The thought of creatives becoming certified has been on my mind for several years since entering the job market, and watching globalization affect our industry.
Recently, I have seen articles written in Communication Arts and more recently in Ad Age about this topic as well. If you are wondering why there is such attention to this topic? The reason is, the industry has been turned upside down and shaken like a snow globe, and the job market has become increasingly competitive for everyone inside. This is due to cheaper labor worldwide entering the creative market, and new practices such as crowd-sourcing, which it can be debated lowers the value of creative.
Because of this new pool of talent, quality control has been on the mind of many creatives and supporters of NO-SPEC, an organization that focuses its efforts on stopping those from giving out creative on speculation to get a job. Their argument is that speculative work devalues the work and the industry. Supporters of NO-SPEC have in the past raised the idea over forums of having a certification process, to remove any doubts in clients that who they are hiring can do the job. This idea came about because of crowd-sourcing and how it has affected the design industry and the fear of how it could affect it ( this topic was raised well over two years ago on Linked-in forums ). In the recent past, crowd-sourcing was being purported as the end all be all. But now, it is quite clear that the work will always speak for itself. So if I am right that the work speaks for itself alone why do we need certification at all? Well I’ll try to answer this more clearly below, some argue for certification but in short I don’t believe that our industry needs certification.
Who would certification benefit? In a perfect world: Clients & creative professionals who acquired accreditation would benefit. That is because accredited professionals would then stand out in theory from the larger body of so-called unaccredited experts in our industry. In reality: I do not think a critical mass of creative professionals would sign up for any new bureaucracy, nor would existing organizations be right or ready to handle this task, and lastly that potential creative clients would know or care about certification enough to raise the demand for creative professionals to sign up.
What would it really mean? It would mean that every freelancer, studio, and agency’s body of work would need showcase that they are an accredited organization worthy of being professional. ( Adding bureaucracy to a service industry costs money. ) Now in the Ad Age article the author suggested that this would help out the little guy, I say it would not, it would actually only be a burden to the little guy and be an extra expense.
Would anyone pay for it? Agencies would, if there was a critical mass wanting to be a part of this and if clients viewed it as another arrow in their quiver. And Graphic Design Studios & Freelances alike might choose certification if it meant anything to their clients and if it were affordable. But it really raises the question what comes first the chicken or the egg. Is certification the egg for a healthy creative industry? That I do not know and although I do not agree with adding bureaucracy, I do think that in the long run it would add value to creatives that wanted to pay for this type of international certification process.
Why now? Many in the creative industry argue for certification now more than ever because advertising professionals and design professionals feel that everything has and is changing in the industry and that to be an expert in the field clients need to be able to see proof of it. Basically professionals are arguing now more than ever for quality control. That is a legitimate concern, but a never ending battle that may not require a certificate as much as a degree, recommendations, and a portfolio.
My closing thoughts: I think that we do not need certification at all, it would add a bureaucracy to an already strapped industry. And creatives of all paths need to only stand behind the success of their past work. I do think we need to be advocates for our industry and tell it how it really is for those that do not know. And I think we need to be crystal clear about what services we provide and what it is our clients really need, being blunt and honest is my answer. If we want people want to take our industry seriously, than we need to continue to prove that we as business owners can back up our claims for our services, and leave it up to the consumer to decide. It is that simple in my opinion.
What is your answer? Do you think creative professionals need certification and if you are a creative professional would you want it or pay for it?
Note: I know there are some places that have certification already for graphic designers and I am just curious as to where, if you know of any please link them and I’ll post them in as a resource link.
