{"id":8344,"date":"2020-08-20T14:38:16","date_gmt":"2020-08-20T18:38:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ceros.com\/inspire\/?p=8344"},"modified":"2022-02-02T16:23:11","modified_gmt":"2022-02-02T21:23:11","slug":"design-industry-diversity-problem","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ceros.com\/inspire\/originals\/design-industry-diversity-problem\/","title":{"rendered":"Inside the Design Industry’s Diversity Problem"},"content":{"rendered":"Reading Time: <\/span> 5<\/span> minutes<\/span><\/span>\n

Design as an industry has never been more visible. Visual literacy is a bedrock skill in the digital age\u2014across industries, design is recognized as an essential part of succeeding in business<\/a>, and design thinking is helping companies innovate<\/a>. As we come to note the importance of design in our everyday lives, it\u2019s imperative that the industry recognizes its diversity problem<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Designers who are Black, Indigenous, and people of color (BIPOCs) have long been excluded from design<\/a>. As the designer Cheryl D. Miller explained in her now-celebrated 1987 article in Print<\/em> magazine, \u201cBlack Designers: Missing in Action<\/a>,\u201d there have always been many systemic barriers preventing marginalized communities in the U.S. from entering into the inaccessible field of graphic design. \u201cGraphic design can be considered a select, professional field which only a few may enter owing to its costly educational preparation and subsequent competition in the marketplace,\u201d she wrote. \u201cThe graphic design industry, which includes clients as well as practitioners, is highly selective in choosing its participants.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many of these same educational, cultural, and economic barriers\u2014and the racial biases that uphold them\u2014are just as entrenched today as they were over 30 years ago<\/a>. The proof is in the numbers: of the 9,429 designers who filled out AIGA\u2019s 2019 Design Survey<\/a>, 71% of respondents were white, an overrepresentation in a country that\u2019s only 60.4% white. Why, if diversity has been a concern and priority for designers in the industry for so many decades, is design still so white?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Black Lives Matter uprisings that took place this June invited a moment of reckoning across industries\u2014including in design<\/a>, architecture<\/a>, and advertising<\/a>. And in response, many organizations have made efforts to try to address issues of diversity\u2014to address underrepresentation of Black designers, in particular. They\u2019re also responding to the calls across the industry to put more effort into combating racial injustice, empowering marginalized communities<\/a>, and dismantling white supremacy<\/a>\u2014but these efforts aren\u2019t always successful<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here\u2019s how underrepresented BIPOC designers are in the industry, and how they\u2019re calling for the design world to change.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Diversity by the numbers<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Here\u2019s a breakdown of the designers who took part in AIGA\u2019s Design Survey and identified as non-white:
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