When you say this:

“Everyone’s principles are different - as long as you stick to them, it’s all valid.”

I fully agree. I don’t want to force my opinion on anyone, and there’s only so much reasoning you can do.

Thanks for commenting.

I don’t agree - each of us is NOT as guilty as the next. If I wasn’t environmentally responsible, I’d be hypocritical to accuse clients of ill practice. Why should I go out of my way to reduce, re-use, recycle, source eco-friendly products and not have a car, then actually increase an environmentally damaging client’s profits with a good design?

I agree with your comment above - once tarnished, your reputation is incredibly hard to build back up. News travels fast, but bad news travels even faster. I am keen to work on environmental projects - why would anyone take me seriously if I had a history of working for unethical organisations?

I also stick to my principles when it comes to any additional freelance work I’ve done (I rejected one client because they insisted logo contests were a viable way to work, and one because he was a tattoo ‘artist’ with a shoddy reputation) and also any job I apply for. Anywhere with a dress code, or anyone who discriminates against tattoos or appearance is out - I do not believe you can insist on creativity from designers while insisting they all look the same.

Everyone’s principles are different - as long as you stick to them, it’s all valid :-)

Good to know your ethics are on track. I think whether you’re starting out or not, there should never be any temptation to steal. Once tarnished, your reputation is incredibly hard to build back up.

Your ethics are very similar to mine. Thanks for dropping by and sorry it took so long to acknowledge you!

Sara,

I think that after four years of working with clients, only firing your first one now is great going. I’ve only had to do it once so far, and I’ve been in self-employment for 2 years. It was a sad process, and one I hope doesn’t come around too often.

I can definitively say there are several sectors I wouldn’t do work for:

Any company that abuses animals in any way.
Certain political parties
Any company that takes a stance against equality (whether it be race, gender or sexual orientation)
Any company that was responsible for further damaging the environment
Some adult content (though I’d never display it in my portfolio, I think adult content is healthy… to a degree)

I suppose ethically I’d turn down anything that may inhibit the growth of the planet or mankind.

It is indeed sometimes tough. There are so many external factors at force, that you have to look hard inside yourself to discover where you really want to go.

Ed,

Thanks for the input, and I like your quote to back up your thinking.

Sera,

It turns out there have been many more times I’ve told a client, “no thanks” for reasons not involving ethics / morals.

Armen,

Your name cropped up in my thoughts when I was writing this one. I know that ethics are high on your agenda, so thanks for joining the discussion.

Vivienne,

I’ve not seen your tag yet, but will pay your site a visit shortly. Thanks!

Prasanth, Dian, Shine,

It’s great that you spend the time repsonding to my post. I’m sorry I can’t write longer replies at this time. Work constraints are diminishing the time I want to spend responding to you individually. This is something I’ll have to address somehow.

Again, thanks to all who took some ‘time out’ here.