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31 August 2010
Posted in
Project Planning & Management
Why Dev Department Certification
As you may already be aware, we are a pro-certification development shop. However, we should explain exactly what certification is and is NOT in our opinion and why it holds value to the growth of your design business.
Our certification program is geared toward you, the seasoned graphic designer, who is seeking to either add or enhance your web design offering as part of your existing practice. We believe that by following our process, you will sell more web design work and bigger contracts. In an upcoming article in INC Magazine, the quality of our program for that purpose was reinforced by an articled titled "10 Ways to Get More Sales From Existing Customers".
Despite the fact that we certainly hope that our free program will attract new business for us, our mission is about much more than that. We want to help graphic design firms delivery the absolute best quality and most profitable product to their clients. To do that, we felt it was important someone set the standard for how that can be done. And, since no one else is really doing it and since we have 15 years of experience in doing just that, we said, "what they heck" and did it.
4 Arguments for Certification in the Web Design Industry
So, to help you decide if you should pursue certification or not, here are some reason we think it will help:
- You are not just an artist, you're a business person. When you decided to enter the field of graphic design, you were entering into a business. If you look at the wikipedia definition of graphic design, the first sentence says very clearly: "Graphic design is a creative process — most often involving a client and a designer and usually completed in conjunction with producers of form (i.e., printers, programmers, sign-makers, etc.) — undertaken in order to convey a specific message (or messages) to a targeted audience." So, if you are interacting with clients in a process then it stands to reason that some level of endorsement that you actually know what that process is would help get clients.
- Certification implies and enforces standards. Yeah, we know we know, you are a creative type and cannot be confined to a process. Well, go read number one. you are creative, but you are also in business. How long do you think you will keep a client if, every time you send their business cards to print, they have to pay twice for printing because you don't understand how the printer wants it. So, despite your desire to have free creative license, having standards between the various disciplines (see #1 again...printers, programmers, sign-makers, etc) will help ensure that work will be profitable and accurate.
- Certification promotes learning. Knowledge is incremental, just like the creative process. If you take the plunge, it opens the door to more and more. A certification program is a great way to structure the acquisition of knowledge and get the ball rolling to new avenues of inspiration. In her article "Roll With the Changes", Jodi Hersh of Orange Star Design, Inc. talks about her 20 year journey of discovery as a graphic designer. it all starts with new standards and needs and goes from there. A certification program is a great way to create that starting point.
- Certification frees the creative process. Despite the fact that most of your clients have asked you to "think outside the box", many studies have shown that constraints actually helps the creative process. In this 2009 Wired Magazine article titled "Design Under Constraint: How Limits Boost Creativity", author Scott Dadich explains "That's because designers understand the power of limits. Constraint offers an unparalleled opportunity for growth and innovation. " In The Dev Departments certification, we don't talk about how to design a site, we simply teach you the limitations of the process and how to work within it. But, we leave the creativity to you.
In summary, a certification program is about process and creating synchronicity between moving parts in a system. It is a way to connect the dots between what you are an expert in doing and what you are not an expert in doing so that you can bring a higher level of competence and quality to your client.
It is not about blanket labelling designers as being either qualified or not qualified based on how well you take a test. Your portfolio should still stand on it's own and you should still have a strong history of client satisfaction.
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