{"id":8519,"date":"2020-10-01T17:36:02","date_gmt":"2020-10-01T21:36:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ceros.com\/inspire\/?p=8519"},"modified":"2021-03-10T11:45:57","modified_gmt":"2021-03-10T16:45:57","slug":"initiatives-dismantling-racism-design","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ceros.com\/inspire\/originals\/initiatives-dismantling-racism-design\/","title":{"rendered":"Calling for Change: New Initiatives to Dismantle Racism in Design"},"content":{"rendered":"Reading Time: <\/span> 5<\/span> minutes<\/span><\/span>\n

In solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement, designers are calling for the design industry to change\u2014to make it more inclusive<\/a> for designers of color by addressing the pervasive systemic racism in design schools, agencies, and organizations. Many of these designers organize and act for change in the best way they know how\u2014through design. Jennifer Rittner for Eye on Design<\/a> referred to this specific trend of anti-racist protest graphic as a \u201cmovement guide,\u201d sharing valuable bite-sized information in sharable carousels. They cover everything from tactics for virtual protesting<\/a>, to the basics of allyship<\/a>, to mutual aid and reparations<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Others have taken the energy of the moment to invest in new initiatives to help amplify Black voices, supporting change in the industry and beyond. Here is a shortlist of BIPOC-led initiatives formed in solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement, and how these initiatives use design to keep the movement going.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Design as Protest<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Source: De Nichols<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Design as Protest<\/a> (DAP) is a collaborative organization led by Black interdisciplinary designers Bryan Lee Jr.<\/a>, De Nichols<\/a>, Michael Ford<\/a>, and Taylor Holloway, as well as V. Mitch McEwen<\/a> and Sunni Patterson. In solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement, DAP called upon the design industry to adhere to nine Design Justice Demands\u2014including reallocating funds supporting police departments, putting an end to crime prevention through environmental design tactics<\/a> (CPTED), and ceasing to design prisons, jails, and other structures of incarceration. Designers can commit to the demands for Design Justice for Black Lives here<\/a>; they can also check out the upcoming events and workshops hosted by DAP on its Instagram<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Where Are the Black Designers<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Source: Twitter<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Taking its name from Maurice Cherry\u2019s talk<\/a> at the 2015 South by Southwest Interactive, this new initiative<\/a> founded by interaction designer Mitzi Okou<\/a> is on a mission to keep the conversation about the underrepresentation of Black designers<\/a> going. The group held a conference<\/a> in June, with panelists including Naj Austin<\/a>, the CEO of Somewhere Good, Shabnam Kashani<\/a>, an interaction designer at Google working on inclusive design, and Raja Scharr, the Program Director of Drexel University Product Design. The panelists talked about ways to address the systemic issues plaguing the industry, and the group has since kept the conversation going\u2014most notably in its Slack channel<\/a>. The group shares articles<\/a>, jobs, and resources<\/a>\u2014from these free stock images featuring people of color<\/a> to this free, online portfolio school for Black creatives<\/a>\u2014to help empower designers to change their own industry. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Collective Power<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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In the spirit of empowering marginalized voices, a \u201ccasual collective\u201d of volunteer designers started a spreadsheet<\/a> in early June with the mission of offering their services to BIPOC-owned businesses. Now the group<\/a> has 124 members all over the country, offering everything from graphic design to communications to web development. They\u2019ve had so much interest from clients that they\u2019re currently at capacity. The group is open to new members.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Creative Reaction Lab<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Source: Creative Reaction Lab<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Creative Reaction Lab<\/a> was founded by designer Antionette Carroll<\/a> in response to the 2014 Ferguson uprisings. Based in St. Louis, its mission is to empower and support Black and Latinx youth to be leaders of healthy and racially equitable communities\u2014what they call \u201cRedesigners for Justice<\/a>\u201d\u2014by leveraging design thinking. The method Carroll has developed, in collaboration with the communities she works with, is called Equity-Centered Community Design, which focuses on \u201cthe intersection of community development, design-based problem solving, and equitable outcomes.\u201d The Creative Reaction Lab published a Field Guide\u2014which includes hypothetical scenarios, definitions of key terms, and tactics\u2014for those interested in designing for equity in their own environments. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Design to Divest<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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A guide for how to engage as a non-Black designer who wants to offer design services to Black-led organizations, designed by Vanessa Newman. Via Instagram<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Founded by Vanessa Newman, the head of brand experience at Ethel\u2019s Club<\/a> (a digital lifestyle community for people of color), this community<\/a> was originally Rise to Design, a virtual meetup for designers to connect during the early months of the coronavirus pandemic. But during the June uprisings, Newman and their fellow founding members decided to expand the collective to create a task force of BIPOC designers who could design free materials for Black organizers. The response was immediate and overwhelming<\/a>, with over 500 designers signing up\u2014the majority of them white and non-Black POCs\u2014and changed the scope of the collective. \u201cThe design industry almost replicated itself before my very eyes,\u201d Newman told Eye on Design<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Because of that, Newman had to explain to the new members that offering free services to Black-led organizations was problematic if they hadn\u2019t already engaged in anti-racist efforts. \u201cYou wouldn\u2019t try to creative direct a multi-million dollar Nike campaign if you just enrolled in design school a week ago. So don\u2019t design for Black people if you weren\u2019t down with the revolution a week ago.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now, the collective is on a mission to dismantle the design industry\u2019s systemic racism. \u201cHopefully the people in our group not only want to design flyers, but want to design new systems that support not just Black lives that are being murdered, but Black lives that are in their vendors\u2019 offices and are applying for the same jobs as them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Black Wellness Guide<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Compiled by Brazilian artist Chantal Feistosa, this colorful, emoji-peppered Google Doc<\/a> of resources relates to the health, and wellness of Black people. It covers everything from breathing exercises<\/a> to sustainable food sources <\/a>to tools for finding a therapist<\/a>. This is not Feitosa\u2019s first social justice project. When she was a student at RISD, she was a collaborator on \u201cThe Room of Silence<\/a>,\u201d Eloise Sherrid\u2019s documentary about the difficulties that students of color face at art school. The Wellness Guide also has a crowdsourcing function, for those who have recommendations for other resources that don\u2019t appear on the list.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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