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The Time For Certification Has Come by Lauri Baram Eight years Ellen Shapiro proposed a designation that would help buyers of design distinguish between professionals and novices. Today, design is king. Over 350,000 people in the U.S. work in the graphic design profession. HOW dubbed the new millennium the "Dawn of the Design Age." Corporate America understands that good design is good business. But the distinction between the professional designer and the client's nephew who built his own web page isn’t any clearer. Certification raises professional standards and educates the public on the importance and benefits of graphic design in business and everyday life. It enhances the profile of graphic designers, raises respect for the profession and creates business opportunities. Initials after your name tells your clients and employers that you are a professional—that you have the experience and education to understand not only their design needs, but their business objectives as well. A voluntary certification program that demonstrates the level of skill required to serve a client independently would get the attention of serious clients who appreciate the advantages of working with professionals. It would also help an untrained buyer make qualified decisions. As increasing numbers of business communicators are taking advantage of their own professional certifications (the International Association of Business Communicators, the Public Relations Society of America, and the American Marketing Association all offer certification) creating comparable credentials re-enforces our position as strategic partners. In addition to being voluntary, I think certification should be based upon a combination of education, experience, and testing. It should not attempt to judge talent. It should test proficiency and skills in areas that are quantifiable, and indicate that a designer is able to complete projects at a high level of competency. The Association of Registered Graphic Designers of Ontario offers an excellent model. Candidates need a combination of at least seven years design education and professional experience, and must be prepared to function as "independent, responsible business people." They take a written test on four topics: business; technology; design history, principles, and research; and rules of professional conduct. There are options for areas of specialization. A portfolio interview is required, but taste and style are not judged. Certifying your skills is a useful tool in marketing your services; selling the client on your talent will still be up to you! The Graphic Artists Guild has begun the process. The Guild has studied both the demand for and various methods to accomplish certification. There are professional organizations devoted to setting up certification programs, who specialize in creating tests; making needs assessments, and marketing such programs. We've learned that the process to design and administer a test could cost over $500,000 and that the Federal Trade Commission will not approve a certification program that requires non-members to join an association. It would be meaningless if you had to become or remain a member of an organization in order to get or stay certified. That wouldn’t be an objective assessment of your qualification as much as an indication that you were able or willing to pay dues.) I think it's time for all design organizations—the Graphic Artists Guild, AIGA, American Center for Design, Design Management Institute, Corporate Design Foundation and others—to pool resources and form an alliance to create a certification board. A good example is the seven design organizations represented in the National Council for Interior Design Qualification (NCIDQ). In 1993, the executive vice president of the NCIDQ said that the interior design profession is as broad and diverse as graphic design, and that developing its program was a daunting challenge, but "now the research and results speak for themselves." The Association of Medical Illustrators found that shortly after initiating their certification program in 1991 clients began asking for board certified medical illustrators and now it is pretty much a necessity for working in the medical-legal field. In Ontario, employers are increasingly looking for job candidates with an RGD (registered graphic designer) designation. As Ellen Shapiro did eight years ago, I ask the design community to stop reading and start acting. Rise to the "daunting challenge." If you want to have input into the inception of a certification program, contact your organization's leaders and let them know. Join the Graphic Artists Guild and get involved with the Guild’s certification committee. There’s a lot to do before you can have those initials. The Association of Registered Graphic Designers in Ontario, Canada, www.argdon.org Ellen Shapiro, “Certification For Graphic Designers? A Hypothetical Proposal,” Communication Arts, July 1993 Susan Mathews, “It’s Time to Certify”, Guild News, September/October 2000 Certi€cation: Yes, No, or Maybe? Edited transcript of a joint forum of the AIGA New York chapter and the Graphic Artists Guild, New York City, March 31, 1994 John Nyquist, MS, CMI, Chair, Board of Certification of Medical Illustrators Bureau of Labor Statistics Lauri Baram is principal of Panarama Design in Clifton Park, NY and a member of the national Executive Committee of the Graphic Artists Guild. panarama@nycap.rr.com 
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© 2003 The Graphic Artists Guild Of Albany |