it’s not a question of working or not working. it’s the question of quality products and a host of other issues like the amount you get paid for a job.
who decides how much a designer gets paid?
if you’re freelance you set your price, but wouldn’t it work better if you were ranked so a client who has no idea about the designer’s capabilities, just a crazy folio full of pretty pics not only knows about your strengths or weaknesses but also knows how much he/she should pay you?
if you work in a firm or corporation and would like to change jobs what advantage do you have beside working at a previous company. how many designers get in arguements and leave and find themselves without direction. maybe in US it means they suck because they can’t perform a job when their co-worker sucks.
i have said it before and i repeat here again. corporate design and firms’ design depts should be ranked too. of course that’s a whole different process.
hack yourself. nobody said you can’t write business school in your resume. don’t make it sound more than it is.
Certification exists mostly for protection of the clients when the professional’s job can have very serious consequences. Look at engineering, architecture, medicine, and law; the consequences of malpractice can be awful (a nuclear plant melts down, building collapses, surgery puts you in a coma, you get wrongfully thrown in prison).
If you design something improperly, yes, there’s a chance you can be sued for making it unsafe - eg, an espresso machine that burns you or a chair that hurts your back. But generally cars don’t crash due to acute surfacing failure, and if your alarm clock’s snooze button is too big, it probably won’t kill you (though your boss might).
Certification might be nice to have, but it’s not really necessary in this profession. And, for that matter, how would you regulate people practicing industrial design without a license? Lock up anyone who sells custom-made products? Where’s the cut-off…is the guy making one-off fiberglass body kits a designer? What about the guy selling a low-run dashboard doohickey? What about the granny knitting hats?
(also, ufo: I’d like to talk to chris bangle about your signature. The two stealth aircraft in use today can’t even break mach 1. )
your only feeding into ufo’s rants. We all know anything he says (with very precious few exceptions) is anti truth based on some factious imaginary world.
Even in fields where the client can be hurt certification is not easy, or listened to. My wife is a mental health worker (art therapist… yes I’ve heard all the jokes about free treatment at home thanks). Her field has a certification but its subjective and ignored by the industry. Instead they go on skills and ability, and it becomes like using IDSA after your name, if any of you are still doing that, please stop BTW.
The “quality products” argument smacks of elitism. To me you’re suggesting that there be an official organization of designers merely so that you can say “I passed a test, so it’s now proven that I’m a better designer than the ones who didn’t”.
I suppose that’s good for those who want as much cash as possible, but generally the ones that really deserve it can rise to the top on their own. I have to agree with the people here who say that your portfolio means far more than accreditations and degrees ever will.
I think we should have some sort of distinguishable uniform for all the people who pass the “ID challenge exam” so that people will know that we are certified.
no elitism. it’s just sound design project vs expect anything dude mentality.
anyway it’s not forced on business side of design. it’s just like prefering a designer over another designer due the fact that they either have or not have some sort of rating.
those who don’t care about a rating can always ignore it and look at folios only.
Seriously, getting back to the '6ix’s topic and linking to 'ufo’s original thread. “Make it harder to get into Industrial Design” - well there seems to be many degreed Industrial Designers who are not having an easy time staying in the profession.
I do think an aspect of licensure for the industrial Design profession can only help move the profession forward. (How else can we change the perception that it the only requirement to be a designer is an opinion).
Many of the established professions require licensure, from Legal, Medical, Dental, Mental Health, Architecture, Engineering, Teaching, Real Estate…Interior Design. Unfortunately, IDSA would have to drive this, but they seem content with promoting the design deliverables from Industrial Designers (Consultancies) and non-industrial designers.
I’m going to hop in here for a second. For one thing, Yo! has more experience with big-name companies than most everyone else on this board. I’d listen to what he has to say. I’ve read some of UFO’s comments before and quite a few of them were way off base.
Anyhow, maybe we don’t need a definate exam, but at least figure out a way to weed out the people that don’t properly represent the profession. It’s one of the ways that we will continue to get more and more respect in the workplace and be better understood. ID is incredibly multifaceted, so I think it comes down to the schools. Not necessarily make the program more difficult (more and more and going to 5 year programs in order to fit everything in), but simply make the standards higher to get in the program. Those Sophomore reviews need to be brutal.
you’ve got to hand it to my bro, he really knows how to make friends. C’mon ufo, we’re all brothers and sisters, join the rest of us and take the only ID test there is, apply for a job.
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