Ethics in Graphic Design

Entry 1

A)Copyright awareness is the most important thing for a designer. Designers will inevitably come into contact with many resources. First, they can find inspiration, and second, they can reduce time costs. There are many kinds of resources, some are available and some are not. It depends on whether the resource is free, whether it can be used for commercial use, and whether it can be re-created. It is important for designers to understand these.According to AIGA,”It is important to decide whether the designer or the client will contract with the photographer, since the contracting party will be liable for any money owed to the photographer.” Photos are one of the most easily violated items. Whether using photos or secondary creations, many people use photos as inspiration to create. Many times this ignores the underlying copyright issues, such as the Rogers vs. Koons case and The Associated Press vs. Fairey case. The scope of my internship now is social platforms, which will be seen by many people. In case of infringement, it will be a very big blow to the company’s honor and even your own designer career, so you need to pay attention.

B)The company will sign a non-disclosure agreement with its employees, most of which are for the confidentiality of company information and data, and the copyright that cannot be disclosed for design types of work. It also depends on the contract with the designer and the company. If the contract states that the copyright of the works designed by the designer in the company belongs to the company and the client, then the designer does not have the right to use these works, even in the portfolio.My internship did not sign any non-disclosure agreement. The creations can also be sent freely, as our projects require a lot of publicity.

Citation:

AIGA Business_Ethics 47556770-Use-of-photography-1-MB.pdf

https://99designs.com/blog/tips/5-famous-copyright-infringement-cases/

https://99designs.com/blog/design-resources/copyright-infringement/

(Image From Freepik)

Entry 2

A)I often use a lot of resources in my essay or some presentations, and I will mark the source for credit next to it. The source of the text resources used will also be noted on the last page. This is for non-commercial use. After reading the AIGA Business Ethics Handbook, I learned that there are different aspects of copyright issues besides photos, illustrations and music etc. For example, you will often see some reactions about MVs on YouTube, but most of them will not have Japanese music/MV reactions from Japanese production companies. Because Japan’s copyright restrictions in this area are relatively strict. Of course there are also copyrights about fonts, as students we are free to use fonts for our projects as this is not for commercial use. However most fonts have commercial copyrights. This is also a part that designers can easily overlook. To become a professional designer after work, I need to pay attention to the availability of every resource I have.

B)I think Fairey’s concealment of the destruction of documents and the forgery of false documents proves that he knew he was using someone else’s copyright. He did not communicate with the original author about the copyright before using it, nor did he apologize in time when it was discovered. He steals other people’s inspiration, energy and time so his punishment was well deserved. The case also serves as a reminder to designers not to try to steal other copyrights, which could ruin their careers.

Citation:

https://www.aiga.org/sites/default/files/2021-03/Design-Business-and-Ethics.pdf

https://archive.nytimes.com/artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/09/07/shephard-fairey-is-fined-and-sentenced-to-probation-in-hope-poster-case/

Week 7-Acquisition

During the internship, my supervisor gave me a lot of advice and also taught me a lot. Let me realize that not to blindly promote, but to find the right method, the right tool, so as to maximize the benefits. It would be very helpful for my career if I could become a freelance designer.
At the same time my colleagues are also great. Everyone uses what they are good at to achieve their goals. Also very active in meeting discussions. I think I also need to be more active to speak and discuss and get feedback.
I am honored to have such an internship opportunity, which has taught me a lot.

(Image From Freepik)

Week 6-Self-evaluation and Reflection

(Image From Freepik)

I have been with this non-profit for a few weeks and have learned a few things about operations and advocacy. And I used the design knowledge I learned in college to help promote what I thought was meaningful.
This nonprofit organization’s projects are inherently charitable, which motivates my work. I will think about how to help the publicity, taking into account the effects of different themes and different designs on the project.
At the same time, my supervisor also gave me advice on many aspects. For example, the choice of publicity content; the choice of publicity timing. This will be very helpful for my future career.
In this internship, I learned another skill for designers. It was a wonderful learning experience.

Week 5-Project Process

(Image From Freepik)

Our initial project revolved around a non-profit fundraiser, with fundraisers and blood donations in the streets on World Blood Donor Day. In order to let enough people know about the event, I created a series of social Media posts to promote it. At the same time, there are also many people doing different jobs, such as some people go to the event site to promote (since the venue is too far, unfortunately I was not able to go to the site); some people make event flyers; some people make videos; some people Actively search for influencers to help spread the word. We give each other feedback on each other’s designs. I think it’s interesting for everyone to do the same meaningful thing in what they’re good at.

Week 4 Absorb and Use from Internship

During this internship, I learned a lot from many of my fellow interns. In the meeting, they can put forward a lot of very constructive comments. When the progress of the project is stuck, colleagues can help very well, and even provide some people who can help.(Image From Freepik)
As a designer focusing on social platforms, I have learned that in addition to blindly posting my work online, I also need to understand market traffic. I’ve learned that Wednesday is the busiest day of the week, which means posting a promotional post on this day will allow more people to see the news. This can better achieve the purpose of publicity. After determining the information and needs of the event in the meeting, my working day will be around the theme of the event to provide ideas – design the first draft – the final draft of the steps. This is also interspersed with the process of communicating and discussing with my supervisor and colleagues to get feedback.

Week 3 Responsibilities and Projects

(Image From Freepik)

Since this internship is remoted, we mostly use Google Meeting to conduct our meetings, including my internship. So the atmosphere is more casual. We have 2-3 meetings a week. In addition to weekly meetings to discuss upcoming project activities, I also need to meet with my supervisor to report on my progress for the week.
It was said earlier that organizations need more influence. So I mainly focus on social platforms.I used the Adobe knowledge that I learned from college such as Ai and Ps to help me design. While designing the event promotion, we also need to search for influencers and invite them to participate in the promotion. I discuss my design themes with supervisors, the founders of the organization and gather feedback for improvements.

Week 2 About Organization and my character in the internship.

(Image From Freepik)

Where I currently work is a nonprofit that raises money for charities. They are now trying to expand the field of the organization, so more influencers need to be involved in advocacy organizations. This way they can get more donations to run some of the different charities under the organization.

So in order to achieve this, I need to help promote the organization as a designer and search for more influencers to promote.

Week 1 Searching and Obtaining an Internship

Before this Internship course,I just finish the class of portfolio.This means I have a well-developed personal portfolio, personal website and resume. This can help me organize my information faster before submitting my resume.When looking for a job, I search for careers related to me on major job sites. At the same time, since I am looking forward to working in a publishing company, I also pay attention to the trend of internship recruitment in major publishing houses. For me, professionalism as a designer is far from enough. so i try to improve myself.

After this course started, I expressed my work willingness to Prof. Nicolaou with my portfolio website and resume. Soon, Prof. Nicolaou offered me an internship.

It is a non-profit organization. They obtain resources through advertising and other means, and finally donate part of the income to charitable foundations. I thought it was a very meaningful job, so I  sent my portfolio and resume to the supervisor. The supervisor is very efficient. We confirmed the interview time within a day. The interview went well. The supervisor told me my job content and goals in great detail. This is where my internship career began.

(Image From Freepik)

COMD1112-trip report

Original file link with Images:

 I often hear people say to me that Blue is their favorite color. Why? Because Blue can make people calm and comfort. In psychology, Blue is also giving the sense of depress and melancholy. 

In this exhibition of “Blue”,  I first chose the lesson of landscapes. Taking about Blue, people would always think about “sky” or “ocean”. This painting is the  one using more colors than blue in this lesson. It makes the Blue stand out more.

Once I saw this painting, I thought that is the sea wave rolling sands. Blue and White make the sea wave texture by using splash color.  But when I mentioned the blue galaxy on the top, it put me to the universe. The painting highlights the blue color with two different landscapes style. It just likes the title “Symphony” that violent waves collide with the unfathomable galaxy. It is very interesting and beautiful.

In shape lesson, I like Landon Metz’s watercolor painting more than Henri Matisse Matisse’s  paper cutting. The shapes Metz painted are soft and smooth. Even though he uses many creamy white for the background, the blue still makes attention. The shadow of Blue make it pop up. The using of Benjamin Moore colors makes the sense of comfort. To answer the question from this lesson, the similar thing from those two painting is they both using different color to make the contrast. And both are abstract. However, Innes uses rectangle shapes, straight lines and high contrast with blue, black(dark) and white(light). It makes the painting more clam and deep. Metz uses curve lines and low saturation that gives more active sense. I would like to put Metz’s painting in my bedroom because the colors are making me more comfortable.

The third lesson is storytelling. Andrew Sendor uses illustrator with the interrelation of photorealism and invented narrative structures. I researched about this “Saturday’s hallucinations”, the story is around a young woman called “Saturday”. She is a free-spirited professional mountain climber and horse trainer.Her mysterious disappearance  during a mountaineering expedition led to a series of conflicting events that led her family and friends to assume the worst. Sendor’s portrayals electrify the psychological drama of Saturday’s memories, relationships, and prophesies. He not only uses illustrator painting, but also uses collage from the background to “Saturday”. The blue tone is making the sense of mystery for Sendor’s story.  You can feel the changes of the Blue levels.

As the dominant color of cool color tones, when blue goes darker, it makes more sense of unfathomable than Black does.