Thinking about ethics and responsibility in design I was interested in the comments Ian breifly made at the end of last Wednesday’s seminar about what the purpose of design is. It was interesting to note the distinction he made between profession and disicpline. Having looked up briefly about what distinguishes a profession from a vocation.
Wikipedia has this to say:
“A profession is a vocation founded upon specialised educational training, the purpose of which is to supply disinterested counsel and service to others, for a direct and definite compensation, wholly apart from expectation of other business gain”.
The article then goes on later to talk about professional bodies:
“Professions are typically regulated by statute, with the responsibilities of enforcement delegated to respective professional bodies, whose function is to define, promote, oversee, support and regulate the affairs of its members. These bodies are responsible for the licensure of professionals, and may additionally set examinations of competence and enforce adherence to an ethical code of practice. However, they all require that the individual hold at least a first professional degree before licensure.”
Would it be a good thing if design were to become a proper profession?
My feeling is yes. This does repeat some of the ideas with have discussed previously but I think the distinction between dicipline and profession is a key point. If design became a profession and therefore had a professional body, rather than a union, I think it would lend more credibility and respect to the industry, help to maintain or raise standards and for clients, create some accountability. It would also help us address ethical issues, disputes and give support to designers.
I’m not sure how you would go about this and whether it would work and it does raise other questions in turn but I think it is a more practical route to addressing some of the issues relating to the design industry as a whole than another manifesto.
