HOME | DD
JamesRandom — The virus of the Unethical.
Published: 2010-07-23 03:04:55 +0000 UTC; Views: 1933; Favourites: 23; Downloads: 72
Redirect to original
Description
A note to designers that they should pay close attention to the ethical practices of their clients. As designers we are vested with the powerful tool of Visual Communication. A tool much more powerful today in the 21st century than ever before.You see, if a company you design for is knowing harming or allowing harm to come to other human beings in order to get its product made, it's not just them that takes the fall if they ever get found out but also the designer. Why? Because it's our job to know as much about our clients as possible. That's how we make great design for them.
Is it fair to say that designers always know about the unethical practices of their clients? No. But it should be the first thing people find out about their client: their ethics, how they treat other human beings. Because by designing products made in sweatshops, you're only perpetuating a slave trade. And if you haven't thought about the ethical and moral position of your clients before you even put pen to paper, one can only safely deduce that you simply don't care. And you should be cast out of the Design world and held as accountable as the people who do the harm.
Related content
Comments: 12
i had this thought in the back of my head... even if not 100% adhering to it, i am aware that i am working for a client who does not own a sweatshop... it also helps if a designer writes this down in his 'terms and conditions'... so that clients who are in search will come to know tat the designer is emphasizing on certain ethical standards about their work and are ethical to a higher degree actually.... if this message is sent across most designers, then it really helps change the scenario... [sorry for my english if any...]
👍: 0 ⏩: 0
I do agree with you but I fear that to many people watch to much TV, read to many silly magazines and see to much media portraying a luxury lifestyle as the norm and must have. They want their fast cars and giant TV's and the latest computer console's and think of nothing more. This way of life just make's them unaware of how greedy and selfish they have become and they look no further then their materialistic world and will never realise the consequences of their job's and actions to other's, even if they are well meaning individuals. You mention the client ethics but I think they should look at their own. I think if you can live with good ethics for yourself then that will naturally progress to other aspects of your life too, including the decisions you make that may affect other's.
Great work though and keep it up, the most important thing is to get people to, at the very least, think about what they do, even if they change nothing their conscious will always be aware.
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
i support your Opinion James ... about me many chances comes to me to get of graphic designs and become like any lawyer ... cos i have Certification in low .. but i Favored to be Graphic designer cos i like thes ... like you say I like enough money that I can feed myself ..and buy a few nice things. that i like it ... mony is not every thing in Life there was alot of things we must do it Firestelly .. mony is the way .. it not the target ...
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
Well said, sir. Well said!
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
thx James ... you alwes wellcome
👍: 0 ⏩: 0
So very, very true. And so few people think about it.
👍: 0 ⏩: 0
It is impossible to find out for sure what companies practices are. Ultimately if a company is doing something 'unethical' they will try to hide it.
Even companies that operate with a strict code of corporate social responsibility (CSR) may still in fact be supporting unethical treatment. Ie: Company A makes a product, but a component or raw material for that product may come from company B. If your train of thought is to be followed, it would stem to reason that company A is just as guilty as company B. Therefore, a designer for company A, is as guilty as company B.
With most modern products comprising of many ingredients/other products, to take a single product to retail, it could be composed of the products of 10+ other companies, each of which made their product from 10+ other companies.
I also disagree that doing a design for a company that harms humans makes you, the designer, look bad. Take in mind Frank Robinson who designed the coca cola logo. A design that is going strong all these years, and Frank himself is immortalised. Yet who designed the Greenpeace logo? (quick google search turned up nothing).
Although I agree with your general sentiment of the need to promote companies that have clear CSR guidelines, I believe no one is able to deliver any product to market without harming someone, somewhere. So although doing a design for a guerrila group probably isn't the best idea, doing a logo for a MNC who indirectly funds (or directly funds) such a group would not pose a problem.
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
Yes but some people really do design for bad companies.
I mean, take anyone who designed for Adidas. A company that went
out of its way to boycott an EU meeting to discuss the fair treatment
of workers in eastern Europe (ie, working toward the abolishment of
sweatshops in favour of Union Shops). It was very public affair at the time
the designers must have seen it. So if they continue to design for Adidas
then one can conclude that they're a fuckhead who doesn't care
about the lives of other humans. Same for Big Spaceship who design for
Coca-Cola. Coca-Cola's opinions on the way their columbian subcontractors
have a knack for shooting Trade Unionists in their factories are horrific the
'we don't own or operate the factories' (IE: turning a blind eye). It was also
public knowledge when the lawsuit was filed against Coca-Cola.
But Big Spaceship continue to design for them. Why? Because they don't
care. They're in it for the money, not the love of design.
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
You raise a very valid point. A lot of people are in it for the money (not necessarily a bad thing, everyone likes more money).
I would think tho, that these people will not be discouraged by asking them to be change. Ultimately SOMEONE has to design for them, and someone always will.
Maybe if they feel the pangs of guilt they can rebel by putting tiny cocks in the vector files...
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
Well, I don't like A LOT of money. I like enough money that I can feed myself and keep my house warm and buy a few nice things. I think I'd be miserable as a millionaire. The world needs to get rid of money before it ruins us for good.
👍: 0 ⏩: 0