Book Club: Ruined By Design, Introduction

What an unethical day in the ol’ tattoo studio can feel like. Amazing cover from 1950 pulp comics - which you can read in their entirity here!

Jo wrote a really thoughtful overview of the book ‘Ruined by Design’ by Mike Montiero in her post. I’m seemingly incapable of summaries - so I’ve delved into a concept which opened the book: what are the ethics of design?

Ethics of Design

• A designer is first and foremost a human being

• A designer is responsible for the work they put into the world

• A designer values impact over form

• A designer owes the people who hire them not just their labor, but their counsel

• A designer welcomes criticism

• A designer strives to know their audience

• A designer does not believe in edge cases

• A designer is part of a professional community

• A designer welcomes a diverse and competitive field

• A designer takes time for self-reflection

I believe all of these are ripe for consideration under the mantle of working in the tattoo industry. I know we’re a long way from framing or embracing a ‘Tattoo Code of Ethics’ but I would love to hear other’s take on this concept as it pertains to our field.

I believe the first three bullet points above are fairly straightforward in terms of applicability to our field.

Let’s look at some of the stickier ones to embrace:

A designer owes the people who hire them not just their labor, but their counsel A designer welcomes criticism

Of feedback I hear from tattooed people about negative experiences, I feel issues surrounding communication are on the top of the pile. Not just that there is an unwillingness to receive criticism on artwork or placement, but a lack of suggestions as to how an idea can be made better (while remaining true to a client’s original suggestion). When speaking with tattoo artists, I’ve heard a lot about pushy clients and ridiculous demands. As artists, how should we enter into a client-service provider relationship in a way which everyone feels heard but also feels safe to stray from the warm-fuzzies path and be critical of designs or ideas?

A designer strives to know their audience A designer does not believe in edge cases

These are definitely in the same bucket for mes the audience for tattoos is literally everyone and then just a single person both at the same time.

It could be said of our own code of ethics, we strive to know our market. Our audience is literally anyone with eyes, but our market is those who we feel might want our work. Your market is not everyone, no matter how cool or flippant or detatched you think you are. You have people who seem to like your work better than others - who like spending time in your shop more than at others. Who are they, what makes them distinct?

And in terms of edge cases - if you’re examining markets based on aesthetic preference, you cannot exclude anyone from holding those preferences, so make sure that every kind of human who does like those things that you do can work with you (not just physical limitations or language barriers, but economic ones (flash opportunities? Stickers and prints?)).

A designer is part of a professional community A designer welcomes a diverse and competitive field

Brain reacted to these as essentially the same thing …

Hot take: there are a lot more designers than there are tattoo artists, and if this type of inclusive attitude can be made manifest in an Actually Competitive Field, we can stand to live among more people who want to do our sort of work for a living. The thing about competition is that we can do better technical work and be better communicators and can Remain Busy in a world filled with unethical artists. Their lack of ethical practice can serve as an ATM to your business. Furthermore, if you see a tattoo artist who seems less artistically skilled but seemingly more popular than yourself, it could be due to some service they are doing to specifically address a need in our client community - a need you cannot see, but they can. Can we create a community in which we can collaborate and share where we have excess, and be capable of asking for care and knowledge where we lack - like in other professions?

One thing that I do think our community lacks is a formal approach to education in terms of time it takes to become a “real” tattoo artist and what sort of knowledge we expect “real” tattoo artists should have? We are secretive and gate-keepy about apprenticeships and I think decades of this behavior have resulted in a whole generation of novice artists just buying equipment straight from Uncle Jeff and figuring it all out themselves. Some do great, some don’t. Either way, if we made some concerted efforts as an industry to agree upon and document to what it takes to get established, I do believe upon sharing a collective common framework for apprenticeships a) a lot of people would change their minds about how cool our cool job is and b) the people with the right frame of mind and the tenacity to take the work on would be easier to find. Jus’ sayin.

A designer takes time for self-reflection

If anything, this is one area I think tattoo artists might have the other professions beat. I can’t think of one artist who doesn’t have a raging case of the self-reflection eating into their happiness at all times. Kudos to those of you who have a healthy relationship to your work. Where I can posit a question, however, is how are you making sure to make time to review what made your better pieces so much - better? What could be done to ensure that degree of success happens every time?

What are some statements which could be used to create a Tattoo Artist Code of Ethics? In absence of a formal industry code, what are your personal code of ethics for this industry? What standards must be upheld for you to hold your head high as a tattoo artist?