Tag Archives: NCIDQ

ONE MORE REASON TO CREDENTIAL NCIDQ CERTIFIED DESIGNERS

INTERIOR DESIGN RANKS 4th OUT OF THE 8 LOWEST PAYING COLLEGE DEGREES

READ IT & WEEP!

http://www.clevelandleader.com/node/14310

One has to wonder who they actually surveyed for this study…..work at home mom’s who pick colors for friends living rooms (not that there is anything wrong with that) PROFESSIONALINTERIORDESIGNER knows that highly qualified NCIDQ certified professionals working at the highest levels of the profession can make a decent wage often as much as peer licensed professionals. So how do we get this profession out of the basement?

PLANTING THE SEEDS OF CHANGE

From a small seed a mighty trunk may grow.
Aeschylus

Education is not the piling on of learning, information, data, facts, skills, or abilities – that’s training or instruction – but is rather making visible what is hidden as a seed.
Thomas More

Occasionally PROFESSIONALINTERIORDESIGNER gets a little negative about the state of the profession. So he makes himself feel better about his sarcasm and criticisms by offering suggestions for improvement. I like a little cheese with my whine- if you will. As an interior design instructor with lots of years of practical experience I have been watching the development of the profession from two vantage points. Let me explain- going from an agricultural to a nautical analogy.

We have the ship but I am not sure we have sailors who are properly trained to guide it.  It is going to take a monumental effort to put our professional ship on the right course. Destination- The preeminent profession for the design and creation of interior space. To that end it is the academy (educators) who must instill the knowledge and skills necessary to properly man (& woman) the professional ship.  While there is a lack of qualified instructors entering the field that problem is not as acute as the lack of resources to do our job properly. Interior Design is not an academic endeavor that is ripe with grant and funded research opportunities. It is not a traditional bench science yet it is not completely a creative art- it is a little of both. We exist in a funding gray area. Unfortunately given our profession’s dearth of respect and understanding there just aren’t a lot of opportunities for scholars and academics to position themselves at the trough of extra-mural financing. Consequently we are often relegated to second class or third class academic endeavors.  With state budgets being cut daily the state funding of higher education efforts is quickly drying up. It is imperative that the profession does something to help rectify this dilemma. We cannot attract qualified instructors if the economics do not work out. PROFESSIONALINTERIORDESIGNER accepted the vow of poverty to teach but he is most likely an exception…not exceptional just unique.

There is no question that the resources are out there. Our industry has the deep pockets to create funded research opportunities for interior design scholars. PROFESSIONALINTERIORDESIGNER knows that many of the larger corporate entities that rely on the expertise of interior designers to specify their products actually perform their research internally. That is their right and they do a good job of it. I personally have relied on that research as a practitioner.  However now that my foot is in a different shoe I wish that those corporate entities would realize the quid pro quo potential of shifting the research aspect of their R&D efforts to the academy. There are lots of opportunities to seed research in environmental behavior, material testing, environmental issues, and ergonomics etc. that would not compromise proprietary intellectual capital. Not only would this effort strengthen academic efforts it would benefit the industry in a number of short term and long term ways.

There are a few examples of industry academic collaboration but in my opinion, it certainly could be stronger. It is our professional organizations that are responsible to address this issue. This is not a new problem- but it is becoming acute. The ship needs wind to sail- (OK enough with the lame metaphors)

So all of you industry titans out there (and I know you are all fans;-)…..if you are not sowing what are you reaping?

We Don’t Need Know Edgukashun……..

http://www.idpcinfo.org/THREE_E_s.pdf

I don’t get the point of this tirade. The desire to increase one’s stature and status within an ever increasingly complex society is simply natural. We do this by organizing, sharing and increasing our body of knowledge, instilling ethical practices and providing a unique benefit to society.  To impugn this natural proclivity for self and societal betterment is evidently far easier than actually participating in the process, working to improve it, or creating a better one.  Collateral disaffection of those whose career is literally changing and evolving beneath them is also part of the process. This disaffection becomes exacerbated when the professional society chooses to pursue governmental regulation to establish a higher level of professional status. We unfortunately opened up that can of worms far too early in the development of our professional society. What is important to remember is that the education/experience/examination paradigm and the use of the government to validate that paradigm are two different issues. Do not let the IDPC or any of the disaffected and disenfranchised confuse you. 

Despite the IDPC’s conjecture, rhetoric, opinion, and misinformation claiming otherwise, the CIDA education and NCIDQ experience/examination model is the best path and most logical choice for those of us who wish to practice interior design at the highest level. Is it perfect?- NO! Can it be improved? Hell yes!  But to claim that natural talent and a flair for color are all the credentials one needs to attain professional status and occupational license to design physiologically and psychologically supportive interior environments that enhance quality of life is simply delusional.

While life would be so much simpler if we could just be amused by the IDPC’s vitriol, the painful fact of the matter is that they are the public relations face for a well funded, strategically savvy and effective campaign whose single goal is to de-professionalize the profession of interior design. To deny that they influence the direction of our supposedly collective effort to advance the status of the profession is foolish at best and professional suicide at worst.

Unfortunately the effort to raise the standards of the profession of Interior Design by using the government to sort out the qualified from the not has created a monster backlash (not merely the cult of angry decorators) that our conflicted professional domain is ill prepared to deal with. Oh sure the IDPC seems to be a relatively low level threat and it is easy, for those of us who care about such things, to look at them as a one hornet nest. But the fact of the matter is that there are a lot of high level, well funded legal machinations aimed at combating and defeating our sole effort to advance the societal status of the profession.   It’s almost as if the IDPC is puking straw man arguments to distract, those of us who care about such things, from focusing on the real issues such as conflicts of interest with the AIA and the NKBA. But lo they are not that savvy.

It’s just that we are weak and we are easy pickin’s for what has evolved into an over- zealous quasi-libertarian witch hunt in which the angry decorators, misinformed kitchen and bath designers and turf conscious architects will not be satisfied until they completely neuter our  profession.  

I hope our lawyers can beat up their lawyers.

It’s Getting Nasty in the Interior Design Sandbox

Okay the IDPC is on a roll…the rhetoric is amazing. Here are the 10 ways decisions by designers can impact the health safety and welfare of the public as written by the IDLPCA (Pennsylvania Pro-Legislation Group)

http://www.idlcpa.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=21&Itemid=28

While I do not think the examples are compelling enough to deem government regulation necessary, the point is that the decisions of a designer affect the health, safety and welfare of building occupants on several levels. To argue this assertion is just plain counter-productive to anybody who considers their knowledge, their skill set and  their talents (regardless if they are an interior decorator or a professional engineer) to be of any value to anybody at anytime.  I would think even the angry decorators would be troubled by this denigration of what are basic moral and ethical obligations. Why would anybody claim otherwise?

Here is the IDPC’s counter to those 10 points (see the link)………I would challenge Ms. Morrow to substantiate her points with facts in lieu of vitriol, spurious rhetoric and even rasher generalizations.

 http://idpcinfo.wordpress.com/

So in their zeal to de-professionalize the entire act of designing, or even decorating, interior spaces, the IDPC has clearly aimed their rhetorical pistol at their feet. 

Fun to watch isn’t it?

OK I see where this is going……

From the latest NCIDQ newsletter;

“NCIDQ is committed to developing examinations that identify interior design practitioners who have demonstrated a level of competence sufficient to practice independently while protecting the public health, safety and welfare.”

So I guess those who wish to practice within a complex and multi-dimensional professional environment with due respect of those allied professionals are just S.O.L.  I know exactly where this is coming from and where this is going and I do not like it.

All I can do is assume that the AIA approves of this direction……..yeah right.