Birds do it. Bees do it. Even educated FLEAS do it. No, I’m not talking about falling in love. I’m talking about graphic design. “Anyone can buy a computer and some clip art and do graphic design”. Words we’ve all heard. They make most of us cringe. The sad thing is that we, as an industry, have brought this on ourselves. We have allowed the term “Professional Graphic Designer” to go largely undefined for so long that today, it basically means what anyone who uses it wants it to mean.

Regardless of training, education or experience, the moment a person proclaims themselves a Professional Graphic Designer and accepts even $1 in payment, they are magically transformed into a Professional Graphic Designer and there is nothing official that states otherwise.

In short, it’s time for Graphic Designer Certification people. At this moment in the United States, graphic design is the only of the five core design disciplines (graphic design, interior design, architecture, industrial design, engineering) that does not have some form of certification or registration. On the other hand, certification efforts have already been started in countries like Canada, Denmark, South Africa and Australia. What exactly are we waiting for?

Two of the roadblocks to Graphic Designer certification have undoubtedly been misconceptions and misinformation with respect to what form certification would take and how it would be implemented. I don’t pretend to know what form certification would or should take nor do I claim to hold most or even any of the answers. This series of articles will attempt not to provide answers but to ask the right questions. It is my hope that the resulting debate within our community will help us to arrive at the right answers and eventually a good solution.

In the coming months I will be using this space to interview people associated with certification efforts in other countries and discuss the results, analyze the need for certification in the U.S. (as well as abroad), debate both sides of the certification issue and most importantly keep the issue alive.

While I’ll be interviewing individuals from various certification organizations around the world, I’m also interested in hearing what you think. Please don’t hesitate to contact me and let me know what your thoughts are on the subject. Every month, I’ll be publishing excerpts from the thoughts of a few readers alongside my articles. Watch this space!

Next month: “Graphic Designer Certification in Canada”