Category: Ethics in Graphic Design

a）In my past projects and assignments, I sometimes refer to a lot of resources and works for inspiration, but I don’t copy them because I know it is unethical and even illegal to use other people’s works without permission. However, sometimes when I do painting practice, I will imitate some painter’s painting, but my behavior is not an infringement, because in AIGA’s GUIDE TO COPYRIGHT, the part of Fair use is written that one of the criteria for determining whether a work is fair or infringing is whether it is used for profit, and the painting I imitate was not for profit, but only as a personal training of painting.

The way I give credit to the artist is by indicating the original author and uploading the artist’s original work, so that people who see my paintings know that my paintings are only imitated. I think that using this method will not only improve my own painting and let more people know about the original artist, but also allow viewers to give me feedback by comparing the original with my copied work.

b) I think the Shepard Fairey case is a good reminder for designers and everyone who needs to use different resources, because some people will use other people’s work without any statement (for example, save as an image in Google Images and use it) but they won’t get any punishment in most cases, but this does not mean that this is correct, If your works that infringe copyright is influential enough or found by the original author, then you are likely to be severely punished, like the Shepard Fairey Case, so designers must not take chances to casually use other people’s works.

https://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/13/arts/design/13fairey.html

A) As a communication design student, I often refer to and use a lot of resources when doing projects and creating my own work, which is unavoidable, but as an original writer I also deeply understand the importance of copyright, so I think designers should follow the AIGA ethical guidelines so that they can use resources without infringing on the author’s copyright.

Here is an example of how I follow the AIGA guidelines for ethics. I often need a variety of sound resources when I am working on a video project, so I have collected a lot of free sound resource sites, most of these sites are free, but I need to mention the source of the resource, so I usually add the source of the sound at the end of the film. I think this is important for design beginners or students because they don’t have the money to buy the resources that they need to pay for, but by mentioning the source of the resource they can also promote the resource site, so it’s the best of both worlds. At the time of my internship, my company also followed the AIGA code of ethics by purchasing memberships to various paid resource sites so that employees could use the various resources without violating the AIGA code of ethics.

https://www.aiga.org/

B) I didn’t know much about the content of the confidentiality agreement because my internship didn’t involve in-depth or confidential information, so I didn’t sign a confidentiality agreement. However, after I read the sample confidentiality agreement, I have a better understanding of the content of the confidentiality agreement and I also know the things that the employees need to follow after signing the confidentiality agreement. I also have a better understanding of the importance of NDAs, and I think that if an employee’s work involves confidential information, the company must make the employee sign an NDA, because if the employee does not sign an NDA, the employee may reveal confidential information and cause damage to the company and the client. I also think that most interns do not sign confidentiality agreements, because interns are only non-regular employees and companies may not give very important and confidential work to interns. As for the intern’s journal, I think it can be shared in class as long as it is approved by the client and the supervisor, as it is not a business practice and will not cause major damage to the client or the company.

https://www.scribd.com/document/91894008/Non-Disclosure-Agreement