Monday, 15 January 2018

Seminar: Ethics and Sustainability in Graphic Design

Ethics

1. 'moral principals that govern a person's behaviour or the conducting of an activity
2. the branch of knowledge concerned with moral principals (within philosophy) -

Roberts 2006&7 book - ethics in graphics
- the pursuit of truth 
- the property of 'goodness' 
- testing ideas against various models 
- electronic communication has now almost destroyed distance and time
- 'balance the forces' in our own way as responsible individuals 

Q: do you think ethics is important in graphic design? why?
Q: what defines 'good' in graphic design?
Q: what does ethical practice entail in graphic design - what principles?

influencing peoples views on the world, ruling their actions, creativity with a purpose, 
leading by example 

Steven Heller (2003) citizen designer
- food design is good citizenship - Milton Glaser
- a designer must be professionally, culturally and socially responsible for the impact of their design has on the citizenry 
- the kinds of messages you create 
- an elegant logo can legitimise the illegitimate 
- a beautiful package can spike up the sales of an inferior product 

Katherine McCoy (2003)
- "remove our freedom of speech and graphic designers might never notice, we are trained a profession that feels political or social concerns are either extraneous to our work, or inappropriate"
- active citizens , we have a voice and that voice means something and we should be using it appropriately 

On who to work for: A.C. Grayling:
Even if you don't personally agree with your client's message, must you maintain your morals?
moral compass - we shouldn't be pressing to hard to question the moral highness of our client's we cannot sensor freedom of speech. The ability of individuals to process messages in their own sence is important to nurture - we cannot make decisions for people 
On self and aesthetics: 
- if you want to do good in the world you've got to do good to yourself
- take care to be a more flourishing person 
- undermining our ability to be good to others
- to live in a pleasing, enticing and attractive social and political setting increases the quality of life 
- the quality of our experience

Jaqueline Roach 
- isn't it better not to walk away from jobs on ethical grounds but to ask if there;s some way that you can have influence, something you can bring - job is about persuasion 

Richard Holloway 
- instrumental and intrinsic good - good for something else vs good in itself 
- fine art can be considered for itself and not for social renewal 
- good art is also good for other people - good design improves life for everyone because it can become something that is lovely in its own way 
- you're there to consider your audiences and what value your design has to people and society in general

Themes:
  • Being a good citizen
  • Who to work for
  • Influences and persuasion
  • Aesthetics and ethics
  • value and purpose 

3 principals of ethical practice to adopt:
  1. Be tolerant - all inclusive design 
  2. Looking after yourself will help you impact positively on others 
  3. Don't do things that you don't agree with 
The Designer's Responsibility to Audience Members and Users (AGA)
* recognise the need to include audience members and users whenever possible in the process of developing effective communication 
* main concern to create communications that are helpful to users and meets their needs with respect - intentionally misleading or confusing is a negative reflection
* not knowingly use information 
* consider needs of all potential audiences - elderly or physically challenged
* contributes to wellbeing of the general public - health and safety 
* honest candid and timely communications, fostering free flow of information 

Sustainability 

Not just green - Environmental stewardship / Social equity / Economic prosperity 
Getting a medium and balance between all three for sustainability to be achieved 
Compliment each other - manageable

(carbon footprint poster series would promote) saving money - easy to achieve without going out of way - helps the planet 

Social - people and societies 
Economic - capital and growth 
Environmental - the planet 

Q: How does sustainability relate to ethics 
- long lasting, more beneficial in the long term, more mindful, a path to ethical design 
- more functional and specific to a project basis 

Eric Benson (in Sherin, 2008)
  1. is this the best method to communicate the message
  2. what is the impact of making this piece
  3. how can we lessen the impact if we print the piece 
If you can't lessen the impact then should you be doing the piece?
Initial discussions:

  1. respect and care for the community 
  2. improve the quality of life
  3. conserve earth's vitality and diversity
  4. minimise the depletion of nonrenewable resources
  5. change personal attitudes and practises to keep with the planet's carrying capacity
using your visual communications srategies, creativity, technique and skills to influence some sort of positive change of attitude through your design work rather than just say packaging

Best practices to design sustainable - putting into context:
  1. Design for re-use / longevity
  2. design for cyclically, not linearly 
  3. choose recycle/ nontoxic materials 
  4. minimise waste
  5. minimise ink coverage 
  6. choose vendors that use renewable energy and employ socially equitable and environmentally friendly business practices
  7. educate consumers about the lifecycle issues through messaging/ marketing 
  8. encourage others to design sustainably 
However, is this always achievable as a freelancer as opposed to having mass resources to achieve these goals?

active organisations practicing sustainably & ethical design:

  • Creative , Manchester
  • Footprint, Leeds




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