Now that the new NCIDQ credential is official the phone has been ringing off of PROFESSIONALINTERIORDESIGNER’s hook...”What does it all mean?”, “Why Should I Care?”, “Which One Do I Display First?”, “How much does it cost?”, “Should I Get The Alphabet Soup or the Acronym Stew?”…………………………

Well one can look at the latest entrant in the professional interior design credential offering as nothing more than a win for the business card printers…….”Oh Nooooo not another addition to your list of credentials……..Get me another box of 500 stat!”

There will always be those who need to display every possible organizational affiliation, credentialed accomplishment and regulated title after their name.  I get it…your title represents and validates your professional accomplishments and you are rightly proud of the effort and cost invested to earn the right to display all of those letters after your name.   Maybe some of our clients and non-allied professionals are impressed by all of those letters/abbreviations after one’s name…..or maybe they are just confused. My money is on confused.  So if you, like me, think it is TMI (pertinent acronym no doubt), or if you can’t afford the dues/fees to be current on all of those appellations then you must truly consider which credential will provide you the most bang for your buck..or four hundred.

OR

We can start affecting the change in our profession that we would like to see by being strategic about which professional credential/acronym we choose to adjoin our signature.  The choice is much more than the amount of letters after your name or the quantity of ink and card stock used to print your business cards.

This will either be a good year for advancement of the profession or business card printers……it is your decision.