The International Council of Design has published their updated Professional Code of Conduct for Designers. The document is intended to be aspirational and to set standards and provide a reference. In producing the Code, the Council intends to position design and designers as focusing on ethical issues, with a responsibility to humanity and a sustainable future.

As the Council wrote in the Introduction to the Code:

Design is a professional practice. To establish the professional standing of design worldwide, it is necessary to have a broad acceptance of a shared professional ethos and a sense of common cause. Only the collective action of practitioners can establish the professional standing of a discipline.

The Council is an international body of design entities, professional associations, educational institutions, and promotional bodies. The Code was constructed to provide guidance to associations intending to craft their own codes, and to educational institutions developing curricula. The Code includes a Lexicon and extensive explanations throughout, providing their international audience aids for comprehension.

A preliminary revision to the revised Code was presented during the members’ Platform Meeting in Vancouver in November 2019. There, Guild representative Yanique DaCosta joined Council members from around the globe in weighing in on the new Code. The revised Code was finalized this year. In her role as Council Treasurer, Guild board member Rebecca Blake joined Johnathon Strebly (Canada), Tyra von Zweigbergk (Sweden), Daniela Piscitelli (Italy), Johnathon Strebly Canada, David Grossman (Israel), and Council Managing Director Ana Masut in contributing to the Code.