Designers and Certifications
Recently, I tweeted an article that speaks about graphic designers and certifications in the United Kingdom. The article was posted on http://creativereview.co.uk (advertising, design and visual culture) by Patrick Burgoyne back in February 2010, http://creativereview.co.uk/cr-blog/2010/february/cr-survey
I personally found the article pretty interesting! I think that there are a good amount of positives and negatives to something similar happening in the United States.
Here’s the full article:
The Chartered Society of Designers has filed an application to the UK Government to approve a system of professional certification for designers. A much-needed step toward elevating design’s status? Or an expensive irrelevance?
As our sister title Design Week reported, the Chartered Society of Designers has applied to the UK’s Privy Council to allow it and other professional bodies to be entitled to assess and award designers with ‘CDes’ chartered status. Designers would then join the ranks of other ‘chartered’ professionals, such as accountants, surveyors and engineers.
How will it work? “To gain the CDes credential, designers would be assessed on their professionalism, skills, knowledge and creativity, the last of which would be gauged ‘much in the same way that degree courses manage to appraise creativity’, says CSD chief executive Frank Peters,” Design Week reports.
So, would the design profession in the UK benefit from such a scheme? Peters says that its aim is to raise the status of design as a profession. For graphic designers in particular this remains an issue – witness the recent furore over a Times article on the NHS 60th anniversary identity in which Tory MP Greg Hands stated “Surely adding two digits doesn’t need to be outsourced at all. Civil servants can do this themselves. Modern graphic design packages surely allow anyone with an average brain to design something as good as, or better than, what we see in front of us here.”
Graphic design is not accorded the respect that its practitioners believe it deserves, but would adding the letters CDes after your name solve this?
Some points for:
*Other professions are accorded status at least in part through a commitment to providing a level of service that is guaranteed by their chartered status. Graphic design could benefit similarly
*By acting now, designers can take responsibility into their own hands before the UK government does it for them. In a lengthy reply on Davidthedesigner’s blog, Peters raises this, pointing out that the Government has recently sought to licence estate agents and landlords: could designers be next?
*It will enhance the sense of community, bringing together a disparate occupation
*It will distance ‘proper’ designers from cut-price, ‘knock out a logo for £50’ merchants – graphic design will no longer be something that ‘anyone’ can do.
Some points against:
*Designers may not trust the assessment criteria and process
*Clients won’t care about it
*It will load extra cost onto already stretched businesses
*It will make design too exclusive. Some of the most interesting designers did not originally take formal design qualifications – Erik Spiekermann, for example, studied art history as his first degree, Michael Wolff was an architect, Adrian Shaughnessy describes himself as a ‘self-taught’ graphic designer. If CDes status insists on a graphic design degree will it exclude some of our more original thinkers?
*Being ‘certified’ is just not very cool. This latter point may sound frivolous but there are very many small design practices who will look on the idea of ‘certification’ with horror. Designers are not natural ‘joiners’ and may prefer to try to raise the status of what they do through a less prescriptive, formal approach.
UPDATE: In a lengthy contribution in the comments section, CSD chief executive Frank Peters has clarified some points. CDes would not be exclusive to CSD members, he says. Therefore it is not, as some have suggested, just a means of recruiting more members for the organisation. CDes will accredit a range of competencies, creativity being just one. Assessment would be done by “peer review of designers qualified in their field.” There will be no insistence on any degree in any discipline: “a set of competencies need to be demonstrated – how designers come about those competencies is up to them.”
Peters says in the Design Week piece that the Privy Council should reach a decision within three months.
What we want to know is what you think of the idea? Do you see the benefit of being a CDes?
I believe that associations, certifications, etc. all bring industry professionals into a private sector that separates them from the individuals in any industry that “claim” to be a professional. In that, other business owners could potentially hold a higher value for individuals and businesses that are part of such an association or certified in an industry specific skill. While it may cost me money out of my pocket to become certified, in the end it may be worth it.
In the end, I truly believe that client education is the most important factor of helping a potential client understand why your education, certifications and experience are what separates you from “the other guy”. In the end, it all comes down to one thing: your portfolio. To me it’s what separates the pro’s from the hack’s. That said, I could vote either way on this subject matter. If our industry as whole when “for” it, then I would more than likely go with the flow and the same for the opposite situation.
There have been a few questions asked on Facebook and Twitter after I posted this link, I encourage you to post your own here and discuss. Some of the questions were:
• Who would decides on the criteria for certifications?
• Who decides if that criteria is “fair”?
• How does this affect real industry professionals who simply choose not to participate?
What are your thoughts on this subject? Please voice your opinion!
Author Info: Atom Groom
I founded NWICreative.org to spark interest in the hearts of artists, creatives and the like in our region online. I want nothing more than to see our creative community grow and flourish.
Wow no replies??
Just read this great article on Smashing that goes right with this post.
http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2010/08/03/designers-hacks-and-professionalism-are-we-our-own-worst-enemy/
To respond directly:
• Who would decides on the criteria for certifications? – AIGA would be my best guess. We as designers don’t really have a governing body otherwise.
• Who decides if that criteria is “fair”? – Same as before. Who decided that it was fair to require a design student to take oil painting in college? I mean, is a designer a fine artists? (I would say yes, but that’s not the point)
• How does this affect real industry professionals who simply choose not to participate? – It doesn’t. I don’t think this would have a real impact. It is our job as professionals to educate our customers on why a good thoughtful design is worth top $. And the truth is, it could alienate designers as well. I will use myself as an example. I work full time as a web designer at a reputable company here in NWI. If I wanted this certification, could I afford it? Depends on cost. Also, if I did have it, does that mean that I am automatically worth more $ to my company? It should be, but I would say probably not. Companies who employ full time artists, designers and the like are no different from potential clients. They want the best for the cheapest. Only the good companies/clients are going to pony up for quality. No matter what certification you add to your name.
Do I think that adding certifications is going to weed out the hacks and phony’s? No. It is our job to do that through mentoring, educating our clients and proving our worth with great portfolios & fair business practices.
I don’t really see how this will help at all. Designing is different from professions like accountants, surveyors and engineers. Part of their certifications is to ensure that they meet state requirements and such. While it would be great to know what skills that a designer has, how would this actually benefit the design industry. Being an artist (commercial or fine arts) is a profession of opinion. Being certified won’t stop criticism or stop people from putting out a bad product. It also won’t stop people from looking for a budget designer. You don’t always get what you pay for, no matter what you spend on it. I would like to know how non-creatives think of this. Do they care? I would guess not, if so, then nephews around the world would have to stop making websites.
Glad Rahsaan wrote with he did because I feel the same, those professions are tested on real rules. There are no creativity parts to that as it would be impossible to really compare those.
On a biz side, the certs would do nothing but hurt good people by forcing them to pay money for something they don’t really need because people who shouldn’t have it easily get it. Ryan I’m glad you work at a reputable web company, cause the one I worked at previously was not. They would do whatever the min was to get a client and then hope to come in later with extra charges for things like “SEO” and other BS that should have been done right the first time and really wasn’t going to be done right the second time. From what I’ve seen things haven’t gotten better either.
There are going to be companies that will take advantage of whatever system is in front of them no matter if there are certs or not. Big firms will have 1 certified guy out of 10 just so they can say they are. Lots of different ways for the shady and unethical to take advantage of whatever is in front of them. Part of the reason people have the issues they do now.
Hey Guys-
Thanks for commenting!
While I can see your point on the creative side, I don’t agree with the testing aspect of your comments.
Designers can absolutely be tested on their skills. In fact, I bet there’s a lot of “designers” out there that couldn’t layout a tri-fold brochure and send it to a printer, first try, no problems.
That in itself is a test. I can probably come up with dozens more as well. This can also apply to different fields of our industry too. This is not about if someone is “creative” or not, it’s about if they can perform the technical aspects of their job professionally.
I still think there are some good ideas and thoughts coming out about how certificates can actually hurt our industry, etc.
Keep your thoughts and ideas coming guys!
Thanks,
AG
That’s the thing though, there are lots of people who produce garbage that can perform the technical aspects fine but still be complete garbage.
I knew a guy who use to brag about how his HTML validated. The thing was the site was all text and looked like garbage. Someone could produce something like this –
https://www.aphed.com/ (Not saying HTML/CSS is executed well with this, just imagine it was
)
and it might be made by a “certified” web designer. Basically you are certifying the parts that matter to some but not the whole.
I just don’t see any positive that is gained from having a cert compared to what we have now, but only negatives that come about additionally.
I can see that aspect of it too, good point!
There are a lot of things that you could test on, but still that wouldn’t matter to most people trying to save a buck. And also, I would assume that many of the tests won’t really amount to much either.
Besides professional pride, I can imagine more disagreement on what will be the tested areas. Also, there are plenty of aspects of design that many people might not have been exposed to, like laying out a tri-fold brochure and send it to a printer, first try, no problems. I took design courses and we didn’t go over that at all.
That brings up another point. Since there really isn’t a uniformed way of teaching design (as well as some teachers who’s skills are suspect themselves), it will be hard to find a measure that is truly fair. There are plenty of things that a designer should know how to do, but some of it might not be taught or a designer might have never had to learn certain things. Before a certification, maybe someone should try to figure out what are some of the skills that a designer should know (something official, not a smashingmag post or WDD entry).
Now with all that said, I think it would be cool to have some sort of certification, it would help make design education more uniform and help educate the general public. Kinda like how being Adobe certified is cool, but no one really cares. In fact, I only hear about people being adobe certified at adobe events. http://www.adobe.com/support/certification/
I think you guys have really pointed out some great ideas here. While writing this article I felt pretty in between or in the middle about everything.
After reading your ideas, I believe I am feeling swayed to agree with you. I don’t know that it will truly make a big difference, in the end.
Thanks for your comments and ideas!
AG
Glad we could sway you to the right side.
I truly wish there was some way it could be done, as I just last week read about a Social Media Business coach with 25 years of experience in the field (he says on his site that he saw the potential back in the 80′s.) I also saw a web designer who’s 22 talking about his 7 years of experience in the field when he’s never had a job with a company that actually done web work. I’ve learned Basic when I was 7 but that doesn’t mean I now have 24 years of programming experience under my belt.
I wish there was a better way but sadly, in our world, we will always have these kinds of people in them.