When it comes to ethics in business and design, what is most important and made clear is the form of agreement made by the designer, client, and third party who may be sourcing their work for use on a given project. This is done to ensure that all involved know their rights given on the work produced from how it’ll be used, being reproduced, pricing for the work, etc.
Due to the size of the company at my internship; the designers are also the photographers, the illustrators, the videographers, etc. As a result, most of the work being used for a project was made and handled by the designer currently working on said project; there is no third party to negotiate with. An example would be when I was tasked in taking photos of a culinary class and would immediately work on them afterwards. I’m also currently working on creating layer masks on photos provided and produced by my supervisor himself who I do have contact with. Because of this work style, there is no confidentiality or non-disclosure agreement to sign since the designer is using their own work. It’s encouraged at the company to produce your own images/works for use when working on a given project so there isn’t any conflict and it’s simply easier when working with content that you have produced.
The company Image & Visual Communications can be seen to an extent as the client they’re producing work for; the company is also the official office of communications for the college. The company is therefore technically the college’s “in-house” design agency, producing promotional materials and work for the brand and client. The company’s logo is the official college logo and brand, which is used in all materials produced for the college made by those who also officially work in the college. The concern in ethics here is simply giving credit to the designer who produced a particular work since it’s already made clear on how the work will be used and why.
Citations:
Crawford, Tad. “Use of Photography”. AIGA Business Ethics. AIGA, 2009.
“Non Disclosure Agreement.” Uploaded by RocketLawyer, Scribd, Scribd, https://www.scribd.com/document/91894008/Non-Disclosure-Agreement.
Rigsby, Lana; Stone, Joanna. “A Client’s Guide to Design”. AIGA Business Ethics. AIGA, 2009.
