This week I found a need to develop a formal project brief. The summer is coming to an end (or has it already ended :-o) and there are various projects floating around that need to be coralled before its too late. These projects are for clients, for professional development, and even for outside of design and marketing (I gotta complete the kitchen redesign dammit!). I’m not going to bore you with the purpose of a brief other than to say its another tool to ensure you get the best results for your efforts towards achieving a goal.

I started this week looking for a simple form to download, fill it out, and get to work on the project, easy as 1-2-3, no not for Ijan. Instead it turned into its own project, a project without a helpful brief document to guide me! The discovery process was enlightening, a little frustrating as it wasn’t how I intended to spend my week. In the end the irony was kind of hilarious and with a pdf completed it a sense of satisfaction.

I guess deep down I just wanted something to do and why not work out designing and building a form to organize what I hope will be a very productive autumn. Sometimes you have to grow the food you want to cook. Please feel free to download the collected file here, which includes an Indesign file, fonts and an interactive PDF. You can download just the PDF version here.

I was recently in the kitchen preparing some food for a bbq and listened to a podcast about merit. Certification is a verfication of merit. Its an idea that traces back through history to Aristotle and Confucious. I’ve been having a long battle with mostly older folks about the importance of education or a college degree. My argument that it is not nearly as valuable as it is sold for stands. The underlying purpose of acquiring a Bacherlors or Masters has been made clearer as it supports the right of anyone to be judged on their merits. We are entering a world in which the question of recently qualified certification is as relevant as recognzied degrees.

What plaforms should a graphic designer or email developer be certified with? This was a question that until recently had no clear beneficial answer. Now the complexities of the platforms insist that to be a qualified professional means investing time and sometimes money in passing a certification exam. I’m familiar with many platforms like Salesforce, Eloqua, Veeva, Mailchimp, Campaign Monitor, and Adobe Experience, with total confidence I can meet the expecatations of any client using these platforms. I am however not certified in all of these platforms which is a risk most in the job market does not seem to be willing to take. There are so many different marketing tools being used it would be a waste of time to pursue certificatoin in all of them, but to be a professional now you should be certified independently to be confirm your skills for you and for a potential customer/employer.

I’m happy to have added some certifications to my CV. Constant updating and verifying skills and knowledge is the only way to make it in a world that based on merit. I have spent most of my career letting my resume and portfolio speak for me to convey my capabilities to those that are interested. What I’ve learned is the game has become more competitive and doors aren’t going to open based off of experience. Developing skills over time isn’t necessarily a given anymore to ensure someone has the required expertise. I’ve added Salesforce and Veeva to my capabilities list with my Veeva Email Certification. I’ve also recently added my Mailchimp certification despite having almost 10 years of experience on the platform. I’m going to add another level of Mailchimp to be certified in their CRM and move towards foundational certification in Hubspot by the September 2021. Currently I’m 60% through my initial Adobe Campaign Standard certification for the Adobe Experience platform.