dug 
Design has the power to fight unfairness and abuse. It can make plain to see that risk and effort should be moved to the broadest shoulders, not the weakest. In particular, it should be able to prevent people entering into financial agreements that aren't as fair as they seem.
For example, here are some everyday offers that can end up costing people more than they bargained for:
1. Taking out an extended warranty on an appliance
Why it’s popular: Peace of mind for just £5–£10/month.
The reality: Most issues are covered by the manufacturer’s warranty or Consumer Rights Act. Warranties often recycle your premiums as profit.
Smarter move: Use a credit card for Section 75 protection and self-insure items under £300.
2. Going for over-50s life insurance (with 'guaranteed acceptance')
Why it’s popular: No medical checks, low monthly premiums (£10–£30).
The reality: You can end up paying in more than the policy pays out.
Smarter move: If you’re reasonably healthy, compare level-term policies or save the same amount monthly in a cash ISA.
3. Signing up for a packaged bank account (£15–£25/month)
Why it’s popular: Travel, phone, and breakdown cover bundled into one fee.
The reality: Many can’t use the perks due to exclusions or duplication—and still pay £180–£300 a year.
Smarter move: If two or more perks are useless, switch to a free current account and buy only the cover you need (e.g., annual travel insurance for ~£50).
There are many, many, more of these, but my question is:
How might design shepherd both buyer and seller towards greater transparency and fairness?
Is that a crazy idea?
From a product design perspective, would we be able to make an impact with design interventions?
For example:
Pain-point we identified in user research: Lifetime cost is opaque (over-50s plans, PCP finance)
Design intervention: “Lifetime-cost slider” widget
What it might look like: A mini-calculator embedded in the review lets readers drag a slider for years held or miles driven and instantly see “premiums in vs benefit out”. Code is open source so bloggers, credit unions and local advice centres can reuse it.
or maybe a "Switch-ready timeline" for ‘Set-and-forget’ billing (mobile, warranties) services?
Now, what about working client-side? Could transparency and positive customer outcomes be built into an organisation's design ops function?
OK, some of these feel a bit weird and control-freaky, but what would design-ops for "fair-value by default" look like?
Product & pricing squads - “Value Canvas” kick-off ritual:
A FigJam/Miro template forces teams to map all customer costs (time, fees, cognitive load) against benefits before writing the first line of code. The canvas must be posted on the sprint board and linked in the FCA “price & value” files.
Engineering - Total-cost API:
A single micro-service stores every fee, mileage penalty or standing charge. All UIs must query it, so nothing can be hidden in a separate CMS. Release gates fail if a price shown in the UI isn’t in the API.
UX writing - A 90-second readability test:
A Figma add-on stops the commit when the content in the purchase flow reads above ninth-grade level or strings four nouns together.
What about the regulators?
Externally, what about the FCA? What policies might they design to help?
How about a "dark-pattern audit sandbox"?
Firms upload prototypes to an FCA cloud instance; a library of behavioural-economic metrics (time-to-cancel, default-stickiness rate) auto-scores them against thresholds drawn from FCA “Digital Engagement Practices” research.
Or a "vulnerable-customer stress test"?
This could mirror financial stress tests. Firms run journey simulations with lower-literacy and/or assisted-digital personas; failure to meet outcome KPIs triggers a Section 166 skilled-person review.
Design (in the broadest sense, from user research to service design via content and interaction professions) is in-effect a fair-value technology.
It actively structures economic incentives.
Make the cost curve visible, insert friction where firms should think, and remove friction where consumers should act, and the power shifts toward equity (hopefully)...
I don't actually think this is crazy, it’s the logical next step after the UK’s pivot to outcomes-based regulation.
Links to consumer protection issues mentioned above:
Extended warranties
https://www.moneyhelper.org.uk/en/everyday-money/insurance/extended-warranties-are-they-worth-it
More info on energy 'standing charges'
https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/standing-charge-electricity-and-gas
Mobile overcharging
Complaining about mis-sold packaged bank accounts
FCA Life insurance concerns