1. Ethics
Motivation or behaviour based on
ideas of right and wrong.

2. Ethics
Personal
Professional
Research

3. Personal Ethics
Beyond scope of one lecture
- but generally we all make day-to-day
decisions based on our own internalized sense
of what is right and wrong

4. Personal Ethics
Unfortunately, we often suspend this code
when we work
- may be at odds with corporate policies
- fear of reprisal
- not “my” problem

5. Professional Ethics
Of Communication Designers
(or those involved in similar image-making
roles—art direction, illustration, styling, etc)

6. Professional Ethics
Rules of Professional Conduct
for RGD Members (Ontario) and SGDC
Members (BC)
These rules are written to guide Members in their
professional practice to ensure a fair balance between
the needs of members, clients, the profession, the
government and areas of society where communication
designers hold influence.

7. SGDC
Responsibility to the Organization and Profession
Responsibility to Other Members
Responsibility to Clients and Employers
Responsibility to Society and the Environment
Competitions and Fees
Intellectual Property and Authorship

8. Responsibility to the
Organization and Profession
Basically
- follow the rules as set out by the association
- obey laws

9. Responsibility to other
members [and designers]
Should not make false, exaggerated, misleading or
malicious statements against the professional
reputation or the practice of graphic design performed
by another member.
Be fair in criticism and do not unfairly denigrate the
work or reputation of another member.

10. Responsibility to other
members [and designers]
Should not knowingly solicit or accept a project from
a client where there is reason to believe another
person has already been engaged or employed on
the project, unless you contact that other person.
(ie make sure they were paid properly)

11. Responsibility to other
members [and designers]
Should not directly compete with another person
for a project by means of unethical inducements.
(ie no kickbacks)

12. Responsibility to clients
and employers
Should not work simultaneously on assignments
that create a conflict of interest without the
agreement of both clients or employers
- ie can’t work for Shiseido and L’Oreal at the
same time unless they both know and are OK with
it.

13. Responsibility to clients
and employers
Should not disclose confidential information
received from a client or employer except as
authorized by law or with consent of the client
or employer

14. Responsibility to clients
and employers
Should not withdraw services except for
reasonable cause and upon reasonable
written notice.
Ie can’t quit to go travel the world just cause you
feel like it—need to prepare client and help
continuity of services

15. Competitions and fees
Should not take part in or conduct open
competitions for commercial purposes on
speculation.
What is “on spec”?
Why no competitions?

16. Competitions and fees
May compete in any design competition for
projects of general, community or public interest
if they are of a non-profit nature.

17. Competitions and fees
Should not take part in a limited competition for
work unless each participant in the competition is
paid an equivalent compensation for the work
involved.

18. Competitions and fees
Should not work for a client or employer without
compensation, with the exception of occasional
pro bono work for charitable purposes or for the
work performed for family members.
ie don’t work for free! It devalues what we do.

19. Intellectual property
and authorship
Should not knowingly copy the design or work of
another person without the consent or agreement
of the person who owns the copyright or their
agents.

20. Intellectual property
and authorship
Should not represent, pass off, or claim
authorship of the design of another person without
consent.

21. Intellectual property
and authorship
Should not take sole credit for a design on which
other designers have collaborated. And must
clearly identify your specific responsibilities and
involvement in the design.
eg portfolios, be honest, employers see many
folios

22. Responsibility to society
and the environment
Should not do or fail to do anything that
constitutes a deliberate or reckless disregard for
the health and safety of the communities in which
you live and practice.

23. The environment
Generally pretty vague.
Although designers don't really have much control over
how printing plants operate, they do play an influential
role in how those businesses conduct themselves.
Since designers specify what type of paper they will be
using for their designs they have tremendous power
over what is available. As trendsetters and
communicators, they have the ability to affect the
habits of industries outside of our own.

24. Sustainability
Meeting the needs of the present without
compromising the ability of future generations to
meet their own needs.

25. Harry Potter
By printing Harry Potter on 100%
post-consumer recycled paper
Raincoast Books, Harry Potter's
Canadian publisher saved nearly
30,000 trees.
If Scholastic had printed the book
on 100% recycled paper, its 10.8-
million print run could have saved
217,475 trees.

26. Responsibility to society
and the environment
Designers shall take a responsible role in the
visual portrayal of people, the consumption of
natural resources, and the protection of animals
and the environment.

27. Social Responsibility
Designers shall take a responsible role in the visual
portrayal of people.

28. Representation
What role does representation play in the
construction of social reality?
Tyo what extent is retouching unethical?

29. Social Responsibility
www.dove.us

30. Retouching

31. Retouching

34. Social Responsibility
Designers shall take a responsible role in the visual
portrayal of people.

35. Context
Half of Canadian women (51%) have been victims of
at least one act of physical or sexual violence since
the age of 16.
Of all victims of crimes against the person in 2000,
females made up the vast majority of victims of
sexual assaults (86%), criminal harassment (78%)
and kidnapping/hostage-taking or abduction (67%).

42. Benetton
Instead of showing Benettons products in its
advertisements, they have chosen to show images
related to important world issues in a claimed attempt
to raise awareness.

43. In 1989 Benetton became the first company to
eliminate pictures of its products from its
advertisements. In their place, Benetton uses
powerful images of AIDS victims, racism, war,
and death row inmates.

54. Luciano Benetton says that he is “only interested
in the world and people…I have always been
sympathetic to people’s problems, to minority
rights, birth control, disease, wars, racism,
religious intolerance. I cannot offer solutions to
these problems, but if I can make people more
aware than that is all I offer”

55. Benetton is not in the business of raising social
conscience; it is selling clothing.
Does their depiction of issues devalue whatever
message any advertisement ever tries to tell us
because it is associated with money?
Or is any conciousness-raising legitimate
regardless of motivation?

56. By purchasing Benetton products, does the
consumer feel that he has helped the problems that
Benetton puts in its ads?
Are consumers taking action because of seeing these
ads or do they feel that by purchasing Benettons
products they think that they are helping.

57. Research Ethics
Why?

58. Research Ethics
because without controls, people do some
random stuff

59. Milgram Experiment, 1961

60. Milgram Experiment, 1961
-huge ethical issues
- deception of participant
- obvious distress of participants being
“forced” to do something they didn’t need to

61. Other cases
- many other such examples, often worse
- Nazi research
- American research in the 1940s war into syphilis

62. so...
- appealing to people’s sense of ethics not
working
- standards needed
- all universities now must adhere to standards.

63. Principles
Respect for human dignity forms the basis of seven
ethical principles in research:

64. Principles
Requirement for Free and Informed Consent.
Individuals are generally presumed to have the
capacity to make free and informed decisions.
Free and informed consent should be sought
from potential research subjects or their
representatives.

65. Principles
Respect for Vulnerable Persons.
Individuals with diminished competence and/or
decision-making capacity are considered
vulnerable. The interests of the vulnerable
individuals should be protected.

66. Principles
Respect for Privacy and Confidentiality.
The access, control and dissemination of
personal information of research subjects should
be protected.

67. Principles
Respect for Justice and Inclusiveness.
The benefits and burdens of research should be
fairly distributed across society. Ethics review
should have fair standards and procedures.

68. Principles
Balancing Harms and Benefits.
The foreseeable harms associated with the
research should not outweigh the anticipated
benefits.

69. Principles
Minimizing Harm.
Harm to research subjects should be avoided,
prevented or minimized.

70. Principles
Maximizing Benefit.
The benefits of research for the subjects themselves or
for society as a whole should be maximized.

71. Faculty Responsibility
Each of us has completed an online tutorial and have
submitted to a formal ethics review for the course.
WE have accepted responsibility for your research.
So we need to know what you’re doing!!!

72. Student Responsibility
Complete an online tutorial and submit this certificate to
your instructor:

73. Student Responsibility
Do NOT conduct any primary research (including
interviews) until you have had your instructor sign off
on process.
We will want:
• project description
• identification of risk(s)
• description of research protocol + questionnaires
• copy of informed consent forms
• plans for dissemination of information