The Motion Design Asso­ci­a­tion has issued a Stan­dards of Pro­fes­sional Prac­tice doc­u­ment, ask­ing all Motion Design artists to adhere to a pro­fes­sional eth­i­cal code in order to make the indus­try that we work in fairer and more equi­table for every­one. A sim­ple list of the rights we expect every­one to adhere includes: con­tracts, over­time, on-time pay­ment, get­ting credit on jobs, and being able to use work in your port­fo­lio. There are expec­ta­tions of design­ers as well: to do your best work, act in the inter­est of your client and rep­re­sent your­self accu­rately in your port­fo­lio. We also ask that no designer take on spec work. We encour­age design­ers to do pro-bono and vol­un­teer work for orga­ni­za­tions they want to help out.

It’ll take you 5 min­utes to read. So go. Read it now.

You may be ask­ing your­self, “Do we really need a Motion Design Asso­ci­a­tion?”, “Do we even need pro­fes­sional stan­dards?”, “I’m an inde­pen­dent designer, why do I need an orga­ni­za­tion to stand up for me?”.

I think if you look around your work­place and hon­estly assess the work­ing con­di­tions and stan­dards that we all begrudg­ingly accept, you’ll find the obvi­ous answer. How many of you plan to be in this indus­try for 10 more years? How many already have an exit strat­egy already planned out? How many times do you work with­out over­time? How many jobs do you work on that are under-budgeted or uncom­pen­sated at all? How many week­ends are you asked to work — at the last minute, as you are ready to walk out the door? In this indus­try the dead­lines get shorter and the bud­gets get tighter as the scope of pro­duc­tion grows. Some­thing has to give.

Over­time is designed not to reward the worker who stays late and pol­ishes their work until it’s just right. Over­time is sup­posed to pun­ish the employer who can­not man­age jobs on-time or on-budget and uses the brute force of extra hours to com­pen­sate. These costs should drive the costs of pro­duc­tion up and should also be borne out in expanded bud­gets for expanded pro­duc­tion needs. We urge our mem­ber motion design­ers not to accept spec work and we urge the pro­duc­tion com­pa­nies in this field not to accept uncom­pen­sated work as well.

These issues are what the MDA is seek­ing to change. No longer should Motion Design solely be the dis­ci­pline of the young and inex­pe­ri­enced. No longer should it exploit the gray areas and gentlemen’s agree­ments that no one enforces. No longer should it be accepted that every­thing will always get done, no mat­ter how late we stay. No longer should we accept that we work for months with­out any­thing to show for it. Who bears the brunt of that labor? You do. Your fam­ily does. We shouldn’t have to sac­ri­fice our health for our jobs.

Let’s make this indus­try more sane and respon­si­ble so we can ALL have healthy, long-lasting careers.

You in? Sign up for the mail­ing list and we’ll be in touch soon.

Thank you.

Bran Dougherty-Johnson, MDA mem­ber.
Cross-posted at MDA