0I mentioned to some folks that our first ThePreparedMind.com podcast would be available today and we DID record it yesterday, however unfortunately I screwed up with the bit-rate setting and my CPU caused a ton of skipping and gaps in the audio, making our conversation unintelligible. 
We will be trying it again, though. Hopefully Neil Tortorella and Taughnee Stone will have some time tomorrow but and we can give it another go. Sorry for the delay.
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10Talking about GD certification as much as I do on various discussion boards and blogs, I find that the same myths about certification pop up almost constantly. So I teamed up with Caroline Bruckner, R.G.D. and William Johnston — two designers who are much brighter than I am — and condensed the varied list of objections, misconceptions and fears of GD certification into this tight list of common myths.
Hopefully this list of myths, as well as the answers to each of them, will serve the dual purposes of providing correct information to those who are against GD certification based on incorrect information as well as to provide those who are for GD certification with valuable answers to these common objections when they find themselves confronted with them. (more…)
2Recently in a discussion on the About.com Graphic Design discussion board, the topic came up about women in design. In discussing the duties of graphic designers, I brought up the fact that many female designers starting out in the industry are expected to also perform “assistant-type” duties in addition to their design duties. This is especially typical in corporations and even more so if a designer is the only designer. (more…)
6It’s always great when I come across great design blogs with intelligent, insightful content and passionate writers. Luckily for me I’ve discovered THREE over the weekend!
Niti Bhan’s excellent blog Perspective, which takes on many issues relating to business and design; Ralf Beuker’s equally excellent blog Design Management, which is an excellent resource on design management and business; and finally Does Size Matter? another great blog that deals with issues not only related to design and business but also the intriguing subject of the comparison of “whether large full service companies are better than smaller specialized firms in a loosely knit alliance, sourcing design, innovation, strategy”.
Not too long ago I ranted about how the most designer blogs and forums devote more time to the HOW of design (software, programming, techniques, etc.) and not enough time on the WHY of design (management, strategy, business practices, etc.). Now, thankfully, I have to take some of that back.
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2I’ve just purchased a good set of headphones and followed Glenn Fleishman’s excellent tutorial on “How to Record a Podcast” so look out for The Prepared Mind’s first podcast interview!
I’m lining up some potential interviewees along the lines of some of the subjects we commonly tackle here such as certification, globalism & design, standards, etc. Stay tuned!
.chris{}
0Speak Up’s Gunnar Swanson has jumped into the fray once again with an entry exploring the possibilities of GD certification in the U.S.
Asking that the notion of certification itself not be debated, Swanson has asked that the posts and replies restrict themselves to what certification should certify and whether certification is needed or licensing is needed. He Defines the two as follows:
Certification means that some group makes an affirmation of qualifications. That could involve portfolio reviews, written tests, background checks… you name it. Only people who are certified can claim to be certified but there are no restrictions on practicing and doing business for non-certified folk.
Licensing means a state law prohibits anyone from practicing unless they have met particular qualifications. You can’t practice law, prescribe medicine, braid hair, operate a taxicab, or act as a building contractor most places unless you have a license.
1On the About.com GD forum we’ve been tossing around issues like certification and professional design standards and while we agree and disagree on various points with respect to each issue, one thing I think none of us will argue with is that design education MUST improve.
As the design needs of the business world continue to rise and as we designers lobby to be included earlier in the process and take on more value-added, less commoditized roles in business communications, the state of design education continues to decline.
Don’t get me wrong, there are still very many top flight design schools out there wo are helping to train, shape and mold the future design stars of tomorrow. But I also fear that for the most part, design schools and design educators are falling out of touch with the demands of design in today’s marketplace and are thus unable to properly challenge young minds to meet those demands. (more…)
3Graphic designers need a new name!
So says Errol Saldanha on his website Beyond Graphic. I have long felt that the term “graphic designer” was outdated and obsolete, apparently others agree. Says Saldanha:
As graphic designers, we’ve been so busy defining our client’s identities that we forgot about a far more important identity: our own. Ironically, the entire communications industry is in a state of self-inflicted confusion: marketing, advertising, corporate identity, branding, web design, new media, multimedia, interactive, packaging, graphic design. We have accumulated so many terms — old and new — that people in our own industry don’t understand what we do, yet alone our clients. Many of these titles have become obsolete — especially “graphic design”.
The term “graphic” limits the advancement of our industry. Graphics refer to pictures and images — not strategies, concepts, words, sound, or animation. With the digital revolution, graphic design has truly moved beyond graphics. Today’s graphic designer has outgrown the job title. Some have tried to combat this by dropping the descriptor and calling themselves “designers”. However, this is a vague term that confuses people and bundles us with other types of designers (interior, industrial, fashion etc.).
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This is a great book on design by Tom Peters. Aptly named Design. It’s actually an excerpt from his book Re-imagine which is also a fantastic read.
Peters’ blog also typically highlights the need for better design in businesses and he states that he feels one of the things lacking in most business school curricula is matters dealing design as a business tool that fosters innovation and creativity.
Peters is not the only non-designer to echo these sentiments. As I’ve detailed in my entry “What if graphic designers get everything we want?“, the notion of design as a business tool is picking up steam in many business quarters.
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0Some very interesting insights in an article I recently read on the Communication Arts website entitled The Architect and the Bricklayer Confronting Choices for Creative Firms. The author, David Miller, references the recent, upbeat findings of a report on the GD industry conducted by the Association of Professional Design Firms.
While the report found increases in money spent and overall economic conditions in 2004 compared with 2003 or 2002 (which were pretty lousy years), it also reported that there appears to be two clear “edges” forming in the industry. (more…)
0Every week I mount my soapbox here and bore those unlucky enough to find themselves on this site with concepts like design process, design standards, upgrading our skills, rising to meet the challenge of globalism, etc. Then, every once in a while, something comes along to make me feel like I’m not the village idiot standing in the middle of the street, screaming at the top of my lungs while the townspeople walk by and try to pretend they don’t know I’m there! Well, maybe I am the village idiot but at least there are other folks on other corners shouting as well!
In this case, it happens to be the brilliant folks at NextDesign Leadership Institute. “What is NextDesign Leadership Institute?” you’re probably thinking. It’s a design thinktank (betcha didn’t even know we had a design thinktank, didya?) with these stated goals:
NextDesign Leadership Institute was created as an experiment in innovation acceleration.
We wondered if it might be possible for a small team of practicing designers to help speed the rate of adaptation, by graduate design education, to the radical events unfolding at the leading edge of the marketplace, that are impacting design leadership today. We optimistically guessed that it might be possible and if it wasn’t, finding out seemed like interesting research! To undertake that experiment, we created the NextD initiative and the NextDesign Leadership Institute.