Ethics in Graphic Design: 1A and 1B

1a) Ethics is a part of our world, and it is especially important in the design community. Knowing whether something is good or bad for yourself, the client, and your company is what ethics in design entails. To create ethically great work that is easily read by the public, you must be self-aware of what you’re designing. Not only does it need to be well understood by the general public, but it also needs to represent the company for which you work. There are expectations of what is expected of you as a designer for a company and whether you can meet these expectations. For my internship, we must use their logo on posters, flyers, and digital monitors. The logo is not to be changed in color or distorted in any way; we were also given a brand guide with the logo’s colors and fonts so that we don’t change the color. 

Using photography in design work comes with a lot of responsibility. “There must be agreement as to the fee and what is purchased for the fee,” according to the AIGA guidebook The Use of Photography. Most photographers only want to sell limited rights. If more rights are desired, they will charge a higher fee.” (91) Photographers on Unsplash, Pexels, and Pixabay allow you to download their images for free with limitations. With free images, you must give credit to the photographer. There are other options on there that you must pay for, but depending on the fee you paid, you have a greater number of options for using the images. “But design is about the underlying structure of communicating—the idea, not merely the surface qualities,” says AIGA in A Client’s Guide to Design: How to Get the Most Out of the Process. (18) This section of the guide reminded me of the importance of client proposals. Client proposals demonstrate that you comprehended the client’s request. This also allows you to truly understand what they do not want and what they do want.

The Cariou vs. Prince case demonstrates neglect to read copyright rules and the limitations that each photographer has on their work. Patrick Cariou is a French photographer best known for his dramatic portraits of communities based on ethnographic research. Richard Prince is an appropriation artist, which means he transforms other people’s work to create new meaning on his own. In 2008, Prince appropriated 41 images from Cariou’s photography book, claiming that he reinterpreted Cariou’s work rather than stealing it. This, according to Cariou, was not fair use and constituted a copyright infringement. The judge ruled in Cariou’s favor in 2011 because the changes Prince made to the photographs were not significant enough to create a new meaning.

I agree with the judges and I am on Cariou’s side because he did not ask for permission to do this to 41 images. The changes were so minor that you couldn’t tell it was a new image; Prince simply photoshopped a guitar on and drew colors over the eyes. Without knowing the context, seeing Prince’s version of the photograph makes it appear as if he took the photograph. Cariou’s photography was not credited, giving the impression that it was taken by Prince.

Sources:

• Ellison, Kaitlyn. “5 Famous Copyright Infringement Cases (and What You Can Learn).” 99designs, 22 Apr. 2022, 99designs.com/blog/tips/5-famous-copyright-infringement-cases.
• Richard, Grefe. “A Client’s Guide to Design: How to Get the Most Out of the Process” AIGA.    PDF. New York City, 2001
• Richard, Grefe. “Use of Photography” AIGA. PDF. New York City, 2001

1b) Most projects will require you to sign a non-disclosure agreement form. This should be discussed with the designer and the client. This non-disclosure agreement form essentially tells the designer what information they can and cannot share in a specific time frame, or if they can share it at all. This semester, I was not required to sign a non-disclosure agreement form for my internship, and it was not mentioned at any point during training. The information I’ve gotten so far isn’t confidential, but when we talk about logos, photography, and upcoming events, my internship would probably tell me not to share any of the information publicly. I’m sure that in the future, I’ll get client work that requires a design for a different set of individuals, and I’ll be told to be cautious with the information and not share it with anyone outside of the team.

I believe we should have one because we use a logo provided to us on the majority of our designs and we should not be allowed to use that logo in a different format anywhere else following the brand guide. We should probably not be able to share products for upcoming events with anyone else before they are released.

Sources:

• Richard, Grefe. “Design Business + Ethics” AIGA. PDF. New York City, 2001, https://www.makinggood.ac.nz/media/1278/aiga_47555891-design-business-and-ethics-1-.pdf
• “Non Disclosure Agreement.” Scribd, www.scribd.com/document/91894008/Non-Disclosure-Agreement.