Developing Inquriy

1. What do you need to find out?

I need to find out to what extent the application of psychological proved knowledge the graphical appearance and in case of webdesign the usability will be change. 


Idea: 
Comparing designs which are designed with and without psychological criterias
To which extent will the appearance change? To which extent will the usability change (webdesign)? What will change?
Will one of the compared designs fulfill the aim of the client better? General: Which particular requirements has a client on the advertising material or designed products? What is his/her general aim when they commission a graphic designer? Are there differences between clients? How can I generate answers to these question? 

Which products/materials shall I investigate under these aspects? Print-materials or internet media? 

What product would be better to investigate? What are more interesting for my colleagues and other professionals and me regarding my further career. 

Do I have to gain a real commission or can I work with a fictive one? What are the advantages and the disadvantages of both?

2. Why will the results make a difference to your work and career?

The results will make a difference to my work and career, because I suppose to gain a specific knowledge. That implies that my arguments will be based on facts and not on taste. 

3. What impact will it have on your job, your work colleagues, the sector in which you work?

The inquiry project and the outcome results will enable me to argue in a more professional way toward my clients. It could be that my process of work will change. 

4. Can you disseminate what you find out anywhere?

I think that depends on the submissions that I can gain. But there are a few opportunities how I could disseminate what I have found out e.g. a book or a summarize of the project on my website. I could also provide my presentation on the internet.

5. Will your project have some sort of impact?
That could be, because the application of psychology science to advertising is a sensitive issue. But it is also a which seems to be interesting for a few people which are working in the advertising industry. Maybe it helps to develop more targeted print- or web-products.

6. Are you going to develop some new service? A new product? A learning resource?
I don't think that I develop a new service. It is rather supplementation of my profession. 

7. How will exploring this topic help you in what you do? 
It will help me to divine wether it is possible to develop with the application of psychology criterias a graphic design which fulfill the requirements of the clients better than the previous design. 

Source:

http://paulanottingham.blogspot.com/2010/02/advice-on-planning-wblproject.html

8. What do you know and what don't you know about the topic?
I know that advertising psychology criteria and other science results are used in marketing. 
I don't know if the application of advertising psychology criteria or neuro-science gained a 'better' graphic design.
I don't know if the current science results are sufficient to develop a more effective graphic design. 
For whom is it useful?

9. Define the problem further from your questions
Is this knowledge really useful for my profession as an graphic designer or should people which are working in the marketing sector know and use this? But what if they haven't these knowledge? Can I as a graphic designer advise marketing professions? Wouldn't that increase tensions?

10. Locate some sources of data (literature, theory, other research) about your topic
On Process

http://peterbryant.smegradio.com/?p=36

A research problem, once defined, is not ready to be solved straight away.  A researcher must understand the nature of the problem.  We need to look at what is influencing the problem.Here are some key approaches to understanding the problem.1. Problems don’t have to look at the past.  They can investigate the current or future situation.2. Problems don’t have to focus on something that is wrong; they can investigate why something went right!3. Problems don’t have to be positive or negative; they can simply be an exploration or discovery of a situation.  They can answer questions like how, why, who, when and where.A researcher must have a good understanding of their problem.  There is nothing worse than getting to the end of a research project and finding you haven’t actually answered any of your questions nor have you solved the actual problem.Having a good understanding of the problem also helps you develop a clear focus and direction for your research, as well as uncovering problems and variables that need to be measured within the research.

11. Is the topic relevant, interesting, perhaps explores an aspect of yours or others practice? Or is it just ‘nice to know’, interesting, but not relevant to your own practice and the practice of others.  I think my issue is interesting also for other professionals and for the sector where I am working in because the results will show if is possible to create a more effective graphic design under application of psychological criteria.

12. Has this topic been researched before so extensively that you can’t add anything new or interesting? Only as a small part of Neuromarketing.

13. Does it stimulate your imagination and passion?
Clear: Yes.

14. Is it bleeding obvious?

I think the topic is to complex to be obvious.

http://peterbryant.smegradio.com/?p=37

15. What will the implications or impact be for co-workers, others in your professional network, or other

professionals working in your sector?

The research result will maybe change the perspective or approach on a design project for some graphic designers. 

16. Will the evidence you find out make any difference to this professional life?

17. How do I start defining my research problem/topic?

Source: Reader 4

Task 5c: Ethics in a professional context

I have learned, that it is necessary to know the ethical standards and guidelines of the organization or place of work where the researcher will do the investigation, otherwise it could happen that he or she does brake accidentally the rules and that can have bad effects. Furthermore transparency, honesty and open communication seems to me important to get the permission of the participants and are the basic for the right of use of the collected data. 


Additional to this I found a well source which deals with the ethics related particularly to ethics in graphic design.


   

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.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.

7.3 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. Adopted by the board of directors of AIGA, the professional association for design, in 1994; amended November 2010 to include items 7.2 and 7.3.

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

Why it is so important to adhere to ethical norms in research?

During my recherche about ethical norms and rules in research on the world wide web I found a website where I suddenly understood the importance of ethic in research.

To make it clearer I will summarize here a few points of the text:

1. Norms promote the aims of research such as:

• knowledge
• truth
• avoidance of error

2. Ethical standards promote the values that are essential to collaborative work such as:

• trust
• accountability
• mutual respect
• fairness

3. Ethical norms help to ensure that researchers can be held accountable to the public

4. Ethical norms in research help to build public support for research

5. Many of the norms of research promote the variety of other important moral and social values

Here are the complete text:

http://www.niehs.nih.gov/research/resources/bioethics/whatis

Paula asked me how I will provide my participants with ethical practice. And of course I have thought about that. I will provide my participant with ethical practice with the Consent Form and will also provide them with further information about the reason for the inquiry.

Task 5b: Professional Ethic (Part 2)

Yesterday I have read again through the two professional sources which steer the ethical framework in my place of work:

Code of Conduct
Company Policy on Values and Responsibility 
The Code of Conduct and the supplementary guidelines are binding and obligatory for all employees and executives. Therefore I have already read and work into consideration of these guidelines. The two sources above includes:

1. Basis
Explains why the compliance of the code of conduct are important.


2. Values and scope
To whom the guidelines may concern.


3. General principles
States which basic principle must be kept.


4. Confidentiality
Defines how to handle sensitive data.


5. Anti-discrimination
Notes that discrimination isn't allowed.


6. Conflicts of interest
Defines how to deal with conflicts.


6.1 Avoiding conflicts of personal and business interests
States how to avoid a personal or business conflict of interest.


6.2 Offering and accepting benefits/gifts
Defines how to deal with benefits and gifts in profession. 


6.3 Corruption
States how to avoid any kind of corruption.


7. Money laundering
Defines the regulations with money in our business.


8. Adherence to the law on competition and fairness in competition and marketing
States how to deal with competitors.


9. Customer orientation and business partners
Defines the behavior to costumers and furthermore that also the business partners should 
observe the code of conduct


10. Transparency of services
Explains the dealing with test results and report data.


11. Integrity of information/communication
Defines the guidelines of external communication.


12. Exclusions and non-associaton
Defines that a association to companies which don't adheres certain principles, ethical values or standards has to be avoid.


13. Environmental protection
States that the company pays high attention to the environmental protection and society.


14. Charity and sponsorship
Defines and refer to sponsorship guidelines.


15. Employee protection
Defines and refer to other sources which deals with the health and safety in the workplace.


16. Working environment
States the handling with Alcoholism or drugs.


17. Implementation, complaint procedures and misconduct reports
States the handling with this code of conduct.


18. Closing remarks


Now, I am aware of the fact that the points which I mentioned under task 5a doesn't include much of this code of conduct  although I have already known all mentioned rules and principles. I have thought about the reason for this and came to the conclusion that my professional principles do cover nearly all of my private ethical principles too. That may the reason why I haven't mentioned much which are included in the code of conduct. In my private life I am trying to safe resources, don't discriminate anybody or brake any laws or regulations. 


Although I have already known the code of conduct it was very useful that I had to read it now very carefully and with increased attention. That gave me the chance to fresh-up my knowledge and getting deeper in the matter.


One comment which I posted on Lizzy Wrights Blog about this issue was:

My Comment:

In my company we have very clear rules and guidelines for our ethical behaviour. Sometimes this is helpful because everybody knows these rules and trying to follow them. But of course it isn't this easy to behave and think all the time in this guidelines.

Lissy answered:

I think having a very clear set of guidelines regarding ethical behaviour is really good. I have just been reading and commenting on Emily Brenchley's Task 5b post - she raises the point that in a lot of contracts 'ethics' and 'ethical behaviour' either doesn't get much of a mention or is a very grey area. I suppose any ethical code would still be interpreted differently by different people according to your own values. But having clear boundaries must help to prevent possible issues.

What do you think?
http://www.tuv.com/media/corporate/aboutus_5/pdf_1/codeofconduct-EN.pdfhttp://www.tuv.com/media/corporate/aboutus_5/pdf_1/codeofconduct-EN.pdf

Task 5a: Professional Ethics (Part 1)

Ethics, also known as moral philosophy, is a branch of philosophy that involves systematizing, defending, and recommending concepts of right and wrong behavior.


This seems to me as a huge and interesting issue. Because we are surrounded in every day life with it. The structure and function of our whole society seems to rest or where build of ethical rules. Ethic seems to built the basis for a social cohabitation for us humans. The Ten Commandments where only the beginning but do apply until now. 


I think that we do learn the ethical rules from our parents and later on the society in which we live. That are the reason why the rules can be differ from culture to culture. In my point of view everybody does know the ethical rules in his or her society, but there will be always a few people which are trying to brake these rules.


I try to behave social and respectful to others, because I do understand the sense of a social behavior:  
it is the basis for a social cohabitation and furthermore the basis of our system.


Of cause every general social rules and laws apply even in my working place. Additional to this we have unwritten and written codes which are stricter as in our private life. But, I am glad to say that the general behave in my working place are based on common sense and good education. 


Unwritten Codes of Conduct in my working place

• Be Punctual (I know... typical german)
• Work concentrated 
• Work in a structured way
• Be attentive
• Be quick
• Be accurate
• Be Polite 
• Be full of respect to your superior
• Keep your working space clean
• Co-operate with any member of the team
• Handle all confidential information about the company and the customers discreetly
• Be prepared in case of a medical emergency

I do only know these codes, because I adapted them from my colleagues. Nobody, expect of the safety training, has told me these rules. 

Advertising and Ethics

Are everybody who wants to sell a products immoral? So, are we as graphic designer too?

Due to Paulas Post, I found a really interesting article from the graphic designer Mokhonoana which deals with the ethical question I was thinking about. Here are an extract from his blog www.mokokoma.co.za:

The art of persuasion predominately use psychology and it is the biggest tool used in luring people in to buying things, mostly things they don’t really need, esp. in advertising. With just a few seconds of air play, an ad can leave you feeling like a failure, unattractive, a not-so-cool piece of flesh and a nightmare to the opposite sex.

Think of this type of advertising as peer pressure from ‘peers’ who like you for the depth of your pocket, not who you are.

Now this is where the questioning of morality should come into place.

Is it morally wrong to exploit human desires? The answer to that will depend on your beliefs. And since the subject matter is subjective, do we continue forcing our take down the other person’s throat or do we excuse the morally right or wrong debate and argue based on the law of the land, if we are to conclude the argument fairly?

Is it illegal for advertisers to exploit people’s insecurities and desires?

Are all businesses that sell to consumers evil? And isn’t the selling that qualifies an organization as a business? If so, are we as creatives also evil because in someway those businesses are our consumers? Are we less evil because our products are intangible, because we’re less manipulative in attracting our clients to hire us or is it because after work we go home and help those we’re hired to lure consume the advertising?

What is immoral? and whose definition do we judge against? The seller or those sold to?

Is the exploitation of human needs and desires an art to be celebrated or something to be ashamed of?
Is “making a living” and “financial security” dangled to creatives so they unconsciously play puppet to the so-called evil corporations?
Is the “business world” bigger than creatives? And how feasible is the “anti-selling silly things like cat food” ideology?

In my opinion consumption can't be seen as completely negative. Consumption creates jobs. Without this, many people wouldn't have a workplace. A good economy rests on consumption and consumption rests on employed people which can spend money. 


I suppose that everybody of us has bought something sometimes that wasn't needed. But if we wouldn't buy this it wouldn't be existing so many workingplaces. 


Are we independently-thinking humans? Or does good advertising manipulate even this?





Mokhonoana, M, 2010, between ethics and daily bread: A creative´s moral dilemma [online]: Pretoria, South Africa. Available from: http://mokokoma.co.za/between-ethics-and-daily-bread-a-creatives-moral-dilemma/ [no date]

Developing the Inquiry

During the last week I have thought a lot about the issue of my inquiry. I ask some friends of mine which are also graphic designers a few questions. One of them mentioned one important point which matches to the theme coincidentally to the latest theme ethic.

Isn't the application of e.g. brain scientific investigations to advertising a kind of manipulation of the costumer? Or will this additional knowledge indispensable to ground in the market competition in the future?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neuromarketing

Neuromarketing - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

en.wikipedia.org

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...

Task 4d: Award Title

A Long Process


After speaking with people, reflecting and thinking about my knowledge which I already have and which I want to gain during the inquiry I had a few ideas for my Award Title. The difficulty for me was that I want to express the learning results of my inquiry in the Award Title. I recognized here that this would be very difficult, because after reading through books and articles I got a impression about the size and the variety of opportunities which contains my chosen topic. I suppose that the most difficulty for me will be to narrow my topic. The reason why I am not sure about the Award Title is, that I am not completely sure about what my inquiry will cover. Advertising psychology links also to many other interesting fields, like Marketing or Brand Psychology. 


I am employed during 2009 in a subsidiaries of a big and international oriented group and can actually work very free and independently because I am the only graphic designer in this sector. I master the important computer programs and my chief are usually satisfied with my work. The reason why I would like to examine psychology criteria to graphic design are because as a graphic designer we want to communicate to people visual. I do realized nearly everyday that I am very quick confronted with my own limits. I do create materials which "looks good" but I want to create successful advertising/graphic design. 


The reason why I am employed is that my chief want to sell his products. But HOW can I help him to reach this goal when I don't know the needs of the costumers? I am aware of some needs, but I can't implement this information in my graphic designs, because I don't know the key to visualize these needs effectively. 
Usually the decision for this or that of my drafts are based on the matter of taste. But my goal is to create graphic design which is based on proven psychology facts. Brand, product, advertising and graphic design should form a unit and reach the target group.


For all above mentioned facts I chose the Award Title:


BA (Hons) Professional Practice in visual brand and product communication