Celebrating the African-American Practitioners Absent From Way Too Many Classroom Lectures by Madeleine Morley, Eye on Design, 2018, Typography as a Radical Act in an Industry Ever-dominated by White Men by Silas Munro, Eye on Design, 2019 and Design Gets More Diverse by Alice Rawsthorn, NYTimes, 2011

Questions/Prompts

  • What stood out to you the most in this week’s readings?
  • How do we change the commercial design field to include a diversity of voices and visions?
  • What will the commercial design field and the study of design history look like in 20 years?

Responses

What stood out to me the most for this week’s readings is the erasure of POC designers. Reading the article “Typography as a Radical Act in an Industry Ever-dominated by White Men ” shedded light on an issue I haven’t known about. In a way it rubs me in the wrong way because as a designer who is also a person of color, I’ve never stumbled on the contributions my people had within design. But then again, this information was limited and wasn’t widely accessible. You as a designer, would have to research and learn about the contributions POC designers had within this industry. Everything from the civil rights movement, its typography and posters all were created by black designers, but these weren’t taught. It’s something that I’ll continue to educate myself about so I could get a better understanding about their practices.

There are many ways in which the design field/industry can include both the diversity of voices and visions. Firstly, we need to understand that representation is not a quota that needs to be filled. There should be meaningful hirings of people based on their skills and talents. Design firms especially need to outline and state their objectives of inclusion and how they’ll support it. Secondly, many firms/organizations should seek feedback from minority groups to see how they can better support minorites both inside and out of the workplace. Lastly, they should step out their comfort zone by actively recruiting college minorities into their internship programs. This shows minorities that this could be an option for them to choose further on into their careers.

The commercial design field and the study of design in 20 years will look great, if we start to change the way we can better diversify other groups. Let’s be honest, there still needs to be some change implemented within this industry. Designers of color aren’t largely represented within design and with that our stories aren’t being amplified. But if companies decide to take the necessary actions to include minority groups, then the future will start to look bright.