Meetings and Interview

Meetings

Like I told you in my last post, I had have a meeting with different people. Now, I would like to give you more and detailed information about the background story, the meeting and the interview. 

You will maybe ask, why we did have this meeting. I did know them all already before, because of my professional survey I sent out by email to different neuromarkting agencies in October 2012. 

The people I met on Saturday have participated on this survey and have been interested in my inquiry topic. They answered me by email and offered me support for my investigation. One off them are an expert in Marketing and neuromarketing, the other one are an  webdesigner which are interesting in neuromarketing. All of them are currently founding start-up companies based on neuromarketing.

The marketing expert suggested a phone call with me and after this talk he/she offered me to work in his/her startup-company when he/she has enough contracts for paying me. I was very glad and agreed, because I would really like to work with the results and knowledge I gained about neuromarketing during this inquiry. 

He/she hold a presentation on the EU-fundraising congress in Berlin and asked to mention me in this presentation as designer which are specialised in neurodesign. He/she also asked me to design his/her company logo until this event. Parallel to my work in the agency I did also created different logo suggestions for him/her and different business cards. He/she chose one of the logo drafts and I finished the business cards just in time for the printer, so that they had some for the congress. They have been very glad and sent me a food and wine present from La Vialla http://www.lavialla.it/de/Home_DE.asp. I have been very surprised, because I didn`t know that he/she wants to send me a gift for the logo design. 

But, I have been also very interesting in meeting the webdesigner, because she/he is also a graphic designer which is interesting in neuromarketing. So, I asked her/him for a business meeting and she/he agreed and suggested a date. We met at her/his home on Fr. 19.10.2012 at 7:30 a.m., ate pasta and spoke about neuromarketing and the usability of this to design. She/he recommended to me different books, showed me websites which are working with neuromarketing and gave me essential information about target orientated and ux-design.

So, the meeting on Saturday 17.11.2012  hasn`t been the first one, but it was the first in with this constellation. I have met everybody alone and suggested to have a group meeting so everybody could exchange their knowledge with each other, because the number of experts concerning neuromarketing are very limited. Everybody agreed, we set a date (17.11.2012 at 1:00 a.m) and met in the Restaurant MoschMosch (http://www.moschmosch.com/) which is located in Dusseldorf. This is the table we sat on. I didn`t take any picture of the participants, because I would like to save their anonymity.

The result of this meeting are that they decided to work together and combine the startup companies. So, it has been a very successful meeting for everybody. For them, because they do now work together and sharing knowledge and expertise and for me because I get many new information which I can use for my inquiry and in my future. I learned many thinks about startup companies and neuromarketing and the opportunity to link companies together for a more effective and intelligent constellation. I really hadn`t expect that, I only wanted to bring them together for knowledge exchange. But the result of this meeting surprised me.

Interview

After many hours of very interesting discussions about neuromarketing, I made an interview with the neuromarketing and marketing expert. I did already ask for permission by email and she accepted. She also read the consent form and signed it. Like Paula recommended to me I recorded the interview on audio-videotape with my laptop.For the circumstance that I had to make the interview in a restaurant, I simulated the whole interview with restaurant background noises (playing a restaurant video of youtube with my iphone) at home. The REAL Interview lasted 49 minutes, because my interviewer did answer very detailed. But I have to admit, that during the interview I realized that I had really sitting an expert in front of me. I did get the expression that she really do know nearly everything about Marketing and Neuromarketing. I was very happy to get the chance to interview such a great person with such a huge knowledge concerning this my topic. 

Back at home I realized that my laptop recorded everything perfectly. I spent nearly 3 hours listening with a headphone and brought the whole interview on paper. The result: 8 pages full of information about neuromarketing.

The Cicle is Closing

After a very inspired and great meeting on Saturday with neuromarketing experts, one sentence came all the time to my mind:

"Knowledge rests in the diversity of people."

I have to admit that I only knew this sentence and couldn't built any connection to any topic. After googling I found this:

Description of Connectivism

---

Connectivism is a learning theory for the digital age. Learning has changed over the last several decades. The theories of behaviourism, cognitivism, and constructivism provide an effect view of learning in many environments. They fall short, however, when learning moves into informal, networked, technology-enabled arena. Some principles of connectivism:

• The integration of cognition and emotions in meaning-making is important. Thinking and emotions influence each other. A theory of learning that only considers one dimension excludes a large part of how learning happens.

• Learning has an end goal - namely the increased ability to "do something". This increased competence might be in a practical sense (i.e. developing the ability to use a new software tool or learning how to skate) or in the ability to function more effectively in a knowledge era (self-awareness, personal information management, etc.). The "whole of learning" is not only gaining skill and understanding - actuation is a needed element. Principles of motivation and rapid decision making often determine whether or not a learner will actuate known principles.

• Learning is a process of connecting specialized nodes or information sources. A learner can exponentially improve their own learning by plugging into an existing network.

• Learning may reside in non-human appliances. Learning (in the sense that something is known, but not necessarily actuated) can rest in a community, a network, or a database.

• The capacity to know more is more critical that what is currently known. Knowing where to find information is more important than knowing information.

• Nurturing and maintaining connections is needed to facilitate learning. Connection making provides far greater returns on effort than simply seeking to understand a single concept.

• Learning and knowledge rest in diversity of opinions.

• Learning happens in many different ways. Courses, email, communities, conversations, web search, email lists, reading blogs, etc. Courses are not the primary conduit for learning.

• Different approaches and personal skills are needed to learn effectively in today's society. For example, the ability to see connections between fields, ideas, and concepts is a core skill.

• Organizational and personal learning are integrated tasks. Personal knowledge is comprised of a network, which feeds into organizations and institutions, which in turn feed back into the network and continue to provide learning for the individual. Connectivism attempts to provide an understanding of how both learners and organizations learn.

• Currency (accurate, up-to-date knowledge) is the intent of all connectivist learning.

• Decision-making is itself a learning process. Choosing what to learn and the meaning of incoming information is seen through the lens of shifting reality. While there is a right answer now, it may be wrong tomorrow due to alterations in the information climate impacting the decision.

• Learning is a knowledge creation process...not only knowledge consumption. Learning tools and design methodologies should seek to capitalize on this trait of learning.

Of course!!! Suddenly I understand what this theory do really stand for. Yes, I have already read and studied that in my first semester at this Programme, but now I do REALLY understand what it means.

Source: http://www.connectivism.ca/about.html

The Adventure Inquiry

I am very sorry that I hadn't write anything during the past few weeks, but I had run out of time. Last semester I had have a part-time job and now, as a full-time worker in an agency it makes a lot of difference concerning blogging (as you can see on the number of posts). I had to work a lot (9.00 a.m to 8.00 p.m) even on the weekends. After working the whole weekend I could get a few days off work. Today are my last free day, but I will use the last hours of my free time for this post and sharing my experiences in the "ADVENTURE INQUIRY" that I had during the last weeks with you. 

It happened a lot since I started with the research for the Inquiry. After sending out my first survey to agencies which do use neuromarketing in their daily business, I got lot of positive feedback. Some offered me support and some wanted to read my findings. One participant asked me if I do already work as an graphic designer. Because I have been looking for a full-time job during this time, I answered that I have been working since 3 years parallel to my study as a graphic designer. After this information the participant asked if I would like to talk to him/her. So, the next week he/she called me and we talked a lot about neuromarketing. It turned out, that he/she was really an expert concerning neuromarketing. He/she has studied communication and marketing and has later on made a training in the medical sector. Now, he/she is studying on a University neuromarketing and will also doctorate in this expertise. I was so glad to find a person which do know so much about this topic, because I found out 1. that there aren't many neuromarketing experts 2. it is very difficult to study neuromarketing in general, because the field are very young and not many european Universities do offer this expertise. Furthermore he/she was looking for a designer which are interested in neuromarketing. He/she has been looking one over several month without success. But now he/she had found someone.

He/she told me that he/she are planning to set up a company which do offer neuromarketing services. Design shall be also a part of this services. We business meeting on the 05.09.2012 1:00 p.m in Dusseldorf (40 miles away from Cologne) to know each other and talking about the plans and ideas. I printed my Portfolio on DIN A4 cards and created a folder with the best works of mine for this meeting. It was very important for me to be very punctual for leaving the best impression. I arrived at 12:50 a.m. He/she and his/her business partner where already there. The first impression has been very positive. We talked a lot and they asked me a lot of questions. I think they wanted to check if my interest in the topic neuromarketing are genuine. But I think they checked very fast that it is. I showed them my graphic design portfolio of works. They seemed satisfied and ask me, after talking one hour, if I would like to work for them. I was suprised by this offer, but very proud and glad. Because I get a workplace just one week before, I told them this information. They told me, that this is alright, because actually they couldn`t give me a job directly, because they are now planning the new company. But I would really like to work one day for them, because I really admire the issue neuromarketing and would like to use these knowledge in my further job.

So, this was just a little extract from many experiences I made during my path "The Adventure Inquiry".

Starting with Books

It was so habituated for me to blog nearly ones a week that I have to admit that now, after weeks of "non-blogging", I do miss this very much. So I decided to share with you my start of the Professional Inquiry. 

Three weeks ago I lend me five books from the central library of Cologne, but I have been too buzzy to read only one sentence let alone to work seriously with them. To be serious: I need a little break from academic study. But now I am very enthusiastic to start with my Inquiry:


"The Effects of Neuromarketing Insights to Graphic Design and Graphic Design Practice"


Paula recommend to me to add "and Graphic Design Practice" to my Inquiry title and I am very glad that she has suggested that to me, because that will give me a wider range of opportunities especially concerning my practical work.

The books I borrowed from the library are very copious and I already started reading and study them. I am using Post-its to mark the parts which seems important concerning my topic.

The Post-its technique are very useful for me, because I generally don't like to write in books and obviously I can't write in a book which I don't own. So, I do write parallel the important parts into a notebook. Because the books contains a lot of essential and new information I decide to make gradations of importance with different Post-it colors.


Green = important


Orange = very imporant


Magenta = extremly important


When I do have to copy one part (because of pictures) I do write "copy" on the Post-it.


Maybe this technique do also work for you. 


Let me know how you start with you studies about your Inquiry Topic and if you have any ideas of managing your studies. 

Critical Reflection Portfolio

Critical Reflection and Summary: Digital Portfolio

When I started developing my inquiry plan, I felt like I would stand in front of a huge mountain. Neither I could see the mountaintop or had any knowledge needed to reach it.

I began the process by reading Reader 4 and did realize, that the inquiry process will take me a lot of patience and reflection. I started thinking about an issue where me and other professionals could benefit from. After days of reflection, reading different articles, speaking with people and analysing the goals which I would like to reach in my further career, I came up with a few questions (Appendix A). I got much positive feedback and decided to stay on the chosen path.

For driving the inquiry process forward, me and Patrick Abels built a design group on facebook and additional to this I built a SIG on linkedin that deals particularly with my issue (Appendix B). I also joined other SIGs. But the results of my groups lagged behind my expectations, because design professionals are the minority in this course and the participation has been weak.

I tried to compensate this lack by discussing verbally my issue with other professionals and friends of mine. This discussions and the exchange of thoughts have been very useful for narrowing down my topic and made me aware of the weak points.

The theme ethics has been confusing for me first of all, because I didn't know how to link ethics to research or my professional practice. I thought ethics related to practice does mean professional and acceptable behaviour in my workplace (Appendix C). But after reading Reader 5 and the Code of Conduct of my workplace (Appendix D), I realized that ethics in practice are far more than only accurate and respectfull behaviour. They are fundamental values of social life.

I recogniced some overlaps concerning ethical guidelines, but a few points vary and depend on different circumstances e.g. research has different requirements on ethics (Appendix E) than the profession graphic design (Appendix F). Now, I am aware how important ethics in all these cases are and that I, as an Insider Researcher, have to adhere to all of them.

After I narrowed down my inquiry theme (Appendix G), I designed my pilot survey, my pilot interview and my pilot focus group (Appendix H). I didn't expect the difficulties which emerged by testing this tools. But I do know now that a good preperation and previously testing reduces errors, which is particularly important for ensuring a high number of participants and collecting data that are useful for an academic inquiry.

During the process I found a lot of great literature concerning my topic (Appendix I). Complementation to this 'delicious' have been a great help and enabled me to collect and organize important internet sources (Appendix J).

Summing up, I feel that this module has prepared me very well for conducting a professional and effective professional inquiry which will be useful for my own professional development, as well as benefiting other professionals.

6d: Delicious

I have used delicious since the start of this module, because it gives me the opportunity to save links very comfortable. Now, the problem to decide which of the 77 links are now important for others. I hope that I made a useful selection:


Delicious

6c: Literature

Methodological literature

Collins, Hilary, 2010. Creative Research: The Theory and Practice of research for the creative industry, Lausanne: AVA Publishing SA

This book does not only describe and explain all research- and analysing methods, it is also focused especially on the research in the creative industry. I am planning to do research in this industry and this book will give me specific informations about the special requirements needed.

Subject literature

Bayas-Linke, D., Scheier, C., Schneider, J., 2010. Codes: Die geheime Sprache der Produkte, Freiburg: Haufe-Lexware GmbH & Co. KG.

This book is the latest publication of the main german author Dr. Christian Scheier. He has worked in the neuropsychology field and now implements his knowledge as a marketing consult in his own company “decode”. The Book Codes: Die geheime Sprache der Produkte (Codes: the secret language of products) assumes that we have learned “mental codes” which we do connect to the product that we are using. The connections were built in our early childhood (Scheier, 2010). This assumption is very exciting and gives new opportunities for packaging design, visual-, sensory product- and brand-communication. This book covers many opportunities for the implementation of neuromarketing and neuroscience and can be very useful for my inquiry.

Häusel, H. G., 4^th, 2005. Think Limbic: Die Macht des Unbewussten verstehen und nutzen für Motivation, Marketing, Management, Planegg: Rudolf Haufe GmbH & Co. KG.

The author are Dipl. Psychologist and are one of the leading experts in marketing-, selling- and management-brain-science. Dr. Hans-Georg Häusel are currently lecturer on the university of economy in Zurich. He developed the Limbic® Model, which is today considered as the best instrument for the detection of conscious and subconscious life- and purchasing motives, also for a neuropsychological founded target group segmentation and personality measurement. In this book the author describes the different limbic types of the human personality. In the field of neuromarketing it is like a differentiation into target groups. This issue is also very important for me, because neuromarketing has a different approach as Advertising Psychology. Furthermore I have to know to which my graphic design may concern.

Task 6b: Inquiry Tools Experience

Pilot Survey

Disadvantages

1. The disadvantage of my self-created inquiry was that the participants had have problems to send the answered survey back to me. I haven't find out, where the problem was. It seems to me that some programs on the PCs of participants couldn't save the checked form. Maybe that depends on different Adobe Reader Versions. So, maybe I have find another solution, otherwise the response rate will be minimized. 
2. Additional to this the participants have to send the survey by their own email-address, some might have a problem with that. But I can minimize that by making sure that I will not use their email-Address or any other information which I get.

Advantages

1. The participants have to save the answered survey. But this can also be positive, because their have an answered form of the survey at their PC. This might be a better feeling for some participants.
2. The advantage of preparing the own quationnaire are, that I will be very free in my design opportunities. I will have to work with pictures, shapes or colours. I don't know if any free provider can offer this opportunities.

Pilot Interview

Disadvantages

1. I have to admit, that I didn't found any disadvantages with this method. The only hard work will be to analyzing the collected data. 

Advantages

1. Collecting are a withe range of information which can drive the inquiry forward.
2. Are a good complementation to a quantitative research tool e.g. survey.

Focus Group

Disadvantages

1. Time consuming. 
2. Has to be planned in advance.
3. Dominate participants could destroy the aim of the focus group.
4. The analyzing process are very extensive.

Advantages

1. Very creative. 
2. Many positive results which drive the inquiry forward.
3. Getting new perspectives from the participants.

Task 6a: Inquiry Tools

During the last weeks I have planed and conducted a pilotinterview, a pilotsurvey and a pilot focus group. Actually I am planning and will conduct a pilot observation this week.

The starting point 

The starting point for developing my survey have been the literature "Think limbic" from the author Dr. Hans-Georg Häusel. The author are Dipl. Psychologist and are one of the leading experts in marketing-, selling- and management-brain-science. The book has a tool at the end of the book where the reader can find out by answering a few questions which limbic type he or she are. I thought this would be a great starting point for my survey. But I didn't want to copy the "test" from the book and decided, after a lot of reading and speaking with my boyfriend, to develop completely other questions.

Aim for the Survey

Important for me was to reduce errors, for that reason I developed very easy and closed questions. I spend a whole day on developing a survey which the participants can understand without further explains. This was very important for me, because the disadvantages of a survey compared to an interview are, that the participant can't ask questions to a questioner. The survey has to be self-explanatory.

No Survey Monkey

I decided not to use survey monkey for developing my inquiry, because the questions are limited there. I needed to ask more than 15 questions, but the provider offers only 15 question for free. For this purpose, I decide to design my own questionnaire form with Adobe Pro. This program offers many opportunities for creating a questionnaire.

Here are the result: Pilot Survey

Pilot Interview

After this process I had the feeling to be on the right track. Immediately I had finished the survey, I started to prepare the pilot interview. Suddenly many questions came to my mind, because I had to think very limited during the survey design and now I had the feeling to get much more freedom related to the questions. 

Aim of Pilot Interview

The aim of the interview was to test out the duration and further more to get new starting points and ideas from the participant. But it was also very important for me, that my question be understood and the answers of my participant are very clear. So, I tried to develop a set of questions which are built of one another. I wanted to avoid brakes or silence, because the participant should feel competence and a flouting.

Focus Group

For prepared a set of question and keywords, about my theme. I thought I would be like a moderator. My imagine was to drive the topic forward and have to responsible that no participant drifts away from the main theme. 

Aim of Focus Group

I expected a lot from this research tool, because it seemed to me the tool where the output would be the most. The participants are very free and thoughts and ideas can flout. This process seemed to me a little bit like brain-storming with a group of people.

Pilot Survey

Please could EVERBODY (inkl. Dancers, Designer, Illustrators etc.) complete my Survey. You will find an 'send-button' in the survey, that makes it easy to send back. I have also answered all surveys when it wasn't needed to be a dancer or teacher. It would be nice when you could return the favour.

If you notice any kind of error or a question which you don't understand please inform me.
I have prepared the Survey in german and in english:


Please Klick here for answering my  Survey

I would appreciate when you could give me your feedback!

Survey in Process

At the moment I am planning and designing my survey. At first I had a costumer survey in mind, but after reading trough nearly 100 pages of the book 'Think limbic: Die Macht des Unterbewussten verstehen und nutzen' (Think limbic: How to understand and use the power of the subconscious) from the author Hans-Georg Häusel I reject my plan. This is a great book and helped me a lot during the phase of developing my survey. The author states that costumer surveys are not very useful, he assumes that participants can't answer truly:

Antworten in Kundenbefragungen zeigen nämlich die fatale Tendenz der Befragten, sich selbst als hochvernünftige und rationale Wesen darzustellen. Die wirklichen Gefühle – insbesondere solche, die unserem christlich geprägten Wertsystem zuwider laufen, wie Wunsch nach Status, Überlegenheit etc. werden verleugnet.

(The answers of surveyed participants in costumer surveys shows a tendency to represent themselves as very reasonable and rational persons. The real feelings – especially such feelings which contrary to the christian influenced value-system, like the desire for status, superiority etc. will be denied)

After reading this information I decided to reject the costumer survey plan. Not only because of this source, I have read about this problem once or twice before. Additionally to this, the reaction of the surveyed seems to me logical. But the question was now: How can I built my investigation? I have an idea and I hope this works. Now, I will working out neither a costumer survey, I will develop a survey for everybody.


I will post my  Survey for Everybody  today. So, please come back later and give me just a few minutes of your time to answer the questions. That would be a great help!

Speaking out of my soul...

This blog extract is speaking out of my soul:

My frustration stemmed from the attitude that design was primarily focused on beautification or just ‘making thing look nice’ and the view of ‘if it looks nice people will react well to it’. Undoubtedly the look of a piece of communication is an important factor but shouldn’t be the only factor when considering [graphic] design projects. A piece of graphic design is a piece of communication that is made with the express purpose of achieving a desired result. Often the thinking part of design was either decided by teams of non-designers before the designers were commissioned (i.e. client teams) or not considered at all.

The author has studied Psychology and but has been working over many years in the advertising industry.


Source:
http://www.design-thinkers.co.uk/about/

Developing Line of Inquiry - Refreshed

After reading through different books, articles, blog entries and talking to friends, colleagues and to Paula I feel like a stonemasons which has to shape a rock into a fine sculpture. At first I have to decide which sculpture I do want to create, afterwards I have to cast the gross form out of the rock. And I hope to be able to build out the fine lines of the sculpture. 

Actually I am trying to prepare the stone (topic) for the final destination. A few weeks ago I started out from this question: 

'Which consequences do the application of advertising psychology criteria to graphic design have?'

During my recherche over the weeks for the topic one issue did emerge all time and at nearly every current article that I read when I put the keyword "psyhology" and "advertising" into the google search engine: 

Neuromarketing 

Neuromarketing is a new field of marketing that studies consumers' sensorimotor, cognitive, and affective response to marketing stimuli. Researchers use technologies such as functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to measure changes in activity in parts of the brain, electroencephalography (EEG) and Steady state topography (SST) to measure activity in specific regional spectra of the brain response, and/or sensors to measure changes in one's physiological state (heart rate, respiratory rate, galvanic skin response) to learn why consumers make the decisions they do, and what part of the brain is telling them to do it. 

From the point of neuromarketing "advertising psychology" seems to me a little bit outdated. During the last years many new insights into costumers purchasing behavior have emerged and some have replaced the insights of advertising psychology. I would like to investigate this new knowledge related to my work as a graphic designer. What happens in our brain is essential for me as an graphic designer, because I want to communicate with pictures and symbols. All parts of a design initiate a response for the recipient. Colors, pictures, symbols and the combination of all of that can change the content of the news which the designer wants to transport to the recipient. I have to encrypt the message and the recipient has to be able to decoding this information. If we don't speak the same "language" it will be hard to "communicate". My aim with this inquiry is to analyze how I can optimize my work results as an graphic designer for the target group of a brand/product. 

Main Question

'Which effects does the application of neuropsychology discoveries to graphic design have?'

Ethics - Refreshed Version

I have realized that the summary of the ethical conduct at Task 5a I listed have been too general and refers too every kind of profession. 
After speaking with Korliane Suy I recognized that a Graphic Designer has to adhere to more specific ethical guidelines like e.g. copyrights. I have found a very good source about ethical conducts for Graphic Designers on the AIGA (American Institute of Graphic Arts) Website which I would like to introduce to you:

AIGA STANDARDS OF PROFESSIONAL PRACTICE
These standards define the expectations of a professional designer and represent the distinction of an AIGA member in the practice of design. 

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.

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 is encouraged to contribute five percent of his or her time to projects in the public good-projects that serve society and improve the human experience.

7.3 A professional designer shall consider environmental, economic, social and cultural implications of his or her work and minimize the adverse impacts.

7.4 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.

7.5 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.

7.6 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.

7.7 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.

Source:

http://www.aiga.org/standards-professional-practice/