Initial Thoughts on Design Ethics

Ethics in design can be interperetated in a multitude of ways whether that be the ethics of the designer themselves choosing what projects they take on based on personal ethics another example could be whether it is an ethical piece of design - the point of the design being to inform/educate the viewer on the subject. There are miscellaneous ways in which ethics can be/are incorporated into design.

who you design for  - whether you choose to design for a conglomerate company or an independent business and the ethical issues that are raised by both - what/who the company deals with, what do they put out into the world - product/ advertising and most importantly what they are asking you to design for is it a product that you agree with and isn't being marketed in a way that you agree with for example the advertising for mcdonalds is aimed at children - through advertising, kids meals and toys raises the question is it ethically correct to market fast food to children and what do the designers/agencies who produce their campaigns think about this. another example would be the people who design/integrate internet pop-ups - with majority of which on most streaming sites being porn/cam site themed this raises numerous ethical conundrums e.g is it right to put these in a space accessible by children to the social implications of these pop ups

looking past your employers there are material ethics - paper/printing inks as well as printing methods that raise eco ethical issues - sustainability being the big one. some paper companies work on a replanting scheme where for each tree felled 2 more are planted this encourages and there are bio friendly printing inks available as well - you can also recycle ink cartridges & paper to cut down on your carbon footprint.

there are the ethics of companies who use design to entice it's target market through the discourse of advertising and product placement into the buying of a product/way of life as well as the ethics of similar companies albeit bigger & more global such as google who sell research/advertising data to companies who from this can devise product target markets as well as advertising campaigns based on recent trends

tbc

some key texts ;
bruce mau - massive change
cradle to grave
do good design