Design Professionals
Just read an article over at Creative Review about design certifications. Apparently, the Chartered Society of Designers has filed an application to the UK Government to approve a system that awards designers with ‘CDes’ chartered status. There hope is to elevate the status of the design profession to be amongst the ranks of other ‘chartered’ professionals, such as accountants, surveyors and engineers. Designers would be assessed on their professionalism, skills, knowledge and creativity. So, I wonder how does one judge someone’s creativity…isn’t it all subjective? What do you guys think? Should designers be certified?
Published on February 7, 2010 – 4:10 am | 3 Comments
3 Comments:
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Interesting subject. In Norway they have got something like that at GRAFILL – Norwegian Organisation for Visual Communication.
As most designers strive to produce something which is creatively pleasing visually, often the case remains true where the most appropriate solutions aren’t necessarily the most visually creative or boundary-breaking, in terms of design and aesthetics, especially in a business context.
So I think such a professional accreditation should be weighed up based on the designer in questions’ specific track record of contributions towards, and achievements in the business world. Namely how their creative endeavours and skills as designers have helped drive their client’s sales. Basing it on creative calibre alone opens up too much personal subjectivity, as you point out.
I’m all for trying to weed out some of the riffraff. But does the design profession really want to be more like accountants, surveyors and engineers? I know I don’t. That’s why I didn’t become an accountant, surveyor and engineer.