Design Ethics- Triangulation
Figure 1
Ethical Design
Figure 2
Unethical Design
The advertisements above relate to the considerations of a number of authors about the ethical roles of a designer, Garland (1964), Poyner, Lasen et al (2000), Beirut (2007) and Poynor (2000) have all discussed ideas of the social and cultural affects of advertising. For example, in figure1, the designer is communicating an ethical, more worthy cause to inform the public of the health risks of smoking. This is suggested by Poyner, Lasen et al in the 'First Things First Manifesto' stating 'there are pursuits more worthy of our problem solving skills. Unprecedented environmental , social and cultural crises demand our attention.' This is supported by Beirut in 'Ten Footnotes to a Manifesto', claiming 'the greatest designers have always found ways to align the aims of their corporate clients with their own personal interests and, ultimately, with the public good.'
In comparison to figure1, figure2 manufactures the demand for a trivial product that is inessential, re-enforcing the arguments made by the authors. This is highlighted by Garland in the 'First Things First Manifesto' stating that, 'we hope that our society will tire of gimmick merchants, status salesmen and hidden persuaders, and that the prior call on our skills will be for worthwhile purposes.' To further support the argument, Poynor states in 'First Things First Revisited', 'If thinking individ-uals have a responsibility to withstand the proliferating technologies of persuasion, then the designer, as a skilled professional manipula-tor of those technologies, carries a double responsibility.'
These four authors are in agreement and challenge the ethical role of the designer, developing an argument for a call to action to change the mind set of design and the designer. All of them prioritise the use of the designers skills to create beneficial and long-lasting forms of communication which,will in turn, contribute to culture and national society.
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