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Working with Values
BY Colis Ta'aed
BY Colis Ta'aed
by Collis Ta'eed
‘This is the real world’
‘There are no friends in business’
‘Its all about the bottom line’
When I first started out in the design business, I found myself on the receiving end of many such a comment from helpful, if somewhat jaded friends and co-workers. The perception of business as a sphere of life where values are not just out of place but in fact detrimental to success is a surprisingly persistent one. Call me naive but I don’t agree. There is no reason why values should not be a part of a business strategy, particularly that of a design business.As designers we find ourselves in a field rife with loose ethics. It is filled with subtle deceit and exaggerations that we perpetuate every day in our work for what are all too often products, services and ideas of no particular benefit to anyone.
Applying a system of values and ethics in your design practice is almost certainly something you’ve thought about at some point or another, probably in a hypothetical question relating to doing work for a cigarette manufacturer, oil company or the like. However a fuller more complete approach is necessary. In this article we will briefly examine a few of the issues that all designers should seriously consider.
* Choosing Projects from an Ethical Standpoint *
Touched on in many a university course and perhaps the most obvious ethical issue in the creative industries, this can be quite a dilemma for the struggling agency. In my own experience I was once approached to produce a string of adult-esque sites complete with all the latest bells and whistles and with the prospect of a very, very large sum of money. I immediately said ‘yes, lets have a meeting!’ but as the day proceeded my conscience started to kick in. I tried to convince myself that as long as I wasn’t creating the content I could stay neutral, and that if I didn’t do the job somebody else would. In the end, though, I decided I couldn’t feel right about it and called the whole thing off.
While not everyone might feel the same way about that particular sort of design, it’s important to have some general guidelines as to the sort of projects you think are ethically sound. The hard part is sticking to them no matter how much money is waved in front of you. It’s tempting to give in to the money, or the alluring idea that it doesn’t really make a difference what you do, but for your own sake, be prepared to take a stand on issues you care about and to draw the line on projects which you think detrimental to society. In the end, the global community is made up of nothing more than individuals making small decisions every day, but its these decisions that affect us all.
As a designer there is a tremendous amount of power concentrated in the click of your mouse. With a talented hand and an imaginative mind you have the power to make almost anything seem desirable or even essential, to change the way people see whats around them. Consider the way advertising has worked on you. How many times have you changed your perception of something based on visual communications. To take a dive through history, consider how important Hitler saw his propaganda ministry. Their communications - often visual - were paramount to his success in getting Germany to its pre-WW2 attitudes. While you will doubtless never be involved in anything so overtly wrong, you should bear in mind the implications your work may be having.
Here are some examples of the sorts of projects I personally would stay away from. This is by no means a definitive list, but some areas our practice chooses to avoid:
Anything detrimental to the environment such as overfishing or companies that produce chemical waste
Gambling and Cigarettes
Most types of Alcohol marketing - particularly aimed at young drinkers
Irresponsible use of Firearms
X-rated adult projects
Marketing aimed squarely at children for products which have little real benefit
Companies on the global offenders list (such as companies that use child labour in the making of their wares, take advantage of developing countries, or grow genetically modified ingredients)
I have been amazed by how many creatives have sung the praises of certain multi-nationals for their huge budgets and creative thinking without a minute’s thought to where this money is coming from. These companies can often seem like a dream client, until you realise that their huge budgets are made off the back of child labour or shoddy environmental practices.
Many times however choice of work comes down to your personal sensibilities. Do you feel for example that a genetically modified food product is an issue? How do you feel about marketing fast food products? What is your take on political organisations, particularly those on the fringes? Fortunately most projects that come in the door are for respectable organizations making useful products and participating in society in a conscientious way. Inevitably however speckled in are the shades of grey, and it is there that you must take a stand.
* Creating value, not just making money *
When considering your business, be it a design business or any other line of work really, it is tempting to think of everything in terms of the bottom line. That is to measure success only in monetary terms. Of course you should by no means forget that aspect of the business - particularly if you wish to last out the year. However there is more to what you are doing than just bringing in money, in fact there are a variety of benefits that you and your business will be providing for those around you.
To take for example the design agency Good Creative that my partner and I founded some years ago. We are a small agency with a staff of four working various capacities. Even if our business was just breaking even every year the business would still have value, and I’m not referring to the business assets. There are four people whose livelihood is provided, who are gaining experience in their field and who have a work environment to fulfill them. Moreover there are clients who depend on the business, who are also in turn providing a livelihood for their staff. Where there is work there is also profit and extra time for creativity - after all did we all get into this field just to do work for other people? Then there are the side benefits such as being able to help friends and family with their design, being able to provide a service such as hosting for charities at little or no cost, using profits to sponsor or fund events and so on.
I like to think of a business as a father is to his family. The father might work to make money, but seeing him only as a money maker would be selling him short. Rather he provides for and takes care of, he allows opportunities and provides guidance and in many ways he is the enabler for the rest of the family to exist. In the same way a business is an enabler. Taking this to its logical conclusion means thinking of a business as an entity interconnected with all those around it.
Though profits and revenues are vital, they are a way to let everything else happen rather than a purpose in themselves. At the end of the day it would be better to be a part of a business that had every member happy and fulfilled that only just broke even, than a wildly profitable business that ran its employees into the ground.
* Free Pitching *
Every design practice is called on at some time or another to provide a free pitch for a job. You know the story, great client, big project, you could really use the cash flow, but they have asked for some ideas and mocks up front … for free.
It may seem harmless enough, especially if you get the job, but what you are doing is effectively crippling the design industry. Every time an agency pitches for free they are creating the impression that design is cheap and that it’s not really necessary to pay for their or any other design agency’s time.
No other service based industry provides a sample of their services for free. Have you ever been to a mechanic who said they’d do an oil check for free in the hope that you’d get them to permanently service your car? or how about a doctor who gave you your first visit to see if the ‘relationship gelled’? Of course not, but this is the sort of thing that design agencies do all the time, and unfortunately clients ask for constantly. By all means show your portfolio, chat to the client, give costings and quotes, but don’t work for free.
If a client harasses you or tries to bully you into providing a free pitch, its worth asking whether this is really a client who you want to work with. Chances are what you see is what you get, and if what you see is ugly then the whole relationship might be ugly.
* Sustainable Materials *
Interesting designs and formats with unusual materials are probably the highlight of print work. However, its important to bear in mind when choosing stocks, sizes and materials the environmental cost of what you are doing. There are a variety of things you can do in this regard too, for example choosing recyclable materials over non-recyclable, biodegradable over non-biodegradable, keeping paper sizes relatively standard to prevent huge wastage in offcuts, selecting a printer or manufacturer that has a commitment to the environment and so on.
The key factor to remember is that in virtually any print job, there will be a run of thousands of copies, so a small change will make a large difference. It may cost slightly more (though certainly not always), but you can simply pass this cost on to the client, explaining the reasoning. If you aren’t proposing anything outrageous and they are a reasonable sized client, they will more than likely accept, no sweat off your back and you can sleep better at night knowing you’ve made a contribution.
* Telling it like it is *
Now we all know that advertising is about glossing over a products failings and focusing on its strengths and this is a great way to market things. Occasionally however advertising falls into the domain of outright lies. I once built a website for a property development billed as being the ultimate in design and location. The property itself, a perfectly ordinary looking building in an ordinary location near an airport with planes constantly flying overhead. Now I dutifully went about my job and listening to the client went about cropping images in such a way as to only highlight parts of the building, zooming in on the view of the coastline to make it seem closer and so on.
Who loses out in such a scenario? The average guy on the street who is out buying a home. Maybe he’s a bad guy, maybe he’s a good guy, maybe he’s you. We all hope that once the customer gets there he’ll make his own decision, but this stuff works, so it seems sometimes he does not. Why do sports cars have half naked women draped over them? Why do they then sell so well? We are all so much easier to fool than we’d like to admit. The point is, advertising is all well and good, but you should always use your best judgement in marketing products and services and keep things in check, exactly the way I didn’t.
* Ethically Sound *
These few points are just the tip of the iceberg, and there will be issues that you believe in as an individual more than others. But hopefully these few distinctions have got you thinking.
Collis Ta'eed
Co-founder and Art Director, Good Creative
..........................................................................................................
..........................................................................................................
The above banner was contributed by Limha Lekan, a Korean conceptual art king. The above banner was one of his art pieces which was sent in for our art gallery, VisualArts Gallery. Click on Banner to visit Limha Lekan's website.
..........................................................................................................
© 2003- 2008 by TAXI Design Network. All rights reserved.
‘There are no friends in business’
‘Its all about the bottom line’
When I first started out in the design business, I found myself on the receiving end of many such a comment from helpful, if somewhat jaded friends and co-workers. The perception of business as a sphere of life where values are not just out of place but in fact detrimental to success is a surprisingly persistent one. Call me naive but I don’t agree. There is no reason why values should not be a part of a business strategy, particularly that of a design business.As designers we find ourselves in a field rife with loose ethics. It is filled with subtle deceit and exaggerations that we perpetuate every day in our work for what are all too often products, services and ideas of no particular benefit to anyone.
Applying a system of values and ethics in your design practice is almost certainly something you’ve thought about at some point or another, probably in a hypothetical question relating to doing work for a cigarette manufacturer, oil company or the like. However a fuller more complete approach is necessary. In this article we will briefly examine a few of the issues that all designers should seriously consider.
* Choosing Projects from an Ethical Standpoint *
Touched on in many a university course and perhaps the most obvious ethical issue in the creative industries, this can be quite a dilemma for the struggling agency. In my own experience I was once approached to produce a string of adult-esque sites complete with all the latest bells and whistles and with the prospect of a very, very large sum of money. I immediately said ‘yes, lets have a meeting!’ but as the day proceeded my conscience started to kick in. I tried to convince myself that as long as I wasn’t creating the content I could stay neutral, and that if I didn’t do the job somebody else would. In the end, though, I decided I couldn’t feel right about it and called the whole thing off.
While not everyone might feel the same way about that particular sort of design, it’s important to have some general guidelines as to the sort of projects you think are ethically sound. The hard part is sticking to them no matter how much money is waved in front of you. It’s tempting to give in to the money, or the alluring idea that it doesn’t really make a difference what you do, but for your own sake, be prepared to take a stand on issues you care about and to draw the line on projects which you think detrimental to society. In the end, the global community is made up of nothing more than individuals making small decisions every day, but its these decisions that affect us all.
As a designer there is a tremendous amount of power concentrated in the click of your mouse. With a talented hand and an imaginative mind you have the power to make almost anything seem desirable or even essential, to change the way people see whats around them. Consider the way advertising has worked on you. How many times have you changed your perception of something based on visual communications. To take a dive through history, consider how important Hitler saw his propaganda ministry. Their communications - often visual - were paramount to his success in getting Germany to its pre-WW2 attitudes. While you will doubtless never be involved in anything so overtly wrong, you should bear in mind the implications your work may be having.
Here are some examples of the sorts of projects I personally would stay away from. This is by no means a definitive list, but some areas our practice chooses to avoid:
I have been amazed by how many creatives have sung the praises of certain multi-nationals for their huge budgets and creative thinking without a minute’s thought to where this money is coming from. These companies can often seem like a dream client, until you realise that their huge budgets are made off the back of child labour or shoddy environmental practices.
Many times however choice of work comes down to your personal sensibilities. Do you feel for example that a genetically modified food product is an issue? How do you feel about marketing fast food products? What is your take on political organisations, particularly those on the fringes? Fortunately most projects that come in the door are for respectable organizations making useful products and participating in society in a conscientious way. Inevitably however speckled in are the shades of grey, and it is there that you must take a stand.
* Creating value, not just making money *
When considering your business, be it a design business or any other line of work really, it is tempting to think of everything in terms of the bottom line. That is to measure success only in monetary terms. Of course you should by no means forget that aspect of the business - particularly if you wish to last out the year. However there is more to what you are doing than just bringing in money, in fact there are a variety of benefits that you and your business will be providing for those around you.
To take for example the design agency Good Creative that my partner and I founded some years ago. We are a small agency with a staff of four working various capacities. Even if our business was just breaking even every year the business would still have value, and I’m not referring to the business assets. There are four people whose livelihood is provided, who are gaining experience in their field and who have a work environment to fulfill them. Moreover there are clients who depend on the business, who are also in turn providing a livelihood for their staff. Where there is work there is also profit and extra time for creativity - after all did we all get into this field just to do work for other people? Then there are the side benefits such as being able to help friends and family with their design, being able to provide a service such as hosting for charities at little or no cost, using profits to sponsor or fund events and so on.
I like to think of a business as a father is to his family. The father might work to make money, but seeing him only as a money maker would be selling him short. Rather he provides for and takes care of, he allows opportunities and provides guidance and in many ways he is the enabler for the rest of the family to exist. In the same way a business is an enabler. Taking this to its logical conclusion means thinking of a business as an entity interconnected with all those around it.
Though profits and revenues are vital, they are a way to let everything else happen rather than a purpose in themselves. At the end of the day it would be better to be a part of a business that had every member happy and fulfilled that only just broke even, than a wildly profitable business that ran its employees into the ground.
* Free Pitching *
Every design practice is called on at some time or another to provide a free pitch for a job. You know the story, great client, big project, you could really use the cash flow, but they have asked for some ideas and mocks up front … for free.
It may seem harmless enough, especially if you get the job, but what you are doing is effectively crippling the design industry. Every time an agency pitches for free they are creating the impression that design is cheap and that it’s not really necessary to pay for their or any other design agency’s time.
No other service based industry provides a sample of their services for free. Have you ever been to a mechanic who said they’d do an oil check for free in the hope that you’d get them to permanently service your car? or how about a doctor who gave you your first visit to see if the ‘relationship gelled’? Of course not, but this is the sort of thing that design agencies do all the time, and unfortunately clients ask for constantly. By all means show your portfolio, chat to the client, give costings and quotes, but don’t work for free.
If a client harasses you or tries to bully you into providing a free pitch, its worth asking whether this is really a client who you want to work with. Chances are what you see is what you get, and if what you see is ugly then the whole relationship might be ugly.
* Sustainable Materials *
Interesting designs and formats with unusual materials are probably the highlight of print work. However, its important to bear in mind when choosing stocks, sizes and materials the environmental cost of what you are doing. There are a variety of things you can do in this regard too, for example choosing recyclable materials over non-recyclable, biodegradable over non-biodegradable, keeping paper sizes relatively standard to prevent huge wastage in offcuts, selecting a printer or manufacturer that has a commitment to the environment and so on.
The key factor to remember is that in virtually any print job, there will be a run of thousands of copies, so a small change will make a large difference. It may cost slightly more (though certainly not always), but you can simply pass this cost on to the client, explaining the reasoning. If you aren’t proposing anything outrageous and they are a reasonable sized client, they will more than likely accept, no sweat off your back and you can sleep better at night knowing you’ve made a contribution.
* Telling it like it is *
Now we all know that advertising is about glossing over a products failings and focusing on its strengths and this is a great way to market things. Occasionally however advertising falls into the domain of outright lies. I once built a website for a property development billed as being the ultimate in design and location. The property itself, a perfectly ordinary looking building in an ordinary location near an airport with planes constantly flying overhead. Now I dutifully went about my job and listening to the client went about cropping images in such a way as to only highlight parts of the building, zooming in on the view of the coastline to make it seem closer and so on.
Who loses out in such a scenario? The average guy on the street who is out buying a home. Maybe he’s a bad guy, maybe he’s a good guy, maybe he’s you. We all hope that once the customer gets there he’ll make his own decision, but this stuff works, so it seems sometimes he does not. Why do sports cars have half naked women draped over them? Why do they then sell so well? We are all so much easier to fool than we’d like to admit. The point is, advertising is all well and good, but you should always use your best judgement in marketing products and services and keep things in check, exactly the way I didn’t.
* Ethically Sound *
These few points are just the tip of the iceberg, and there will be issues that you believe in as an individual more than others. But hopefully these few distinctions have got you thinking.
Collis Ta'eed
Co-founder and Art Director, Good Creative
..........................................................................................................
| Collis Ta’eed first became a designer in a bizarre twist of a university education in mathematics, encryption and all things hard to understand. Later, Ta’eed became an art director in Sydney’s fast paced design scene...
Click on picture to read more about Collis Ta’eed. | |
| Editorial Sydney Contributor |
..........................................................................................................
The above banner was contributed by Limha Lekan, a Korean conceptual art king. The above banner was one of his art pieces which was sent in for our art gallery, VisualArts Gallery. Click on Banner to visit Limha Lekan's website.
..........................................................................................................
© 2003- 2008 by TAXI Design Network. All rights reserved.
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