It's Just a Certificate

"User Experience", "User Interface", "Branding", "Good Design" etc. are terms which mean only one thing to a typical HR manager running a Recognition program - doing this will cost me money. In our approach and intent to do everything at the lowest possible cost, I believe that we end up being "Penny Wise, Pound Foolish" in a number of occasions. Let me give you an example:

A number of companies have a Recognition program which includes certificates of some kind. If you have ever received one of these certificates, how did you really "FEEL" about the certificate. I have been terribly disappointed with the quality of the certificates that companies use - even the really large ones which are so fussy about branding when it comes to their products. I will not be exaggerating if I say that majority of these certificates are very poorly designed by some guy who installed Coreldraw or Photoshop in his computer just a day before or decided to use Powerpoint/Word for designing the certificate.

If I was giving a certificate to anyone, I would want them to feel good (Real good) about the certificate. I want them to take the certificate home and show it to their family, show it to their colleagues and possibly keep it in their desk for everyone to see. For this to happen, the certificate needs to look GOOD. In most cases, the recipient takes the certificate, thanks the giver, and then shoves the certificate in a file in his draw.

It's time we start spending money on designing great quality certificates - for about 1000-5000 bucks, we can get a freelance designer to do a real good certificate using paid images available on istockphoto.com, imagesbazaar.com etc.