AWTP

Hi, I was brows­ing AIGA web­site, and I found out the organ­iz­a­tion has set up stand­ards for pro­fes­sion­al prac­tice in 1996. I am not sure if they have updated ver­sion but this this is what they have on the website:

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 A pro­fes­sion­al design­er who accepts instruc­tions from a cli­ent or employ­er that involve viol­a­tion of the designer’s eth­ic­al stand­ards 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 mark-ups.

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 appro­pri­ate to the status of the profession.

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 even as they avoid depict­ing or ste­reo­typ­ing 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 engages 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.