Professional Ethics: Client Confidentiality

Client confidentiality is not just something you pay attention to for the duration of the project; you are also ethically bound to maintain it as soon as you get into talks with them, before agreeing to take on the project, and after your dealings with them come to an end.

Every interaction around a creative project often requires the client to volunteer relatively sensitive information to help put things in perspective and context. Sometimes, this is revealed in the form of an extensive brief, or things said in clarity and feedback conversations as the project progresses. These interactions are often founded on trust, and the creative needs to be mindful enough to retain the client’s confidentiality.

Before you begin working on a project, the client would most certainly provide you with an interesting amount of information in order to help you understand the full scope of the project and their desired outcome. This information can include details about an unreleased product line or service, information on the market they are targeting, budget conversations, and real business problems. Although you are still weighing your decision to work on the project, you are still obligated to protect the sensitive information you receive from the client. If you decide to proceed with the project, draft a contract that clearly defines what is shareable and what isn’t. This is important for when you begin working on the project and what happens after.

While you work on the project, there are multiple ways a creative can breach confidentiality without being aware of it. Something as harmless as a workflow video, or other behind-the-scenes content, can divulge sensitive information about the project you are working on if you don’t take a second look. Sharing your process while working on a project is not entirely unethical, but review whatever you desire to share carefully to ensure that specific details around the project still remain confidential.

Seemingly harmless conversations can also be a threat to client confidentiality. That comment about the interesting project you are working on to another creative, the things you rant about when you hit some difficulty with the project, or even seeking advice to solve a problem, or a second opinion on the project. When engaging in any of these, it helps to generalise details or protect the client under anonymity if possible.

And when the project ends, you might still be bound to protect this confidentiality, especially if your agreement doesn’t state anything about having the liberty to use your creative output on the project for personal purposes—like including it in your portfolio. So, from the start of the project, get clarity on how the client feels about you using the project for publicity or as a portfolio project after completion. Avoid sharing information you gained from one client’s project with another client, even if you work on them years apart.

Trust is an essential currency in the creative sector, yet it is rather easy to lose through the seemingly little things. Be thoughtful of how your client’s information is being used in conversations internally (within a team or a network of collaborators) and externally. As much as you have the right to use your creative work as you please, if your work is built on the context of another’s idea, product, or business, it is worth slowing down to ensure that you don’t breach confidentiality or break their trust in you, even when no one else notices.