Ethics In Design And Communication

This timely collection brings together critical, analytic, historical, and practical studies to address what ethics means in the practice of design. Designers face the same challenges as everyone else in the complex conditions of contemporary cultural life-choices about consumption, waste, exploitation, ecological damage, and political problems built into the supply chains on which the global systems of inequity currently balance precariously. But designers face the additional dilemma that their paid work is often entangled with promoting the same systems such critical approaches seek to redress: how to reconcile this contradiction, among others, in seeking to chart an ethical course of action while still functioning effectively in the world. Ethics in Design and Communication acknowledges the complexity of this subject matter, while also demonstrating that in the ongoing struggle towards an equitable and sustainable world, the talents of design and critical thought are essential. Featured case studies include graphic design internships today, the dark web, and media coverage of the 2016 US presidential election. The fact that within this book such a wide array of practitioners, scholars, critics, and professionals commit to addressing current injustices is already a positive sign. Nonetheless, it is essential that we guard against confusing the coercive force of moral imperatives with ethical deliberation when conceiving a foundation for action.

This timely collection brings together critical, analytic, historical, and practical studies to address what ethics means in the practice of design. Designers face the same challenges as everyone else in the complex conditions of contemporary cultural life-choices about consumption, waste, exploitation, ecological damage, and political problems built into the supply chains on which the global systems of inequity currently balance precariously. But designers face the additional dilemma that their paid work is often entangled with promoting the same systems such critical approaches seek to redress: how to reconcile this contradiction, among others, in seeking to chart an ethical course of action while still functioning effectively in the world. Ethics in Design and Communication acknowledges the complexity of this subject matter, while also demonstrating that in the ongoing struggle towards an equitable and sustainable world, the talents of design and critical thought are essential. Featured case studies include graphic design internships today, the dark web, and media coverage of the 2016 US presidential election. The fact that within this book such a wide array of practitioners, scholars, critics, and professionals commit to addressing current injustices is already a positive sign. Nonetheless, it is essential that we guard against confusing the coercive force of moral imperatives with ethical deliberation when conceiving a foundation for action.

The author seeks to marry abstract ideas with practical application, removing some of the mystique that surrounds philosophy and highlighting its relevance for all of us. It will engage designers in a debate about their profession and in an analysis of their value and worth.

Consider this simple conundrum: is it possible to be a bad good designer or a good bad designer for that matter? If the answer is yes then which is preferable and what does this reveal about the relationship between ethics and design practice? Good: An Introduction to Ethics in Graphic Design seeks to answer these questions. Graphic design is in ethical flux. Good comes at a time of growing disenchantment with style-led design solutions and the pursuit of self-expression alone and yet vacuous design judgements are still made without any real analysis of the criteria used. The terms good and bad are repeatedly applied without qualification whilst the relationship between personal and professional ethics is far too contentious to do any more than give cursory consideration. Despite recent manifestos and themed publications on design for good graphic designers have yet to examine what such terms really mean: in a time of relativism it has been far too divisive to do so. Good takes philosophy as its starting point but is not a philosophy book. It seeks to marry abstract ideas with practical application, removing some of the mystique that surrounds philosophy and highlighting its relevance for us all. Designers are people. This book seeks to engage designers in a debate about their profession and in an analysis of their value and worth. The decisions we make define us, in our ethical choices we reveal who we are.

This book shows how an emphasis on design can help us usefully apply ethics to a world built on institutions and technology.

The value of design for contributing to environmental solutions and a sustainable future is increasingly recognised. It spans many spheres of everyday life, and the ethical dimension of design practice that considers environmental, social and economic sustainability is compelling. Approaches to design recognise design as a practice that can transform human experience and understanding, expanding its role beyond stylistic enhancement. The traditional roles of design, designer and designed object are therefore redefined through new understanding of the relationship between the material and immaterial aspects of design where the design product and the design process are embodiments of ideas, values and beliefs. This multi-disciplinary approach considers how to create design which is at once aesthetically pleasing and also ethically considered, with contributions from fields as diverse as architecture, fashion, urban design and philosophy. The authors also address how to teach design based subjects while instilling a desire in the student to develop ethical work practices, both inside and outside the studio.

Communicative visuals, including written text, have a diverse range of forms and purposes. In this volume, the authors show that it is possible to both describe and explain the major properties of diverse visual-communication forms and purposes within a common theoretical framework of information design and ethics. For those unaccustomed to thinking of written text as a visual form belonging to the same general class as other visual forms (colour, texture, shape, imagery, etc.), consider how a text's readability suffers if we remove all white space and punctuation, which can be identified as visual signals of the same subtype as grid lines and bullet points, dividing and calling attention to adjacent information. The authors identify deep connections between foundational visual design elements and the grammar of language itself. No physicist or chemist today questions the value of a single theory that describes and explains a wide variety of phenomena, but oddly enough, the authors have frequently been asked why they are interested in advancing a unified theory of visual communication. The simplest answer is: to treat visual communication as a science, and seeking unified theories is just what science does. In more practical terms, a unified approach to visual communication allows us to teach visual design students relatively few things that will enable them to do relatively many things.

Ethics in communication and media has arguably reached a pivotal stage of maturity in the last decade, moving from disparate lines of inquiry to a theory-driven, interdisciplinary field presenting normative frameworks and philosophical explications for communicative practices. The intent of this volume is to present this maturation, to reflect the vibrant state of ethics theorizing and to illuminate promising pathways for future research.

This book shares new research findings and practical lessons learned that will foster advances in digital design, communication design, web, multimedia and motion design, graphic design and branding, and other related areas. It gathers the best papers presented at the 3rd International Conference on Digital Design and Communication, DIGICOM 2019, held on November 15–16, 2019, in Barcelos, Portugal. The respective contributions highlight new theoretical perspectives and practical research directions in design and communication, aimed at promoting their use in a global, digital world. The book offers a timely guide and a source of inspiration for designers of all kinds (Graphic, Digital, Web, UI & UX Design and Social Media), for researchers, advertisers, artists, entrepreneurs, and brand or corporate communication managers, and for teachers and advanced students.

This book presents the first comprehensive set of principles for an ethics of science communication. We all want to communicate science ethically, but how do we do so? What does being ethical when communicating science even mean? The authors argue that ethical reasoning is essential training for science communicators. The book provides an overview of the relationship between values, science, and communication. Ethical problems are examined to consider how to create an ethics of science communication. These issues range from the timing of communication, narratives, accuracy and persuasion, to funding and the client-public tension. The book offers a tailor-made ethics of science communication based on principlism. Case studies are used to demonstrate how this tailor-made ethics can be applied in practice.