Morality in graphical design: reviewing professional moral issues in graphical design

Dealing with moral and social responsibilities in growth process of every profession is of primary considerations and is always taken into account by officials of that profession.The subject of morality is a significant issue in the field of graphical design. The present study aims at exploring the filed of graphical design and identifying key moral approachesin this field by highlighting moral turning points in the history of graphical design it also intends to determine the main concerns of responsibility and morality in this profession. Moreover, the domain of the responsibility of the graphical designer against social problems (drug consumption), environmental problems (warming of the earth) and responsibility of expressing and transferring truth by the designerare discussed.The present study aims at specifying the main subjects of professional morality (or ethic) and the concerns of the thinkers of this field; following this, morality based definitions and approaches in graphical design will be investigated. In addition, the main subjects pointed out in the field of morality in graphical design including transferring the truth, commitment of the designer to customer, the issue of moral health of the customer, the rights of co-designers, sub-designers and addressees will be discussed. At the end the responsibility of the designer against the others and also commitment to a kind of responsible and human-oriented design as the obtained solutions will be presented in this study. Also, it will be argued that some of the moralitybased trends agree with informing the addressee and others agree with obtaining a kind of conscience in the designers.