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RGD invites all who are interested to become professional members and take advantage of a special limited time offer!

RGDs who successfully complete the process and join by June 30 can redeem 50% of their exam fees in three ways. The exam fees (up to $75) can be put towards”
- their 2013 RGD dues;
- DesignThinkers 2013 registration OR a
- Swipe Bookstore gift card (while supplies last)

The RGD designation sets professionals apart in the marketplace and connects you to a network of other passionate and committed professionals. As part of your membership, you’ll receive an RGD logo for your website and other marketing, a pdf for proposals outlining the value of working with an RGD – download it here, and a letter for employers explaining the achievement. You’ll also have access to a range of benefits including participation in portfolio reviews and other networking events, free weekly webinars and other professional development and continuing education opportunities, and valuable publications, and you will be supporting advocacy against spec work and low-price compliancy and for higher standards in our education system and across our entire industry.

In response to an article titled Should Graphic Designers Be Certified? published online at imprint.printmag.com by Ellen Shapiro, Hilary Ashworth, the Executive Director of the Examination Board and RGD, published the following which provides stats on examination pass/fail rates.

One of the goals of RGD’s Examination Board is to ensure RGD’s certification process is a rewarding and enriching experience for professional designers. Our testing process has evolved since its inception and today is more vigorous and relevant than ever before. If the perception exists that anyone can get in, the facts clearly demonstrate otherwise.

RGD’s certification is a three-step process: Application; Written Test and Portfolio Interview. RGD Applicants begin by submitting applications, including post-secondary transcripts and work experience for verification, along with written rationales for the 6 portfolio pieces they plan to present in their portfolio interview. Our eligibility committee then evaluates whether applicants are eligible to continue through the next two steps in the process. In 2012, 8% of applicants did not meet the standards set for eligibility and were not permitted to proceed to the Written Test or Portfolio Interview stage.

Successful applicants are then required to pass a written test and ½ hour portfolio interview conducted by a panel of 3 reviewers. In 2012, an additional 9% failed to pass the RGD Exam and meet the standard set for Registered Graphic Designers. Applicants who fail sections of the written test may rewrite as soon as they feel ready. Those who are deemed ineligible or fail the portfolio interview must wait 2 years before they can re-apply and are given extensive, personalized feedback on what areas for improvement they need to improve upon in order to succeed in the future.

Of the total number of RGD applicants in 2012, 17%, almost 1 in 5, did not qualify for the Registered Graphic Designer designation, R.G.D. This is not something we celebrate, nor do we publicize these statistics, but clearly misinformation is out there and this must be corrected.

Sincerely,
Hilary Ashworth, Executive Director

Read the original article as well as the additional response by RGD’s President and Exam Board Director, Lionel Gadoury at http://imprint.printmag.com/design-school/to-certifyd-or-not-to-certifyd-that-is-the-question/

RGD invites all who are interested to become professional members and take advantage of a special limited time offer!

For those who complete the R.G.D. Examination process by April 1, 2013, RGD will deduct 100% of the exam fees (as much as $150) from their annual dues.

The R.G.D. designation sets professionals apart in the marketplace and connects you to a network of other passionate and committed professionals. As part of your membership, you’ll receive an RGD logo for your website and other marketing, a pdf for proposals outlining the value of working with an RGD – download it here, and a letter for employers explaining the achievement. You’ll also have access to a range of benefits including participation in portfolio reviews and other networking events, free weekly webinars and other professional development and continuing education opportunities, and valuable publications, and you will be supporting advocacy against spec work and low-price compliancy and for higher standards in our education system and across our entire industry.

August 31, 2012 Deadline

Offer extended! Contact us (info@rgdexamboard.com) for more info!

With more than 3,000 creative directors, designers, managers, educators and student members, RGD is committed to representing graphic design professionals who demonstrate their commitment to professionalism and raising standards for the industry.

Individuals who successfully pass the R.G.D. Examination and apply for R.G.D. Membership prior to August 31 will receive a number of benefits including:

• 50% refund of exam fees (up to $75 savings)
• free one-year subscriptions to Fast Company, Applied Arts, and Print Magazine digital
• opportunity to register for DesignThinkers 2012 at our lowest discounted rates (up to $175 savings)
• opportunity to be profiled on RGD’s homepage and in RGD Word. To see examples of past profiles, click here.

Next steps:

1. Complete the Exam Application and prepare Portfolio Rationales (sample rationales can be seen here).
2. Submit your Application with Rationales. Once your application is approved, you will be contacted and receive access to all upcoming webinars (2-4 a month – $30 savings each), an opportunity to borrow  texts for the written test and buy the RGD handbook for $20 ($35 savings).
3. Complete the written test and present your portfolio on one of the following dates: May 24, May 31, Jun 12, Jun 28, Jul 10, Jul 24, Aug 8, Aug 23, Aug 30. (the entire process takes about 2 hours.) The test can be written in Guelph, Hamilton, Kingston, Kitchener, London, Ottawa, Sault Ste. Marie, Sudbury, Thunder Bay or Toronto. Portfolio interviews can be completed in person in Toronto or via Skype.

If you have any questions or concerns, contact Heidi Mulzer, Chief Operating Officer and Director of Membership, by email at heidi@rgdontario.com or by phone at 1.888.247.3668 x 22.

This cross-provincial partnership, reflecting a shared commitment to achieving the highest professional standards, is a significant step forward for the graphic design industry in Canada. Supported by formalized examination procedures, the agreement will contribute to the evolution of the profession and increase recognition of the vital role designers fulfill in business and the economy.

Together, RGD and Société des designers graphiques du Québec (SDGQ) will expand upon the depth of experience that RGD has achieved since launching its exam for accreditation of graphic designers in 1999.

“The value of certification is inextricable from the diligence applied through the examination process and the degree of oversight provided by a board of peers,” says Lionel Gadoury R.G.D., President of RGD Ontario. “This agreement is a significant step forward, expanding on our commitment to work cooperatively and to implement best practices for accreditation on par with other leading professional bodies, be they in finance, business management, health care, engineering or those of our sister design professions, architecture and interior design.”

With this bipartite agreement, the two organizations will focus first on areas where they are already closely aligned in examination procedures, i.e., requirements related to years of education, work experience and approaches for assessing portfolio case studies. RGD and SDGQ are also working on a French equivalent to the mandatory Rules of Professional Conduct portion of RGD’s written exam. This is seen as a first step towards identifying French exam questions and texts leading to a full written exam within five years.

Upon successfully passing the RGD exam within Ontario, a professional RGD Member becomes a “Registered Graphic Designer”, licensed to display the post nominal letters R.G.D. alongside their name. Within Quebec, SDGQ awards the designation “Designer graphique agréé” or D.G.A. as the French equivalent.

Pour lire une lettre annonçant les détails de l’accord RGD / SDGQ bipartite en français, cliquez ici.

Stay tuned for details on further collaborations between RGD and SDGQ.

Based on RGD’s unique experience with professional design certification, Hilary and Lionel have been asked to speak on our accreditation process at the event.

As Richard Grefé, AIGA Executive Director, explained, “We believe that no one in the world has approached certification more thoughtfully or systematically than RGD. Although there are strong views on both sides of the issue within AIGA, if there is going to be a meaningful discussion of certification, it must include Lionel and Hilary.”

For more, go to http://www.rgdontario.com/contentmanager/ViewObject.aspx?sys-Portal=38&sys-Class=Item&sys-ID=733

At the July 20 Board meeting of the Examination Board, Caroline Bruckner R.G.D. was re-elected as President and Sean Grant R.G.D. as Secretary, both for their second two-year terms.

Other R.G.D. Directors are Shelley Gainer and Rod Nash (both elected at the organization’s Annual Meeting, which occurred on June 15); Dale Atkinson (appointed to serve the second year of Leila Harwood’s term – she resigned due to family commitments); Lionel Gadoury (entering the second year of his two-year term). An Ad hoc committee of R.G.D.s was also appointed. It consists of Annette Blum, Mark McAllister and Angela Bradfield.

RGD Ontario is offering a special promotion for R.G.D. and Provisional RGD Members who refer five eligible non-members to become R.G.D.s.

All five referred non-members receive 25% off their exam fees. And, if two of the five referred non-members completes the process to become an R.G.D. before October 15, the referring Member receives free registration to DesignThinkers 2011, taking place November 2 and 3 in Toronto!

A PDF of the referral form can be downloaded here.

Congratulations to the following senior designers who successfully completed the R.G.D. Qualification Exam or have been re-instated and accepted as R.G.D. members:

Darko Antic, Toronto
Margot Boland, Toronto
Julien Chaput, OvertheAtlantic.com, Sudbury
Andrew Edgecombe, anyedge ltd.,Toronto
Jeffrey Gunn, Whitby
Athena Herrmann, Akendi, Toronto
Roman Milo, Toronto
Noël Nanton, typotherapy+design inc., Toronto
Kathleen Scott, Bruce Power, Tiverton
Lindsay Smail, Liberal Caucus Ontario, Toronto
M. Alison Reynolds-Pezzack, Astarte Creative, Schomberg
Steve Smiley, Port Hope
Marlon Stephen, The Flavorlab, Pickering
Stüssy Tschudin, Forge Media + Design, Toronto
Brenda van Kats, Kanata
Nancy Zeni, Cyclone Creative Inc., Toronto

For a list of new members in other categories, go to http://www.rgdontario.com/contentmanager/ViewObject.aspx?sys-Portal=38&sys-Class=Item&sys-ID=717

In 2001, RGD released The Business of Graphic Design: A Professional’s Handbook. A second edition was released in 2004. The first of its kind, this Handbook was, and still is, the only comprehensive guide to maintaining a graphic design business in Canada. The Business of Graphic Design has made a vital contribution to the professionalism of the Canadian design industry. It is also the basis for the business section on the R.G.D. Qualification Examination.

RGD is thrilled to be developing the third edition, scheduled for release in January 2012.

The new edition will cover a range of topics, including: project and design management, pricing, hiring and staffing, marketing creative services, job hunting, business start-up, intellectual property and industry trends. Additional features include new forms and sample agreements and sample job descriptions.

For more, go to http://www.rgdontario.com/contentmanager/ViewObject.aspx?sys-Portal=38&sys-Class=Item&sys-ID=709