Ethical Sellout: Refining Standards of Ethics in the Commercial Design Industry

This project aims to refine notions of ethical design within the commercial communications industry and investigate the potential for actionable support to ethical practice. It intends to provide a unique aggregation and distillation of ethical design wisdom in the format of a comprehensive, foundational guide to assist practitioners in exploring their ethical potential and encourage the sustainable, dynamic development of a more socially and environmentally responsible practice. Though the “responsible design movement” continues to flourish, predominant perceptions of the marketing, advertising, and design industries remain largely negative (Heller & Vienne, 2018, p.103). A profit-above-all focus has resulted in public notions of an unethical industry complicit in perpetuating gratuitous consumerism, reflexive media consumption (Harris, 2016) and gross racial and gender inequality (3% Movement, 2018). Industry discourse indicates a heightened awareness about the perils of commercial work (Schwab, 2018) and employees are increasingly primed (Deloitte Millennial Survey, 2018) to participate in efforts to address today’s most pressing issues, in and outside of the design industry, like diversity, ethics, gender equity, climate action and socially responsible consumption and production (AIGA Design Census, 2017, United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, 2018). Arguably, however, design literature has had little to offer in terms of actionable support for the employee’s desire for purposeful work (Garrotem, 2017). Ethics discourse in communication design has largely centred on the dissemination of idealistic manifestos (100 Years of Design Manifestos, 2014, Monteiro, 2017), organizations denouncing the unethical aspects of industry (Ico-D stands against crowd-sourced competition for the Tokyo Olympics 2020 logo, 2016, Schwab, 2018, Time’s Up®/ Advertising, 2018), and publications celebrating aesthetics in visual case studies for public-sector clients (Resnick, 2016, Simmons, 2016). This project explores a history of ethical design discourse, popular publishing in the area of ethical design, and expert interviews and surveys with over 130 practicing professionals. The research reveals an industry that has long focused on problematizing design’s complicity in capitalist endeavour. It has been said that for designers to effectively address the world’s problems, design must first free itself from its position as a tool of advertising (Garland, 1964, Papanek 1971) and separate itself from the hegemonic market economy (Fry, 2009, p. 80, Walker, 2013, p. 446). While there is probable partial truth to this suggestion, it is often impractical and, at times, impossible for a practitioner to leave the industry altogether. Given the multi-billion dollar size of the Canadian communications industry (Fuller, 2016), it is in our best interest to develop a means to effectively support the thousands of industry- employed practitioners (Graphic Designers - Canada Market Research Report, 2018) to realize an ethical practice within their existing work-life structures. Research findings have supported the development of ten ethical design archetypes under which over 130 actions toward ethical practice are organized. The book-as-thesis has been designed with an intention toward accessibility, inclusivity, and clarity in order to provide practitioners of many ilks with the practical knowledge to realize a more ethical practice.