Recently came across this feel-good tweet on The Designers Hippocratic Oaths aka Design Manifesto, Design Code of Ethics,- tweeted by the students teacher, Minnie Bredouw:
I had meant to blog about The Designers Hippocratic Oath soon after, but it ended further and further down in my blog post to do list.
Bear in mind these are from young students; not fully life weary, cynical designers like myself.
There is an honest purity with The Designers Oaths, which was beautiful to read, and try and I’ve tried to recalibrate my own somewhat battle weary outlook.
There are a few of these that resonate with me, and one in particular that screams out to me with regards to logo redesigns and brand updates in mind, is from the The Designer’s Oath below:
1. If you can’t make it better; don’t make it worse.
Shervin Nakhjavani, Maxime Stinnett, Blake Terry and Junxian Yao.
It’s so clear and brief, yet often neglected in practice by those that really should know better.
A Designers Hippocratic Oath aka Design Manifesto, Design Code of Ethics
Other Design Oaths, Design Manifestos, and Design Codes of Ethics
There are numerous other variations of these Design Oaths, Design Manifesto’s, Design Codes of Ethics, Standards of Professional Practice, etc, created by various individuals and organisations over the years:
→ AIGA Standards of Professional Practice
AIGA: “AIA members are dedicated to the highest standards of professionalism, integrity and competence. The AIA Code of Ethics guides members’ conduct in fulfilling those obligations. The Code applies to the professional activities of all AIA members, regardless of their membership category.
The Code is arranged in three tiers: Canons (broad principles of conduct); Ethical standards (more specific goals toward which each should aspire); Rules of conduct (mandatory requirements).“ → AIGA Standards of Professional Practice
→ AIA Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct
AIA: “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. AIGA members at the Supporter level and above who have agreed to adhere to these standards are denoted in the Designer Directory by an AIGA logo.” →AIA Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct
→ 1000 Words: A Manifesto for Sustainability in Design
1000 Words: “I don’t like the word manifesto. It reeks of dogma and rules—two things I instinctually reject. I do love the way it puts things on the line, but I don’t like lines, or groups. So a manifesto probably isn’t for me. The other thing about manifestos is that they appear (or are written so as to appear) self-evident. This kind of a priori writing is easy, since you simply lay out what seems obviously—even tautologically—true. Of course, this is the danger of manifestos, but also what makes them fun to read. And fun to write. So I’ll write this manifesto. I just might not sign it.” → 1000 Words: A Manifesto for Sustainability in Design
→ IDSA Code of Ethics
IDSA: “Recognizing that industrial designers affect the quality of life in our increasingly independent and complex society, and that responsible, ethical decision-making often requires conviction, courage, and ingenuity in today’s competitive business context: We, the members of the Industrial Designers Society of America (IDSA), will endeavor to meet the standards set forth in this code, and strive to support and defend one another in doing so.” → IDSA Code of Ethics
→ RGD Code of Ethics
RGD: “Registered Graphic Designers (RGDs) are committed to the highest professional and ethical standards when working for clients, as employees and in service to the general public. RGD has collaborated with the Society of Graphic Designers of Canada (GDC) and Société des designers graphiques du Québec (SDGQ) to create a unified Code of Ethics. RGD, GDC and SDGQ Members are required to abide by the Rules set out here.” → RGD Code of Ethics
If you know of any other variations of these available to view, then please do leave a link to them in the Twitter thread: