Discussion about the IDSA

I’m not familiar with that one… What was it?

I still maintain that a great deal of this has to do with what we are teaching our design students and how they transition into professional practice. I wish there were more professionals who would take the time to reach out to students before they graduate to help them with this transition and share some of their insights about where to begin and how to plug into the community.

w

sure, but how do you convince a busy professional to commit more time/effort to better the profession/community?
This has always been the achillies heel for IDSA.
I’d like to see accreditation require co-op/Internships for graduation. Getting some work in exchange for professional guidance in the feild is the best way to re-connect.

No Spec,

I am glad you opened the accreditation can of worms again. I was pushing for it several years ago but ran into a big wall. Most people at the time could only this as a test for the skills of design instead of seeing the bigger picture that it could be training and giving credit for learning things like a) the business of design, b) design thinking at a strategic level, etc.

I agree that a strong accreditation aspect would be good. As you have to set this state by state, if you follow the AIA and engineering methods, this will take many years to get approved and in production. I am not saying we should not look at other methods, but I do think having a legal aspect to this will be the only way to make this ultimately succeed. Now that more and more industrial designers are being forced into the litigious aspects product development this may be the time to bring this back up. The reason i say this is that accreditation would be needed in order to get proper liability insurance, like doctors have.

Tim, do you want to spin this into a new topic for our newly-minted discussion board?

w

Why not some kind of token goodwill currency like $25 discounts to IDSA events or subscriptions, or better yet, webinar speaker series vouchers… might be hard to keep track of, but would put some incentive in (besides just the satisfaction of helping someone)

Tim, maybe it should be on another other thread, but what liability are you talking about? I’ve hear you mention the “litigious aspects” of design before…

Errors & Omissions insurance. Covers errors and omissions made or alleged in your practice of professional services.

I’ve been looking into that and it ain’t cheap. Who’s had a policy written and how much has it cost you?

I was in school during it’s re-accreditation, it’s rough.
In the same way that graduating from an NASAD accredited school should be demonstrably superior, so should IDSA membership. This thread has hit on tons of key needs to build on, I’m not suggesting that proffesionals need further tests/credentials/liability but should be more aware of the benefits of using interns or co-ops.

I think everyone is keyed into the benefit of hiring a co-op/intern, the difficulty comes in connecting the person to the opportunity. UC is great at this, but IDSA could also be a resource for this… the other aspect is budget (and IDSA can’t help there)

…just clicked on the ad for nydesigns.org, it’s essentially set up to facilitate design start ups.
Lots of city and state governments have created business “incubators” in old factory/wherehouses. They set up some desks, phone lines and have a retired guy available to advise you.
Michigan recently granted the same tax discounts reserved for the big three and thier suppliers to the “creative professions” to encourage economic development away from manufactoring. I bet they have no idea how to anything more than cut taxes.

Could IDSA offer (similar to what they offer to designers looking to start thier own business) a guide for local governments to use to encourage the design professions?

Very interesting suggestion. Maybe something we could get some of our SAGE members (AKA, “retired guys”) to participate in…

w

I think that would be fantastic. Especially coupled with a database of common forms and examples of business plans specific to design start ups.

this spring there’s going to be a lot of graduates who deserve jobs but will find none available.
starting a consultancy with other grads could be a decent opportunity, given enough support.

OK, no posts in a while… sorry to see. :frowning:

anyhow, just had a brainstorm. What about IDSA offering a referral bonus to those who recruit new members? discount off the next years subscription, free XXX, etc? Would perhaps go a long way in helping the community work to make IDSA better so that people would be more positive about the organization and thus have something to gain (monetarily) by improving it for all and also getting new people into the fold. Could even be a tiered thing where for every 1 new subscriber you get 10% off your membership, 5 new ones gets a free year, etc. I know some other organizations, banks, etc. do something similar.

R

Well, we all have been busy… You’ve been in China, I’ve been working… It’s not surprising to have a bit of a lull… I wouldn’t be so disappointed…

I’m checking into this to make sure., but I believe we do have an incentive program like the one you describe. But before I announce anything, let me confirm it. But, the short answer is, yes, we’ve been considering several different incentive programs like the ones you describe.

Thanks,

w

been awhile - any updates?

has IDSA come to any conclusions on what direction to move?
in the era of “free” how do we convince potential members the value of signing up?

Sorry I missed much of this lively discussion, but I’ll throw in my opinion.

I have been an on-on-off member of IDSA for my whole career, but very much engaged thru the last 8 years or so. Looking back on my early career I see how many opportunities I missed by not engaging more. The last few years have been the most gratifying, but mainly through the contacts I have made which have helped my understand the inside view of profession better, learn new ways of thinking about my own design challenges and network and improve communication skills. I have become friends with TimF, Warrren and Michelle, and scores of other good people and successful designers, all thru IDSA. I am a huge fan of IDSA which is not without its shortcomings, but has no substitute. Like many working professionals I am limited in how much time I can expend on volunteer activities, but in terms of what I can contribute to younger designers, and what I can get in return, time spent with IDSA is the best value for me.

I’m glad this forum is on here, and applaud the IDSA officers who have been writing in. I think more collaboration between Core and IDSA would be good for the profession.

I’d say with the recent addition of a few highly regarded columnists, Core77 has taken the next step in making the IDSA irrelevant.

Surprised there ha been no reviews of the conference?

Lunar posted a review in their podcast here: http://www.lunar.com/iconocast2/