AIGA Professional Practices in Graphic Design

Tad Crawford, Tad Crawford

• Publisher: Allworth
• Year: 2010
• ISBN:
  9781581157499
• Topic: Conception
• Subtopic: Histoire et critique de la conception

"Provides definitive guidelines on all aspects of the graphic design business."—FYI. * Newly revised and expanded version of an industry classic--5, 000 sold! * Up-to-the-minute! Includes web, interactive, and green design, new legislation * Each chapter written by an authority on the subject. Here's the definitive guide to professional business practices in graphic design, now fully revised and updated for the digital age. Up-to-the-minute coverage of web, interactive, and motion graphics; green design; potential repercussions of legislation on Orphan Works; protection of fonts and software; managing creative people; using professional help such as lawyers; and much more. Each in-depth chapter, covering such topics as professional relationships, fees, contracts, managing large projects, copyright and trademark issues, electronic uses, and more, has been written by an authority in the field. The newly revised AIGA Standard Form for Design Services is included for the convenience of readers, along with a complete resources section. No designer should do business without this comprehensive, authoritative book.Allworth Press, an imprint of Skyhorse Publishing, publishes a broad range of books on the visual and performing arts, with emphasis on the business of art. Our titles cover subjects such as graphic design, theater, branding, fine art, photography, interior design, writing, acting, film, how to start careers, business and legal forms, business practices, and more. While we don't aspire to publish a New York Times bestseller or a national bestseller, we are deeply committed to quality books that help creative professionals succeed and thrive. We often publish in areas overlooked by other publishers and welcome the author whose expertise can help our audience of readers.

Short History and the Longer View

MILTON GLASER

So many legends, so little time. Ric Grefé has asked me to speak briefly on the value of continuity in our profession. Of course one could take that charge to mean the short history of design, perhaps beginning with Peter Behrens, who is credited with the invention of identity programs and coordinating graphic and industrial design activities. Or one might consider our history as beginning with the first cave paintings at the dawn of history.

I prefer the longer view that relates our activity to the fundamental needs of the human species—a species whose most distinctive characteristic is making things for a purpose, which turns out to be the actual description of what we do.

Any grandiosity or self-importance that this cosmic description of our activity creates in us will be quickly erased by the discovery that in a typical design class, only 30 percent of the students will have any idea who Paul Rand is and will not be able to identify Eric Nitsche or Lester Beall, let alone Joseph Hoffman, Edward Penfield, or Gustav Jensen. Incidentally, Jensen was a mentor to Paul Rand and, Cassandre aside, perhaps the designer he most admired, but I would not be at all surprised if most of us have never heard of him—so much for understanding our own history.

I have always believed that there is a psychological and ethical difference between those who make things and those who control things. If form making is intrinsic to human beings and has a social benefit, then we can think of the “good” in good design having more than a stylistic meaning. Linking beauty and purpose can create a sense of communal agreement that helps diminish the sense of disorder and incoherence that life creates.

The part of design that is involved in fashion and marketing has the least need to examine and understand our history. Examining what has happened over twenty years seems to provide enough information to meet professional requirements, but, if our field aspires to be significant and worthy of respect, it must stand for something beyond salesmanship. Being a legend is an accomplishment that is hard won and sadly ephemeral, but being part of humankind’s desire to make useful and beautiful things links us to a glorious history.

Two weeks ago I developed a sudden, painful wrist condition. I went to a fancy hand doctor who told me I probably had a “gouty” incident. That’s not “Gaudi” the Barcelonian designer and architect. It’s gout, as in those eighteenth century engravings of rich, fat men with inflamed big toes. My wrist is fine, but while I was in the doctor’s office I noticed a document on his wall called “What a Surgeon Ought to Be” written in the fourteenth century. I’ve changed a word or two but it seems like good advice for our profession.

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What a Designer Ought to Be

Let the designer be bold in all sure things, and fearful in dangerous things; let him avoid all faulty treatments and practices. He ought to be gracious to the client, considerate to his associates, cautious in his prognostication. Let him be modest, dignified, gentle, pitiful, and merciful; not covetous nor an extortionist of money; but rather let his reward be according to his work, to the means of the client, to the quality of the issue, and to his own dignity.

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Standards of Professional Practice

RICHARD GREFÉ

A PROFESSIONAL DESIGNER adheres to principles of integrity that demonstrate respect for the profession, for colleagues, for clients, for audiences or consumers, and for society as a whole.

These standards define the expectations of a professional designer and represent the distinction of an AIGA member in the practice of design.

THE DESIGNER’S RESPONSIBILITY TO CLIENTS

1.1 A professional designer shall acquaint himself or herself with a client’s business and design standards, and shall act in the client’s best interest within the limits of professional responsibility.

1.2 A professional designer shall not work simultaneously on assignments that create a conflict of interest without agreement of the clients or employers concerned, except in specific cases where it is the convention of a particular trade for a designer to work at the same time for various competitors.

1.3 A professional designer shall treat all work in progress prior to the completion of a project and all knowledge of a client’s intentions, production methods, and business organization as confidential and shall not divulge such information in any manner whatsoever without the consent of the client. It is the designer’s responsibility to ensure that all staff members act accordingly.

1.4 If a professional designer accepts instructions from a client or employer that involve violation of the designer’s ethical standards, these violations should be corrected by the designer, or the designer should refuse the assignment.

THE DESIGNER’S RESPONSIBILITY TO OTHER DESIGNERS

2.1 Designers in pursuit of business opportunities should support fair and open competition.

2.2 A professional designer shall not knowingly accept any professional assignment on which another designer has been or is working without notifying the other designer or until he or she is satisfied that any previous appointments have been properly terminated and that all materials relevant to the continuation of the project are the clear property of the client.

2.3 A professional designer must not attempt, directly or indirectly, to supplant or compete with another designer by means of unethical inducements.

2.4 A professional designer shall be objective and balanced in criticizing another designer’s work and shall not denigrate the work or reputation of a fellow designer.

2.5 A professional designer shall not accept instructions from a client that involve infringement of another person’s property rights without permission, or consciously act in any manner involving any such infringement.

2.6 A professional designer working in a country other than his or her own shall observe the relevant Code of Conduct of the national society concerned.

FEES

3.1 A professional designer shall work only for a fee, a royalty, salary, or other agreed-upon form of compensation. A professional designer shall not retain any kickbacks, hidden discounts, commission, allowances, or payment in kind from contractors or suppliers. Clients should be made aware of markups.

3.2 A reasonable handling and administration charge may be added, with the knowledge and understanding of the client, as a percentage to all reimbursable items, billable to a client, that pass through the designer’s account.

3.3 A professional designer who has a financial interest in any suppliers who may benefit from a recommendation made by the designer in the course of a project will inform the client or employer of this fact in advance of the recommendation.

3.4 A professional designer who is asked to advise on the selection of designers or the consultants shall not base such advice in the receipt of payment from the designer or consultants recommended.

PUBLICITY

4.1 Any self-promotion, advertising, or publicity must not contain deliberate misstatements of competence, experience, or professional capabilities. It must be fair both to clients and other designers.

4.2 A professional designer may allow a client to use his or her name for the promotion of work designed or services provided in a manner that is rightful and appropriate.

AUTHORSHIP

5.1 A professional designer shall not claim sole credit for a design on which other designers have collaborated.

5.2 When not the sole author of a design, it is incumbent upon a professional designer to clearly identify his or her specific responsibilities or involvement with the design. Examples of such work may not be used for publicity, display, or portfolio samples without clear identification of precise areas of authorship.

THE DESIGNER’S RESPONSIBILITY TO THE PUBLIC

6.1 A professional designer shall avoid projects that will result in harm to the public.

6.2 A professional designer shall communicate the truth in all situations and at all times; his or her work shall not make false claims nor knowingly misinform. A professional designer shall represent messages in a clear manner in all forms of communication design and avoid false, misleading, and deceptive promotion.

6.3 A professional designer shall respect the dignity of all audiences and shall value individual differences, always avoiding the depiction or stereotyping of people or groups of people in a negative or dehumanizing way. A professional designer shall strive to be sensitive to cultural values and beliefs, and engage in fair and balanced communication design that fosters and encourages mutual understanding.

THE DESIGNER’S RESPONSIBILITY TO SOCIETY AND THE ENVIRONMENT

7.1 A professional designer, while engaged in the practice or instruction of design, shall not knowingly do or fail to do anything that constitutes a deliberate or reckless disregard for the health and safety of the communities in which he or she lives and practices or the privacy of the individuals and businesses therein. A professional designer shall take a responsible role in the visual portrayal of people, the consumption of natural resources, and the protection of animals and the environment.

7.2 A professional designer shall not knowingly accept instructions from a client or employer that involve infringement of another person’s or group’s human rights or property rights without permission of such other person or group, or consciously act in any manner involving any such infringement.

7.3 A professional designer shall not knowingly make use of goods or services offered by manufacturers, suppliers, or contractors that are accompanied by an obligation that is substantively detrimental to the best interests of his or her client, society, or the environment.

7.4 A professional designer shall refuse to engage in or countenance discrimination on the basis of race, sex, age, religion, national origin, sexual orientation, or disability.

7.5 A professional designer shall strive to understand and support the principles of free speech, freedom of assembly, and access to an open marketplace of ideas, and shall act accordingly.

How Clients Want to Be Treated

DAVID C. BAKER

DEPENDING ON WHICH survey you read, the average client relationship in this field lasts twenty-three or twenty-nine months. That’s a number that probably strikes you as low, though truth be told you’ve never actually measured the average length of a client relationship at your firm. Your instincts are more weighted toward clients who have stayed, writing off those that left early on, figuring that they weren’t a good fit anyway. They slide from your consciousness and don’t inform the average.

The r...