Ethical Reasoning Entry 1

The first journal entry will discuss their experience at the internship related to the ethical guidelines discussed in the AIGA guide.

1a)

Photography is an instrument that democratizes everything, when a picture is shot, it is universally ready to be experienced by all. A moment captured in time, frozen for all of the eternality.

Since I work in a print shop, images work a little differently. From what our policy states, we are not allowed to print out copyrighted images at all. Through copyright laws, by having us print professional images or images that are copyrighted we are profiting off the copyright owner’s work. For instance, if you pay a photographer to take photos of you and you want to print them out we are not legally allowed to. This is because my internship did not get the copyrights to print them out from the photographer. This is the same when people buy invitations from Etsy and go to staples to print them out. We did not get the designer’s permission to make a profit from it, so we cannot print it out for you. My internship, however, provides the employee with a bunch of resources that we can use to get the job done. For instance, if you need a promotional flyer for your construction business, we have a royalty-free database that we can use to produce that flyer. In the AIGA guides, it states that ” Most photographers seek to sell only limited rights.” The majority of the time, the print store will not know what these limited rights are unless we can contact them.

Sources:

1. “Use of Photography” AIGA. (2001). PDF. New York City; Richard Grefé, AIGA.
2. “Guide to Copyright” AIGA. (2001). PDF. New York City; Richard Grefé, AIGA.
3. “Standard Form of Agreement for Design Services” AIGA. (2001). PDF. New York City; Richard Grefé, AIGA.

1b) 

When looking at ethics in a professional setting, it’s my job to keep files confidential. I print out photos for a forensic pathologist. Every time he comes in, we have a verbal agreement that these photos can not be looked at by the public.

 I have not had to sign any confidentiality or non-disclosure agreement. The only thing I had to sign when I started working at the print and marketing department was the agreement on what not to print. This means any copyrighted images. The document I had signed broke down the dos and don’ts of the printing world. It’s a common thing around all print shops, we are not allowed to print out anything without permission. Unless you are the original designer or photographer. Of course, as a designer, I understand the importance of ethics and would never disrespect the original work of a fellow creator. 

Sources:

1. “Standard Form of Agreement for Design Services” AIGA. (2001). PDF. New York City; Richard Grefé, AIGA.
2. “Use of Photography” AIGA. (2001). PDF. New York City; Richard Grefé, AIGA.
3. “Guide to Copyright” AIGA. (2001). PDF. New York City; Richard Grefé, AIGA.