I just followed a visitation URL back and discovered something interesting: The Design Association (Link). No surprise this has appeared on the scene. Anyone who has spent time on the Core77 forums has seen plenty of threads on the topic of professional accreditation.

The question is: Will this or any organization succeed? I don’t know. There is perhaps a need for the public – which is increasingly becoming aware of the occupation – to be educated in what we actually do (no, Industrial Designers don’t design industrial facilities). And small companies looking for professional design services could certainly use some help avoiding scam artists. But who sets the standards? And what qualifies them? Industrial Design is full of gray areas. It’s not a simple thing to draw a line on the marker pad.

I think I’ll drop this on the Core forum and set off some fireworks. Be right back…

… okay. Let’s see what develops (Core thread – Link).