The Prepared Mind Discussion about designing human interaction.

If it’s possible to hit the jackpot on this, only my second podcast, then I think I have. Ed Gold sat down with me for about an hour and spoke with me about GD certification. I ran into Ed on the Speak Up website when he gave his comments on a discussion about GD certification that was started by Gunnar Swanson. His comments, particularly what he had to say about launching a feasibility study to look into what — if any — benefits to our industry certification may or may not bring, intrigued me. So I sent him an email and asked if he would appear on a podcast and he agreed. SCORE!

Here is the podcast. I think there is some great and informative stuff that Ed had to share, as well as a pledge made by yours truly!

.chris{}

Talking 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…)

Speak 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.

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Some 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…)

I figured with the certification talk going on in various GD forums, I’d “reprint” this article written by Bill Johnston titled “A Designer’s Journey Toward Certification”.

Whether one is for certification or against it, it’s a fantastic read. Bill chronicles his observations over his 40 year career and details the changes in the industry over the last 4 decades which have led up to where we are today. Here are some snippets for the link-lazy among us:

In the 70’s things began to change. Hot type was dying, cold type was the wave of the future. Designers had to deal with ugly type spit out of IBM strike-on machines. They no longer had master compositor’s to lead them by the hand, they had to become expert at splicing & dicing as well as designing and drawing. Those that didn’t, didn’t make the cut.

In the 80’s there was more change still. Dedicated type setting systems were all the rage. Companies could save a ton of money by bringing typesetting inhouse. The trouble was the trained typesetter had gone the way of the Dodo bird, who was going to set type? Why typists of course, trouble was they knew nothing about the letters themselves, just the keyboards. Designers had to step into the breech and specify how and what to set. They began to be system integrators, cobbling early software together in an effort to set type faster, incorporate basic design elements, and rudimentary layout. The call went out to do more and faster. Those that couldn’t adapt to the new paradigm were invited to seek employment elsewhere.

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I was on the Graphic Design forum discussing the issue of GD Certification and we were trying to figure out next steps beyond discussion. One of the steps we came up with was an online petition. According to the U.S. Department of Labor, there are 212,000 graphic designers in the United States.

So here is the petition. Please sign it and let your friends know about it as well. Post it to other GD discussion boards and tell your co-workers over the water cooler.

Support our industry’s standards!

.chris{}

Birds do it. Bees do it. Even educated FLEAS do it. No, I’m not talking about falling in love. I’m talking about graphic design. “Anyone can buy a computer and some clip art and do graphic design”. Words we’ve all heard. They make most of us cringe. The sad thing is that we, as an industry, have brought this on ourselves. We have allowed the term “Professional Graphic Designer” to go largely undefined for so long that today, it basically means what anyone who uses it wants it to mean.

Regardless of training, education or experience, the moment a person proclaims themselves a Professional Graphic Designer and accepts even $1 in payment, they are magically transformed into a Professional Graphic Designer and there is nothing official that states otherwise. (more…)