Ethics is unbelievably important in and even outside the world of design. It’s a standard that every individual should live by and have regardless of your background, birth, nationality, etc. Even individuals in groups widely accepted such as the salvation army or frowned upon in such as the Taliban, Al-Qaeda and others have some form of Ethical code they operate on that forms the basis of who they are, what they stand for, and what they hope to achieve. To put it simply it’s practically what separates Humans from the basic creatures of the animal kingdom. While I was checking out the many links and articles about designers and ethics and a few points stood out to me. One example was the article from the design shack link (https://designshack.net/articles/business-articles/why-every-designer-needs-a-code-of-ethics/) it was an excerpt from the Academy of design professionals that read as: “Design professionals Shall not, in the conduct of their professional practice, knowingly or unknowingly violate the law.”. I agree on not knowingly breaking the law, but something is unknowingly done because you as a person were ignorant of it. You can’t promise to not do something you weren’t even aware of, the unknowingly portion should be removed in my opinion. I’m sure the Academy of design professionals means well but your ethical code should be achievable. I also took note of the Ethics of design article in the links (https://ethicsofdesign.wordpress.com/summary/). It mentioned how ethics is “often overruled by financial issues or the prospect of career progression.” This is 100% true and unfortunate; there are those who will do anything for the sake of their carriers regardless of what it means for others and even themselves later down the long road of life. The finance bit is a bit sad though since one can’t live in the streets and needs to eat. It’s sad but I’m also aware living an ethical code may not lead you down a gold paved road of success but you’ll probably be able to sleep comfortably and maybe avoid a massive lawsuit down the road which is counter intuitive if money was your end goal. I also found it’s excerpt on the Carex(PZ Cussons) brand at the forefront of UK hand-sanitation to be an interesting situation regarding Ethics. They apparently used fear mongering to push their product during pandemics to essentially up their products sales with full knowledge that such a campaign isn’t good for anyone’s mental health and can even have detrimental effects from overuse. They even prayed on families fears for the wellbeing of their children. Some would say it was necessary but like most cases like this we find out it wasn’t many years or a decade after the fact when the damage is done and those affiliated have dispersed; Never seems to be anyone around to protect one from their “protectors”. I found this interesting simply because of our current pandemic and how it will be remembered 10 plus years down the line.
