Every profession has its own set of ethical guidelines most of its members adhere to.

And while the design industry’s code of ethics might not be as crucial as, say, the medical industry, there are still some important ethical considerations every design professional should think about.

Here are some of the most prominent ethical considerations designers deal with, mostly specific to the design industry and similar creative professions.

We’d love to hear your thoughts on them, and what other ethical dilemmas you feel designers face on a regular basis in the comments!

Threadless is an amazing megastore for design T-shirts. Their community submits designs online which are then voted on, and the best ones are selected to be printed and sold through their store.

The designs are truly amazing. I’ve bought several of their T-shirts through their online store and they’re really great!

They recently released their 10th anniversary book. The book features 300 of the best designs year-by-year, with killer graphics from the likes of Si Scott, Olly Moss, Geoff, McFetridge and many others, as well as interviews with designers and lots of other juicy stuff about Threadless.

We’re partnering with Threadless to offer 10 vouchers worth $30 each which can be used to purchase any Threadless merchandise that you wish for, including their brand new book (which retails for $15 for the paperback version).

Having recently started reading a little more on design principles, I came across an interesting principle called the 80/20 Rule, also referred to as the Pareto Principle, Juran’s Principle, the Vital Few and Trivial Many Rule, and the Principle of Factor Sparsity.

This principle, which I’ll refer to in this piece simply as the 80/20 rule, when considered in the context of website and web app design can have a profound effect on the user experience, and ultimately on the effectiveness of the content or functionality of your website or web app.

In this post, I’ll first provide a basic definition, then I’ll consider some specific examples of how the 80/20 rule proves beneficial, and then I’ll summarize some lessons that can be gleaned from having knowledge of this rule.

Every week we feature a set of comics created exclusively for WDD.

The content revolves around web design, blogging and funny situations that we encounter in our daily lives as designers.

These great cartoons are created by Jerry King, an award-winning cartoonist who’s one of the most published, prolific and versatile cartoonists in the world today.

So for a few moments, take a break from your daily routine, have a laugh and enjoy these funny cartoons.

Feel free to leave your comments and suggestions below as well as any related stories of your own…