I base that statement on my experience last year when I was seriously contemplating a move back to London. I was unsurprised to find that most of the senior roles I was looking for didn't mention a degree or equivalent qualification, what they were looking for was an extensive and varied portfolio. I would say that less than half of the jobs I investigated mentioned a qualification – what they were after was experience. And they're not looking for a portfolio of made-up projects, but actual real-world projects.

I don't mean to belittle any education, education is very important and valuable but it only takes you so far, and it isn't proof of any kind of quality in terms of design. You can sleep your way through uni and still walk away at the end of it “qualified”, albeit with a much lesser grade than someone like yourself, so it really isn't the best indicator. I base this on my own experience of working with qualified designers – I would say 50% were good, 50% were bad. Graphic design, as it stands, encompasses so many different disciplines these days that it would be impossible to teach everything in one 4 year course. Take for example web design. Knocking up a web page in Dreamweaver or Flash a web designer does not make. It requires much research to be done, examples to be followed and lots of practice and experimenting.

Speaking as a dreaded unqualified designer, do you not think I've worked equally hard at my trade? Do you not think that I might have actually had to work harder because I don't have that qualification? It has been a struggle and a time-consuming one at that for me to reach where I am today with the large and valuable skill set I have today. Many books read, much of the design web trawled and projects worked on.

I suppose I just feel it's simply not fair to disregard someone who may have worked equally hard simply because they either didn't have the opportunity to study design at uni or they studied the wrong subject.

With regards to SEO, well done on getting to 3 position. But that is an incredibly uncompetitive search term. As you know from being a designer, your process is equally as important as the result and that's the kind of thing a future employer would look for as well as proven results, and certainly for infinitely more competitive and varied terms than that.

Getting back to the original question posed, I do understand the problem, and have given it much thought over the years. I've lost track of the times I've had to take over a project from another designer that's poorly executed, or had to work with a logo that's way too small or just plain rubbish or asked to work on a website that's been thrown together in Dreamweaver or something equally as bad. I feel a system such as this might help:

Qualification + Number of years worked = Designer Grade

So if you don't have a qualification, your years of experience can still count, albeit to a lesser degree.

So maybe someone like yourself could score a 10 for a design qual, then another 10 for hands on experience. Whereas I might get a 0 for not having a qualification in design but get 15 for years of experience. Perhaps that could be then associated with a letter, so you could be a level A designer (20 points or more required) and I could fall into, say, a category C designer (10 – 15 points). Perhaps this could be managed by some kind of guild, and certificates awarded. Just an idea.

Thanks for the reply, you made some good points, the issue of regulation/certificiation in relation to graphic design is causing serious debate within the industry and obviously there´s no simple answer. I think believing the solution is simple, lacks understanding of the problem. Check out this article on icograda.com

http://www.icograda.org/feature/current/article…

The same I think applies for designers. Regulation is normally reserved for industries where people's lives are literally at stake – things like architecture, construction, engineering etc. Seems a bit over the top for something like graphic design. A design qualification, whilst it shows commitment to what you're doing and a certain level of background knowledge, doesn't give any indication of talent nor all the technical skills needed to complete jobs. The only way to be sure of someone's skill is to look at their work. A well-rounded, varied portfolio speaks volumes about a designer and their abilities. A design qualification becomes irrelevant once this portfolio has been built.

I think it's down to the client to check portfolios, get references if necessary. But let the work do the talking – that's really the only way you know for sure of someone's abilities.

Perhaps what might work better would be a guild that designers could join. Membership could be based on both knowledge and skill and could give the member a “seal” that would offer a guarantee of a good standard of work.

The same I think applies for designers. Regulation is normally reserved for industries where people's lives are literally at stake – things like architecture, construction, engineering etc. Seems a bit over the top for something like graphic design. A design qualification, whilst it shows commitment to what you're doing and a certain level of background knowledge, doesn't give any indication of talent nor all the technical skills needed to complete jobs. The only way to be sure of someone's skill is to look at their work. A well-rounded, varied portfolio speaks volumes about a designer and their abilities. A design qualification becomes irrelevant once this portfolio has been built.

I think it's down to the client to check portfolios, get references if necessary. But let the work do the talking – that's really the only way you know for sure of someone's abilities.

Perhaps what might work better would be a guild that designers could join. Membership could be based on both knowledge and skill and could give the member a “seal” that would offer a guarantee of a good standard of work.

Good point and thanks for the feedback. Being honest, I think for ¨SEO¨to succeed as a credible profession, you need to be able to attain some sort of recognized and accepted qualification. As it stands, anyone and their granny can call themselves ¨SEO¨experts, at least with graphic design, you can check for a qualification and feel more comfortable in knowing somebody has devoted time and money in educating themselves to do it properly. Don´t get me wrong, i know there are plenty of excellent and knowledgeable ¨SEOers¨ but how to tell the good from the bad is the problem.

Thanks for the feedback and I whole heartedly agree, to succeed in anything, you must be flexible and be willing to adapt.

You're right. Along with an increase in accessibility, our industries have seen an influx of what I like to call 'I-can-do-it-too's. And unfortunately, it has cheapened are professions something awful. They all figure they can get an article for $20, just like someone thinks they can get a logo or a brochure layout for $20. And it's sad.

As for standardizing, I wonder if the graphic design world would have a lot of the same issues as those in SEO: things change too quickly, who should be in charge, who would be the authority, who would do the policing, what would the consequences be, etc. It is definitely something to ponder.