Professional Design Practice

Professional Studies

Professionalism

  • Professionalism is not a straightforward concept to define.
  • Commentators have noted the word “profession” is almost synonymous with an occupation, the term professional is now applied to a wide range of individuals such as footballers and sports personalities.
  1. The professional has skills or expertise proceeding from a broad knowledge base.
  2. The professional provides a service based on a special relationship with those whom he or she serves. This relationship involves a special attitude of beneficence tempered with integrity. This includes fairness, honesty and a bond based on legal and ethical rights and duties authorised by the professional institution and legalised by public esteem.
  3. To the extent that the public recognises the authority of the professional, he or she has the social function of speaking out on broad matters of public policy and justice.
  4. Professionals must be independent of the influence of the State or commerce.
  5. The professional should be educated rather than trained. This means having a wide cognitive perspective, seeing the place of his or her skills within that perspective and continuing to develop this knowledge and skills within a framework of values.
  6. A professional should have legitimised authority if a profession is to have credibility, it must be widely recognised as independent, disciplined by its professional association, actively expanding its knowledge base and concerned with the education of its members. If it is widely recognised as satisfying these conditions, then it will possess moral as well as legal legitimacy, and its pronouncements will be listened to with respect.

A Profession

A profession is an occupation that requires extensive training and the study and mastery of specialised knowledge and usually has a professional association, ethical code and process of certification or licensing.

Examples are; librarianship, accounting, law, teaching, architecture, medicine, finance, the military, the clergy, nursing, those who work or perform research in the various sciences, or engineering.

Classically, there were only three professions; Ministry, medicine and law.

These three professions each hold to a specific code of ethics, and members are almost universally required to swear some form of oath to uphold those ethics, therefore “professing” to a higher standard of accountability.

A member of a profession is termed a professional.

However, professionals also used for the acceptance of payment for an activity, in contrast to amateur.

A professional sportsperson, for example, is one who receives payment for participating in sport, but the sport is not generally considered a profession. (Although a profession can also refer to any activity from which one earns one’s living, so in that sense sport is a profession.)

Membership in a profession is usually restricted and regulated by a professional association.

For example, lawyers regulate themselves through a bar association and restrict membership through licensing and accreditation of law schools. Hence, professions also typically have a great deal of autonomy, setting rules and enforcing discipline.

There is no standard definition of a modern professional, however.

The process when trade unions or other bodies try to elevate an occupation to the level of the profession is called ‘professionalisation; this is often an attempt to enhance their position.

It has also been suggested that some professionals feel an obligation to society, beyond their client relationship.

Doctors may not merely sell their service if a procedure is medically inappropriate, however much the client may want it undertaken, architects may refuse to work on a project that would be detrimental to its surroundings, lawyers may refuse to take cases which are merely exploitative. The obligation to educate the client is often seen as a key part of the definition.

Definitions of Professionalism

Many organisations have a code of ethics and what they require for entry into their organisation and how to remain in good standing.

Some of these codes are quite detailed and make a strong emphasis on their area of expertise, for example, journalists emphasise the use of credible sources and protecting their identities.

For graphic design and design related industries professionalism could be demonstrated by the following:

Attitude & Demeanour

Ethics, Morals & Responsibilities

Code of Conduct

Application Letters/CVs

Client meetings & eliciting a brief/re-briefing, contracts

Terms & Conditions

Financial Management/Fees

Costing & Budgets

Commissioning & sub-contracting work

Freelance design

Health & safety

Copyright & IP (Intellectual Property)

Time & work management, schedules & deadlines

Professional bodies (design related)

ICOGRADA (The International Council of Design)

D&AD (Design and Art Direction)

ISTD (The International Society of Typographic Designers_

CSD (The Chartered Society of Designers)

Typographic Circle

What starting salary (per annum/year) would you expect as a Junior Designer

  1. In the North of England: 13,000 – 16,000
  2. In the South East of England: 16,000 – 18,000

Opie Fee Letter

Brief

You are required to submit a re-brief & fee email (the cost of design work produced by you and any additional costs incurred) to a given client (see below) to act as a basis of understanding of the requirements of an imaginary previous meeting to qualify what is required to indicate your proposed fees/ charges for to be undertaken.

Screen Shot 2019-02-19 at 13.16.11

 

Print Quote

Screen Shot 2019-02-19 at 14.55.52.png

 

Placement Request

I have looked on Yell.com for local graphic design agencies that i would like to apply for placement at. I have added a range of companies that I have picked through how accessible they are as well as a shared design style.

 

Screen Shot 2019-03-04 at 23.58.11

Personal Branding logo

I came up with the name ‘UP NORTH’ and chose to use this instead of just my name as I thought it was different as everyone just has their name. The reason for UP NORTH comes from that fact that I am a bit of a nomad who has spent a significant period of my life in places both referred to as the north. Also, Sheffield is the most southerly county in what is classed as the north is it still referred to as the north or being northern. I have also lived in Orkney one of the most northerly parts of the UK which have played a large part in my life. The colours of my logo reflect the coastal seas I grew up next in Orkney.

up north final final

 

Business Card

up north bussins cardup north bussins card2

Website

My Portfolio