Introduction
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Business ethics
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Responsibility towards society
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Inspiration or copying?
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Maintaining design standards
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Client relations
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Striking the right balance
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When shit gets real
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"Ethics is knowing the difference between what you have a right to do and what is right to do"
-Potter Stewart
Introduction Since the day we are born, we are taught about what is right and what is wrong, because of which we develop a sense on how to differentiate between what is acceptable and what is not. It shapes our personality and character. We set rules and regulations for ourselves based on experience and beliefs. These form our ethics. The basic definition of ethics is- “Moral principles that govern a person’s behavior or the conducting of an activity” Ethical values are highly subjective since they depend on individual perception. A powerful value system provides guidance on how to lead your life in a specific manner. Coming from a convent school we received moral education for 14 years. At that young age I could not realize it’s importance, but today I feel it has played an important role in building my character. Raised in a Jain family, learning about my religion helped me create a strong value system. I believe in “Ahinsa” that is non-violence in all forms. I try to avoid causing harm to other beings around me. Killing animals for your own selfish motive is against my value and thereby I strictly keep away from Non- vegetarian food. Moreover, being honest, compassionate, will to sacrifice and having empathy are some of my key principles of life. Religion played an important role in setting my values so today it is no more about the “rules” of the religion, but it is the way I am.
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Business ethics In today’s world each and every person has to work hard in their respective field. One thing a person should not forget while working is his/ her ethics. Ethics play an important role in any field. It’s the balance between the heart and the mind. It’s up to each person to give more importance to the heart or to the brain. Ethics are our values and principles that we have learnt throughout our life. Applying them to our business is required. Each person should have a set of his own rules to follow. While working we have to be aware of the effects on the society and the people around by our work. We have a certain responsibility, a certain way we should behave or tackle situations. In a field like graphic design we have to be even more careful . We are Visual communicators and our work speaks for us. We have this responsibility on us as people are influenced by the work we do. The consumers decision depends on us. It is in our hands to give out the right message. We need to deal with a lot of people as designers, ethics plays an important role there too. Here are some rules I wish to set for myself as a designer, who will enter the professional world soon.
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Responsibility towards society Visual communication is a field that makes a very strong impact on the viewers mind. It can convince them to buy or use a certain product or service. It can make them like or dislike things depending on the way they are portrayed. It can start trends and revolutions. That is how impactful our work can be. It’s the duty of the designer to avoid endorsing and promoting the wrong product or service. The way the product is promoted is the deciding factor for the consumer, weather to consume it or not. There are certain products which are going to be consumed irrespective of the promotion done for it. Products like tobacco, alcohol etc. are harmful yet people consume them. There is enough awareness spread on it’s ill effects of things like these. Cigarette packs say “Smoking kills” yet people do consume it. So working on such products will not do much harm to society. A balanced solution should work fine for this. While working on this, one should keep in mind that the viewer should feel threatened. The decision of consuming it is up to him. Often the client might require us to make false claims in order to sell the product. That is like cheating the consumer. To promote any product or service, some false claims are done, but these should be balanced and consumer should not feel cheated. 3
Consumers of non-vegetarian food are in large number. So avoiding this would not be a wise decision. Changing it would also be a difficult task. There might be various instances where such a thing will have the need to be promoted. A butcher shop should be avoided as it is direct killing of animals, while a restaurant that also serves non-vegetarian food is fine. All this should be done keeping in mind the other part of the society and that is the vegetarians. Proper information should be provided to avoid confusion. Use of improper imagery should be also be avoided. Services like the zoo, promoting use of animal products or cruelty towards animals should be avoided under all circumstance. There are certain things which do not have a positive side towards them, hence the should be completely off limits. There might be certain topics which are sensitive (e.g.-caste/religion) Those should be handled very carefully. Any kind of work should not disrespect a certain group of people in the society specially in a country like India where a lot of cultures and religions co exist. Other issues like discrimination, racism, child labor, violence against women should strictly be avoided. No work should promote such activities in any form. They can be very influential and give out a wrong message to the public. 4
Inspiration or copying? Every person in all fields works hard to get the final product. That person should be given the credit of that particular work. In today’s world with the advancement in technology, the access to content has become very easy. In such times copying someone’s work is very easy. In the field of design we constantly get inspired by the things around us. Designers are inspired from others work all the time. It is okay to be inspired but a balance has to be created. But the question is “How much inspiration is inspiration?” There is a thin line between getting inspired and copying. Copying is not acceptable at all. By copying you are not thinking about the efforts the other person might have put into that work. If you ever use someone else’s work at any point, reference should be given. They should get credit for their work.
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Maintaining design standards Clients might not be visually literate or with a weak educational background. Such clients may have high expectations from us. They might ask for things which might not correctly work for the project. They only say this based on their likes or whatever they have seen around. We have to understand that they are visually illiterate. It is our job to treat this visual literacy. They still might insist on doing what they want. This does not mean that you degrade your level of work them. Try convince them to understand the work but at the same time do not force your idea on them. It is important to create a balanced option of what is asked for and what you think is right so both the client and you are happy with the result. India is changing and growing in all fields. Over the time there has been a change in the level of design too. There is still a lot of progress needed. Still people are visually illiterate. It is a our job as graphic designers to bring the level up. Always deliver the best option possible. There is a major part of the society which is still such that they cannot even read and write. There is this other part who can read and write but cannot understand certain things due to lack of knowledge. A wise design should be such that speaks to everyone. Try working in a way that your work is understood by any person from any part of the society. 6
Client relations Each client that you may come across will be different from the other. Each one will have a different technique of working. It is important to keep a set, systematic method of work so that discipline is maintained in your work. If you are systematic and disciplined then the client will behave with you accordingly. Important things like the work brief should be taken in writing. Advance payments should be done. The work should be delivered to the client on time. Do not make any false claims in order to impress the client. There should be full clarity about everything with the client at all times. The research about the company and the client should be done to give full justice to the project. It is important to give the client what he wants but at the same time do what is right. All the content and information provided by the client should be kept confidential. To disclose or share any information with anyone at any point of time, prior permission should be taken.
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Striking the right balance Each person has his or her own views and ethics. There is a limit each one has to decide for himself. There have to kept some exceptions. Under certain circumstances some rules have to be broken or changed. You might have to take up a project which you wouldn’t have but the pay is good or it is a good opportunity. As long as it is a balanced decision and order is maintained, such exceptions can be made. As a designer you should be considerate towards the harm to nature and try working in a way that you use minimum resources and try avoid wastage of paper. A balance between personal and professional lives is an important issue. Personal life should not suffer due to work and vice versa. Social issues are often used for campaigns and to make a strong impact on the viewer so whenever possible, awareness regarding any problem in the society should be spread through our work. Work for NGOs, welfare work, charity etc. should be done whenever possible. By providing our services to them will be our effort in making a change and doing something good.
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When shit gets real From the little experience that I had working in the real market, taught me a lot of things. It taught me what to do and mainly what not to do. The one main thing that I learnt from my workplace was to be punctual. They had some very strict rules about certain things. They kept the files very confidential. No one was allowed to copy any files and access to certain content was restricted. This taught me how important it is to value the clients. I was always asked to execute and present my work in a systematic manner. I was required to use mock ups and make proper presentations, so that my idea stands out and it has a professional touch to it. All the colleagues would be open to suggestion and feedback. This gave motivation to the team. Such ethics at the workplace made me realize the small details which I never paid attention to. Out of the many companies that I researched about, Zerofee caught my attention. Their tagline is “an ethical design company” They understand the importance of design on public and have pledged to give their services to only ethical works. This is what they say on the homepage of their website. “Zerofee is an ethical design agency — we create visual identity and design for print and digital media, but not for irresponsible brands or companies. Why Zerofee? Alongside commercial work, we constantly donate design 9
to financially–challenged charities and good causes” They further explaining this say “We won’t use our skills to support brands and companies (or anyone else, for that matter) that we feel have a negative impact on the world we live in. We don’t seek or accept work from clients if we believe they put profit before people, blatantly disregard the environment or engage in any form of exploitation. Naturally, it’s not always easy to uncover or determine these things for certain, but we’re determined not to help those who we believe do harm. And we’d rather not benefit from them either” They understand how hard it is to abide by these ethics in today’s world, yet they are determined to do only ethical work. I respect them and would want such an image of company that also sets an example for others.
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