... The designer who thinks today, "If I give them the solution, they'll hire me," might, on a better day think, "I need to be paid before I do any work." Or in another situation, "Low-balling my fee will undercut the other designers bidding on this project and get me the assignment."

But, wait a second, "Low-balling undervalues my work and besides, undercutting does not help the profession." Our all-too-human tendency to rationalise goes right to work when we're rattled, our brains fooled into thinking we are doing the necessary, expedient thing (often ignoring ethics, not to mention the law).

In fact, there is no 'Code of Ethics' promoted by AIGA, the premiere organisation for professional designers; instead an online document, the Statement of Professional Standards, outlines business practices and addresses some issues that are ethical in nature but excludes or skirts others. When asked, designers often have not read this document...

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Above banner: Australasian Student Design Awards 2010 third place winner in Visual Design category, Tessa Gourley.