1a) By prioritizing ethics in our work, we ensure that our clients are protected from all the negative consequences of unethical practices; the first chapter from Design Business + Ethics by AIGA discusses and stresses the importance of ethical practices that reflect this statement. The chapter “A Client’s Guide to Design” emphasizes that client-and-designer clear communication, transparency, and mutual understanding are essential to fostering a good relationship, one that is founded on trust and respect, and for protecting the integrity of the work as well as the client from negative consequences of unethical practices, which in turn can hurt both parties. At my internship, this is not something I stress about because I use screenshots of the platform for the release notes and help desk articles to show step-by-step instructions that I am tasked with. I also work with data, which I then feed into the organization’s platform to produce sites and visual interfaces for the client.
1b) In my second internship blog entry I briefly touched on paperwork, activating logins, and accessing the backend parts of the organization’s website and custom platform. But before getting to that part, I had to sign at least two different confidentiality or non-disclosure agreements that look very similar to this example. How I am navigating that in terms of journaling about my experience and what I am working on, is to generalize the description of the work, making sure I am not going into granular details, not disclosing client information and the data we gather for me to work with for their internal sites.
References:
- Why Every Designer Needs a Code of Ethics
- AIGA Design and Business Ethics Handbook, “A Client’s Guide to Design”
- AGDA Code Of Ethics
- Example of Non-Disclosure Agreement
