fresque des Designers Éthiques (awareness workshop), Alternative Patterns for respectful notifications, and the Index Conception Responsable (ICR) tool. The organization also runs training programs (Qualiopi-certified), organizes events including the biennial Ethics by Design conference and annual Journée de l'Écoconception Numérique, and offers the Bourse Éthique Numérique grant. Related projects include the Limites Numériques research initiative and Questions d'Asso podcast.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Ethics by Design: Biennial conference, the main French-language event dedicated to digital responsibility.
• Journée de l'Écoconception Numérique
• Index Conception Responsable (ICR)
• Limites Numériques
• Bourse Éthique Numérique
• Fresque des Designers Éthiques

Products and services

• Guide d'écoconception de services numériques Comprehensive guide presenting design best practices for creating digital services with minimal environmental footprint, covering topics from defining essential needs to testing and maintenance. Targeted at UX/UI designers, product owners, and digital professionals.
• Guide Concevoir sans Dark Patterns Guide for designers on creating digital services that respect user free will, covering dark patterns, persuasive design, captology, and attention design topics.
• Guide Appliquer la systémie à la conception d'un service numérique Guide presenting main design best practices for creating digital services using a systemic approach to anticipate and reduce indirect effects on environmental, social, and economic systems.
• Guide Concevoir pour les personnes déficientes visuelles Guide with illustrated best practices and advice from real project experience on creating accessible web experiences for blind or visually impaired people.
• Fresque des Designers Éthiques Awareness workshop tool about designer responsibilities, allowing exploration of sustainable digital design questions and potential consequences through a 2-hour game-like brainstorming session. Available for organizations and teams with a suggested donation of €100 per workshop.
• Alternative Patterns / Notifications Alternative Patterns resource providing alternatives to problematic interface components, specifically focused on designing more respectful smartphone and system notifications.
• Index Conception Responsable (ICR) Tool supporting the development of ethical digital products, combining federated frameworks with combined and organized criteria by levels, best practices checklists, and implementation aids covering RGAA, RGESN, RGPD and the association's own guides.
• Bourse Éthique Numérique Emergence grant program funding student and young graduate work contributing to ethical digital technology, with a 2026 endowment of €2,400 (split into Kontnü allocation of €1,600 and Designers Éthiques allocation of €800).
• Formation Design Accessible 2-day Qualiopi-certified training on accessible design for UX/UI designers, content designers, and product owners, offered remotely.
• Formation Ecoconception Qualiopi-certified training programs on eco-design of digital services, including 1-day fundamentals and 2-day expert courses for UX/UI designers and product owners, offered remotely.

Quantifiable outcome

• Reaches approximately 30,000 digital design professionals through its community and resources
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers4 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature4 records

Partnerships

Three partnerships are on record, tiered minor and core.

• Fondation Marius JacobminorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2025Provided the model charter used as inspiration for the Bourse Éthyque Numérique regulation, supporting the grant program's governance framework.
• GreenIT.frcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerKey collaborator and supporter of the eco-design guide. Collectif GreenIT.fr develops the Référentiel Général d'Écoconception de Services Numériques (RGESN) and provides expertise on sustainable digital technologies. Co-developer of EcoIndex assessment methodology.
• Collectif Conception Numérique ResponsablecoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerThe Responsible Digital Design Collective, a multi-stakeholder group developing standards and best practices for responsible digital services, of which Designers Éthiques is a founding member.

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Emerging players

• Sustainable UX: Community and resource network for sustainable digital design. Comparable as a community-led effort in the same sustainability-in-design niche but global and English-language rather than French.
• A11Y Project: Open-source community and resource hub for digital accessibility, originally US-based. Comparable as a community-driven, free-content model for accessibility practitioners but with global rather than French focus.

Broad incumbents

• Nielsen Norman Group: Established UX research and training firm offering certification courses, conferences, and reports. Comparable as a UX training and research authority but at much larger scale and broader scope than Designers Éthiques' ethical-design niche.
• Interaction Design Foundation:

Direct peers

• Fresque du Numérique: French association running the "Fresque du Numérique," a card-based awareness workshop on digital environmental footprint. Direct peer given identical workshop format, similar association structure, and overlapping target audience.
• Collectif Conception Numérique Responsable: Multi-stakeholder collective developing standards and best practices for responsible digital services, of which Designers Éthiques is a founding member. Operates in the same French responsible-design ecosystem with overlapping contributor base.
• Temesis: French consultancy specialized in digital accessibility, RGAA audits, and eco-design. Direct peer operating in the same niche of accessibility + eco-design services for French organizations.
• Institut du Numérique Responsable: French institute promoting responsible digital practices through certification, training, and consulting. Direct peer with overlapping mission on responsible digital and shared institutional backers.
• Access42: French digital accessibility consultancy offering audits, training, and RGAA compliance services. Direct peer with overlapping accessibility focus and similar customer base of public-sector and enterprise clients in France.
• GreenIT.fr: French collective focused on digital eco-design and developer of the RGESN standard. Direct peer given overlapping mission on sustainable digital services, co-development of the eco-design guide, and shared institutional ecosystem.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/designers-ethiques

Compliance1 record

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles10 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments

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Frequently asked questions about Designers Éthiques