In your design career, how do you define ethical conduct and where do you turn for guidance? Ethical guidelines are published by a number of design organizations in the United States and abroad. For example:
As you read through these various codes, you will see that some of them focus on specific ways to exhibit integrity and respect in your daily business interactions with clients, suppliers, and other designers, while others address much broader issues and present fundamental ethical principles. Guidelines for daily business interactions tend to include such things as:
- Showing respect toward other designers in fair and open competition
- Being honest in describing your professional experience and competencies
- Avoiding any type of conflict of interest
- Acquainting yourself with each client's business and providing honest and impartial advice
- Maintaining the confidentiality of all client information
- Eliminating any form of hidden compensation or kickback
- Maintaining commitment to the development of innovative work of the highest quality
- Rejecting all forms of plagiarism
- Making proper acknowledgment of authorship when others have collaborated with you in creating a design
These codes describe recommended behavior for association members. Typically, however, adherence is voluntary. Such guidelines can be helpful in avoiding misunderstandings and disputes between designers and clients, and they can be very useful in educating new designers who are just entering the profession. AIGA also publishes guidelines for ethical practices related to the purchase and use of fonts, software, illustrations, and photography. Pamphlets on these topics can be downloaded as PDF files:
In discussing ethics and design, however, there are additional levels for us to consider. Honorable behavior in daily business interactions is just the start. The next level deals with specific professional expertise needed in such areas as accessibility, usability, consumer safety, and environmental practices. This leads us to the third level, which is about overall professional values—a broader framework of moral principles and obligations in life. There are many conversations taking place within the design community concerning these broader issues of ethics and social responsibility. Interesting articles and essays have been written on a wide range of challenging topics. As an introduction, you may want to pick up one of these recent anthologies:
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