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?
Reading Response:
What stood out to me the most was not only the fact that there are very few African American designers, but also how women designers aren’t always included in a lot of things. For instance would be with Laini Sylvia Abernathy, who was the only woman to be in “As, Not For”. Why is it that she would be the only one? Not to mention how right after they stated that, they also stated she was chiefly tied to her husband in her career. This may even be the biggest reason why she gets recognized. This reminds me of this designer Cipe Pineles. She was turned down many times because of her gender, til one male designer took her into his company and she actually was amazing with typography and her spread designs for magazines she worked for. She didn’t become well known til she got taken in. And she was a very influential designer. They say she paved the road for women designers! We would have to change the commercial design field to include diversity of voices and visions by making diversity more known. If people were more open to seeing the works of someone without knowing their gender or their race, it might make it easier for them to see the work for what it is and not who made it. The history in 20 years will hopefully look more diversified. The fact we are already talking about it is a good start, and shows that we know this can be a little problematic to the fairness of this world.
Hypothesis Annotations:
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