1A) It is very important for designers to understand and adhere to the guidelines of ethical reasoning and perspectives. As a student partaking in the CUNY Research Foundation’s Spring Forward internship program, my responsibilities and experiences lie between both the foundation and the business I have been chosen to work with, hustle + flo. From day one, there has been a streamlined application process with accessible formats to communicate with administration, from transcribed zoom calls, to recordings, email and text communications. From there on, we were given clear visual, audio and textual directions on our next steps, streamlined in digital formats shared through email. We had submitted both our personal and school emails, so communications were addressed to both to prevent any missed communications.
Within the business I am working with, the images that I have worked with for my assignments have been the property of hustle + flo co, in private photoshoots they had commissioned artists for. These photographs include the CEO, products that are sold on the website, the origins of the cbd products (farmlands in NY), and photos of the team holding the products for lifestyle. When testing designs, I was advised to also utilize Unsplash’s free stock images with proper attribution credits. AIGA’s “Use of Photography” (p93) emphasizes the point of using photography with notice of credentials, such as placing copyright adjacent to used imagery based on the stock agency’s appropriate licensing agreement. While I did search Unsplash stock images and placed them in some of the temporary design mock-ups, we decided to go with our own branded imagery to best represent our vision and message. This action also prevents the small risk of copyrighted content that may have been unknowingly placed on Unsplash, which is free for all users to submit content. Though, like mentioned in AIGA’s “Guide to Copyright” (p85), having content acquired through “work-for-hire” can be problematic. From what I’ve observed, though, the photographer in charge of the brand’s images had a written contract that allows both parties to be protected.
As for the use of content such as trademark and logos, our business has a dedicated folder on platforms such as: Canva, Dropbox and Google Drive for document sharing. This is important and very useful that the assets are shared across multiple channels, so they are always accessible if needed, along with us downloading the asset folders on our computers. When designing on platforms such as Canva, I take advantage of the folder there, for seamless placements of content in designs such as for social media posts or other mock-ups. As for the logo, we have a dedicated folder for a black text version of the company title and a white text version, both versions allow for easy use on a range of backgrounds, be they images or solid colors. I was able to experiment with design mock-ups using both asset versions, which saved me a lot of time of attempting to edit it into the inverse color. The entire brand has a thorough workbook of guidelines tailoring to h + f, and the design principles that it must follow in its work and portrayal across media channels. From a limited specific range of theme colors, to the UI of text ranging from titles to paragraphs, to the specific typefaces that are permitted to represent the brand, and more. All of these key elements are important to keep the brand consistent, which is one of its core values: transparency and consistency.
References:
“Use of Photography” AIGA. (2009). PDF. New York City; Tad Crawford, AIGA.
“Guide to Copyright” AIGA. (2009). PDF. New York City; Tad Crawford, AIGA.
