Designing a Better World…………………
DO DESIGNERS NEED A
CODE OF PRACTICE?
Overview
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Why this question?
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What is a Code of Practice?
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What are the elements of responsible design?
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What bearing if any can a code of practice have on
designer behaviour and design outcomes - the case
of Fashion
Why this question?

A Global rationale
 Necessary
to examine the limits and possibilities of
design in the context of designing a better world

A Northumbria rationale
 As
we re-emerge from a period of internal reevaluation of our subject areas, this question might help
us focus on the values which underpin the core of what
we do.
What is a code of practice?


a set of rules according to which people in a
particular profession are expected to behave
a documented set of recommended or preferred
processes, actions, or structures to be applied in a
given setting

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A Code of Practice can describe the minimum audit
requirements and those that are considered to reveal a
practice worthy of consideration.*
Codes of practice may be internal to an organisation or
subject to an external monitoring process.
* UNESCO definition
From codes of professional conduct to
responsible design statements
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Codes may be individual, group-specific,
organisational, country-specific or transnational.
A code is a document, with no mandatory
requirements, although it can be linked to other
processes that may confer status, funding or prestige.
Some signs of a shift from how designers relate to
each other as professionals in a commercial
relationship to incorporation of the principles of
responsible design
Some themes/directions in responsible
design

Inclusive or Universal Design
Ethical Manufacture
Design for the Real World
Eco Design and Sustainability
Feminist Design
Design Activism

After Nigel Whitely 1993 Design for Society

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Responsible Design
The primary definition of responsible design can be
taken as the fulfilment of the requirements that are
demanded by the crucial moments in design: ends,
means, and constraints.
P. Madsen based on Preston Covey : Responsible Design and the
Management of Ethics in Design Management Review
Volume 16, Number 3, Summer 2005

"What is worth doing?" (ends),

"What is the right conduct?" (means),

and "How should one act under certain specific
circumstances?" (constraints).
Which overarching principles should inform our practice?
Individual
Responsiveness
Virtue Ethics
Principle
Unethical means can never be
justified by ethical outcomes –based on principles of courage,
wisdom, self control and justice.
Ethical Learning and
Growth
Continuous improvement
Policy
Deontological Ethics
Teleological Ethics
( Kant’s Categorical Imperative
Universal principles)
Stakeholder model:
Importance of outcomes for the
general good
Institutional
Fisher C and Lovell A. 2003 Business Ethics and Values , Harlow FT: Prentice Hall
Ends


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Is a specific design project worth doing?
Are aesthetics the overriding value? Art for art’s
sake. Design for Design’s sake.
Commercial value = Ethical merit?
Means

What concerns arise when means are the focus?

Here the emphasis is on right conduct.

Are designers and design managers acting
responsibly and making the correct choices?
Constraints

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The location of the designer in a specific value
chain is a crucial variable
Real-world conditions, such as cost targets,
legislated performance and design criteria, the
availability of resources, organizational support,
and technical problems are only a few of the
inevitable limitations that confront designers and
design managers
Individual Designer
Code
constituency
Corporate Design Team
Design House
Purchasing
Department
But....
Economic dependence
versus design integrity
Outsourced
Manufacturing
Triple Bottom Line
?
?
?
Public
Good (?)
but.....
The Code Debate in Fashion

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Companies in denial of any responsibility for
sweatshop abuses
1991 Levis publish first Code of Practice for their
manufacturers
Results in an explosion of codes – and the
emergence of a multi million $ CSR industry
Monitoring debate begins and is yet to be resolved
2005 re-launch of Katherine Hamnett’s lines under
stricter ethical guidelines signals the (re-)emergence
of ethical fashion but as yet no UK Industry Code of
Practice for designers or Fashion buyers
‘The fashion business could not do better than by starting
to look at its own house where the relationship between
buyers, merchandisers and designers (and manufacturers)
has always been fraught as each served personal rather
than common interests. Perhaps, by working together, not
just inside but outside the company, we could all arrive at
more meaningful products with greater relevance to the
new world we are going to live in’.
David Shah

Textile View
Mens & Womenswear Publishers Textile View 013
Some questions

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Is there any value in drafting codes of practice for
each of the subject areas in a Design School ?
If yes, what implications might such a discussion
have for curriculum, if any?
Looking at the position of design in industry, what
steps, if any, might be taken to ensure that design
does deliver for a better world?