What Are Ethics?
From my understanding, ethics are behaviors that are considered good practice under different settings, for example, medical practices or business practice in general. Britannica’s definition of ethics – “ethics, also called moral philosophy, the discipline concerned with what is morally good and bad and morally right and wrong. The term is also applied to any system or theory of moral values or principles.” In sum, good ethics means behaving in a manner that is perceived as good. In the example of medical practices, having informed consent from the patient is considered good ethical behavior.
Ethics and Design
In design, having good ethical practices is important to prevent legal issues. It helps protect the integrity of your work and others. When a designer creates materials or designs, it is their property, and they own the copyrights to them. The original design cannot be copied, and if a license of use was purchased, the terms of use must be followed. It is wrong to copy or distribute someone else’s design or material and is considered an unethical practice that can be pursued in court. Sometimes designers allow the use of their designs as long as you give credit to the source. Material that can be copyrighted include but is not limited to fonts, photographs, graphic design, images created by using computers, and more. Designers should be aware of the ethical practices of copyrighted materials as it gives original designers full control of how their work can be used.
Ethical Practices at Business Connect
At the beginning of my internship at Business Connect, I discussed with the communication director if it was okay for me to blog about my experiences and showcase the work I designed for them in my portfolio. Michelle (communications director) expressed no concern; however, it was only a verbal agreement. One of my major concerns was my access to resources and materials the company would provide for me to work with. Luckily, Business Connect uses Flickr to organize their photographs, which their team members often take for company use. If the required images for a project were not available on their Flickr, I could use Unsplash (a royalty-free, high-quality image database). Business Connect also uses Google Drive folders to store their logos and other design materials. Access is only given to people who are a part of the team. In my work, Michelle asked me to make sure that logos unrelated to the company be avoided to prevent potential issues. Throughout my design work, the fonts used were under licensed parameters.
