When people think of the word “professional”, they may picture someone wearing formal clothes and working in an office. However, being professional isn’t just about what someone wears or what they do.
This is key in the creative industries, where workplaces and working styles can vary, and be a lot less formal. An artist working from home, a film crew on location, and a team developing a video game may look completely different, but they all still need to act professionally. It’s shown through behaviour, communication, responsibility, and the way we treat others.
What does professionalism mean?
There are four main parts to professionalism. Commitment, Integrity, Responsibility and Accountability. Each one means something different.
Commitment can mean meeting deadlines and putting enough effort into a project. Integrity includes being honest about your abilities and providing credit to others. Responsibility means doing your part in a team and Accountability means accepting when you’ve made a mistake and working to fix it.
With this, there’s something important to remember. Being creative doesn’t excuse being unreliable. One person can be an amazing artist, writer or designer, but if they keep missing deadlines, steal other people’s work or are generally just not pleasant to work with, then that will be important. So it’s up to you to meet these expectations and manage your own behaviour.
Why does it matter in the creative industries?
The area I’d say it matters the most is collaboration. Very rarely are big creative projects made completely alone. Films have directors, actors, editors, cinematographers, sound designers and hundreds of other positions. Games require programming, art, animation audio, and many more. Even freelance workers regularly communicate with clients.
Even one person acting unprofessionally can affect everyone else involved. If an animator repeatedly misses an agreed deadline without speaking to the team, another department might be unable to continue their own work. So it’s not all about you, it’s about the people around you. With delays like this, it can even lead to the project as a whole being delayed.
Professional behaviour also builds trust. If your employer knows that you communicate well, respect colleagues and complete work efficiently, they’re more likely to trust you with bigger responsibilities in the future. So, it’s in your best interest to play your role, make the effort and send all of your work in on time. Not just for your own benefit, but for everyone else’s.
Integrity, ethics and codes of conduct
Different areas of the creative industries have their own professional organisations and ethical guidelines.
“W3C Ethical Guidelines” talks about things like accessibility, privacy, security, transparency, freedom of speech and avoiding harm. The web must remain open, global and interoperable. The principles are interconnected and require balancing trade-offs and the goal is to ensure the web continues to be a positive force for communication, knowledge and human dignity.
“IGDA Core Values and Code of Ethics” outlines five main values. Growth, community, advocacy, inclusivity and empathy. All of these impact your own discipline, and connect well to the creative industries because of issues like plagiarism. Creative professionals rely on owning their work and getting credit for it. Taking someone’s hard work and presenting it as your own is not only disrespectful, but it attacks the integrity that creative industries depend on.
More information on both these codes can be found at the sources listed below.
All of these values are important for yourself and for the people around you, especially if you intend on working in the creative industries.
Respect, accountability and reputation
Professionalism applies to your relationship with your employer, clients and colleagues. Respect includes communicating properly, accepting criticism, respecting one another’s boundaries and no discriminating or harassing your co-workers.
“IGDA Code of Conduct” is a useful example because it makes it clear that people should treat each other with respect and applies expectations to both in person interactions and online ones, like social media. Creative industries can be built around connections. The impression you make while working with somebody can affect whether they want to work with you again or recommend you. Your reputation doesn’t just disappear when you go online. How you publicly interact with clients, companies and other creatives can affect the professional image you’re creating.
To summarise? Yes, absolutely. Professionalism is needed in this industry. It’s not simply about how formal you are, it’s about whether or not people you work with can trust you and respect you. Your creative work will 100% get people interested, but the way you present yourself is just as important, if not that, then more important. By following ethical guidelines, respecting collaborators and taking responsibility for your work, creative professionals can protect both their own reputation, and the integrity of their wider industry.
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