Charity should be a necessary aspect of any life, provided nothing hinders a person from acting charitably. There are no justified reasons for not engaging in, at least, similar types of behavior routinely.
Charity takes different forms in different industries and field but the common variable is the same among them: To make an effort and try to make lives better. This is usually followed by the fact that one does not take any money or any other resources in exchange for the help provided.
But, in some cases, particularly when we are dealing with larger projects, it maybe more reasonable to ask for much less money or resources than one would need. This is, naturally, the case when the contributor themselves is on the brink of poverty for example, e.g lives paycheck to paycheck.
Basically the idea is to make the world better, hence, as a result, make yourself better, too.
Anything can be used well or badly. Education, wealth, appearance, reputation... All of these things have an appropriate use and are prone to misuse.
The only exception is personal excellence. This conception, includes, within itself, the notion of finding the right use.
Therefore, it becomes obvious why ethics is the most important part of any field of human thought or action. Graphic design is no exception
Design & its own characteristics
One of the advantages of design is the fact that you can support any the goals pertaining to the field with your skills.
Of course, there are ways a person can find information about different charities and through this data make their decision accordingly.
But, people rarely do this. Most users need some signals before they can trust a company. Especially with their money.
This signal could be a well-made, professional looking website itself, or it maybe some attractive illustration or even a intriguing blog post. Et cetera.
The main gist is that graphic designers can use their experience in order to help other companies provide people with certain necessities/wants.
The organization itself could have varying functions, such as: feeding the children, or providing families-in-need with some resources, or they might be providing assistance for disabled people, etc. However, the main goal should be doing all this in an ethical manner.
Additional benefits
The ethical/moral dimensions do not need additional reasons to make them more compelling. The reasons for acting ethically are categorical. Heaping additional incentives does not change the weight of the responsibility.
But for people who have yet to internalize all of this, it may be important to offer them something on top of the notion that one is doing their duty by making the world a better place.
Volunteering has the following additional benefits:
Confidence: Considering the fact that you know what you are doing and why it is valuable, it is bound to better your self-perception.
Results: In most cases you will be able to admire you handiwork, even if that may be from afar. It will not be hard to connect the dots and understand how your design helped make the brand more popular, which in turn resulted in more aid sent to people.
Contentment: The jobs that most designers have are usually pretty unfulfilling. Working for some corporate overlord for a fraction of what you deserve, in working conditions that ooze artificiality and fake decorum sounds as fun as it is for an average person. This type of alienation is much rarer when working with people who genuinely want to do good and be of use.
Potential: Working on similar projects will help pave the way in terms of that specific career path. Meaning that recruiters from other agencies will be more likely to trust you and consider you a valuable asset if they know you have done similar work in the past.
This has been a very brief and very surface-level blog post about charity in design. Our goal is to popularize the subject in this industry. We hope that it sparked at least some curiosity or contributed to the willingness to help out in you.
GE
EN