GRAPHIC DESIGNERS' APPROACHES TO PROFESSIONAL ETHICS AND THE STATUS OF PROFESSIONAL ETHICS COURSE IN DESIGN EDUCATION IN TURKEY

This study briefly explains concepts such as morality, ethics, the importance of professional ethics, unethical behaviors in design, and the relationship between graphic design and professional ethics. The data and findings obtained in the thesis study were discussed and interpreted in line with this information. Issues such as the awareness of ethics within the graphic design profession, the existence of ethical principles and the reasons why they are applied or not, and whether professional ethics courses are included in the curriculum or not are discussed. For this purpose, the data from the "Survey on Professional Ethics in the Context of Graphic Design in Turkiye", in which graphic designers, design students working in the sector, and designer academics participated, was shared. Some major results were evaluated by including the opinions of graphic designers on the subject. The experts whose opinions were given were chosen from among the designers who were particularly interested in design and ethics. In addition, inferences were made by sharing the information that professional ethics courses should be included in the curriculum in the 2020-2021 academic year. In this study, using qualitative and quantitative methods together, the existing situation was determined by conducting a descriptive study with the data collected from a wide range of research on professional ethics in the field of design. It has been observed that professional ethics in the field of graphic design in Turkiye is still relatively weak, and even if designers know the awareness of ethics, it is not implemented due to individual and non -individual factors, and even unethical behavior is rewarded from time to time. In addition, it can be concluded that the ethics issue cannot be solved designers only and that the system, including the design discipline, needs to be improved.