…. Until Black History Month 2011

Another February has come to an end far too quickly! It seems we have only just begun to share and celebrate the important contributions that black designers have made to enrich lives. However, the important thing to remember is that black history month is simply the one moment through the year when we pause to highlight the collective accomplishments of the community.  But, that does not mean the sharing and celebrating must cease.

D421 would to thank the featured designers — Chuck Harrison, Noel Mayo, David Adjaye, Rodney Leon, and Peter Cook — for allowing us to share their success stories.  We are also excited to have introduced you to our guest contributors, Gloria Williams, Nii Commey Botchway, Atim Oton and GA Gardner, who shared their unique voices on a variety of topics relevant to the entire D421 community.

As we begin the next annual cycle towards another black history month, it is important that we all continue to share with each other those black designers who were most influential in our lives, those we simply appreciate and those we just discovered and wanted to share. If we move in these ways next year this time we can look forward to a site that is a wealth of information and to a community that is engaged in a range of conversations that further enlighten many others. So let’s keep building!

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Eric Anderson

Elements of Hope: Story Behind the Obama Poster

As Black History Month 2010 draws to a close today, we hope the collective celebration has provided enough knowledge and cultural pride to fuel your creative endeavors for the rest of the year. Before we wrap up our own celebration here, at D421, there’s one more great story we’d like to share.  GA Gardner, a brilliant artist and educator who created Elements of Hope, a mixed-media collage of Barack Obama. GA joins us today to discuss his motivation behind the piece and the critical role that visual communication plays in politics and government.

The collective force that took Barack Obama from unlikely presidential candidate to the White House inspired millions in America and around the globe. I, like others, was moved by our ability to unite, to believe, to stand as one. As an artist, this powerful movement resonated with me through the myriad of visual expressions I witnessed throughout the presidential campaign and beyond. In my neighborhood, as in many others, signs of hope and inspiration were common place. Both accomplished artists and those simply moved by the life-changing prospect of the nation’s first African-American president, felt compelled to express their feelings through design and visual means.

When I saw the sea of American faces on the night of President Obama’s victory, it became apparent that this was the story I wanted to tell.  I accepted the challenge and began a closer look at the man and the historic milestone.  In approaching the creative process I thought that a mixed media collage as a medium would provide me the most freedom to do whatever came to mind. I decided to do the original on wood, selecting a photo of him and interpreting it on an abstract background of sky and sea (a nod to his Hawaiian background). I used newspaper text to highlight the image, employing type as a design tool. People’s jubilations were also important and faces were positioned throughout the image, mainly in Obama’s hair, neck and coat.  I also placed his daughters in his eyes and his wife above his right brow – symbols of their importance both to the president and America.  My goal was to create a piece that personified hope visually.

The campaign and election underscored my belief that visual communication could play a crucial role in matters of profound importance to democracy and equality. I believe that the expressions of hope and change so often iterated throughout President Obama’s campaign and election can continue to be re-enforced through visual mechanisms as the country and our leadership face many difficult transitions.

Images, we all know, speak a thousand words. As the President and his administration continue their dialogue with the American people, visual communication can be a bridge that transports ideas, sometimes complex, across cultural, political and social landscapes, unburdened by semantics or misinterpretation so often associated with the use of words.

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GA Gardner, Ph.D. is an artist and art educator.  He creates mixed media collages and abstract art and his work has been exhibited in galleries and museums internationally. For more information on this poster, his website or join him on Facebook.

Adjaye, Leon & Cook: 3 Contemporary Black Voices on Culture, Design & Architecture

We are always excited to see members of the design community who are passionately engaged in activities that broaden our collective reach. D421 member Atim Oton definitely fits the bill.  You’ve probably seen our posting about the 2011 design conference in Africa that she’s planning.  And, if you haven’t heard about her latest project, Black Design News Network, be sure to look for its launch in a few weeks.  Today, in continued celebration of Black History Month, Atim recounts her recent encounter with three contemporary black architects.

On a cold winter late-afternoon, three black architects at the mid-points of their careers –David Adjaye, a British-Ghanaian; Rodney Leon, a Haitian-American; and Peter D. Cook, an African-American – convened to speak candidly and frankly about their unique approaches to architecture. The three designers showed a range of projects that demonstrated how ideas, concepts and design processes evolve into the built form. Their distinct design philosophies and inspiring work were well received by the excited audience of professionals and students.  Sponsored by the Black Alumni of Pratt, this Black History Month celebration of architecture ended with a short panel discussion between Adjaye, Leon, Cook and their moderator, Thelma Golden of the Studio Museum of Harlem.

International Architect David Adjaye, a British Ghanian and graduate of the Royal College of Art in London, was the main attraction for the event. Lecturing twice – once to a student-only audience and later to the professional audience – Adjaye spoke about his beliefs and timing that the interest in civil society was one of the key intersections that allowed for his trajectory in architecture. In his words, “the timing of my practise came at a point when there was a period in London to re-imagine public architecture.” This afforded him opportunities for work and commissions at an early age.

Articulating his definitive approach to design, Adjaye continues, “Design is about self, process and clients.” Using a series of his successful projects – the Dirty House in London, the Museum of Contemporaty Art in Denver, the Idea Store in London and the Stephen Lawrence Center in London – he elaborated on the key concepts that flow through his work and process. Important and recurring themes for Adjaye include an obsession with utilizing cheap materials formally, an exploration of light and color, leveraging thresholds and voids in architecture, breaking the movement between public and private realms, and a desire to create form and space by blurring the lines between architecture and its surrounding landscape.

Expanding on his approach to the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of African American History and Culture which he designed with architects Max Bond and Philip Freelon, Adjaye talked about their collaborative process and the shared vision for representing the hope, celebration and spirituality of the African-American community through raised hands or fists. An archetype of Adjaye’s work is his current project, a business school in Russia encompassing an expansive plan and massive structure with color and light, a play on materials and bold ambition. Bringing the imagery of Vegas to the middle of Russia, requires an architect with audacity, daring and a zest for breaking conventional thresholds while ironically displaying flashes of theater and drama. During the closing panel discussion, Adjaye explaine with surprising candor that his decision to open design studios across the world – one in London, Berlin and New York – was not necessarily a great business idea but a strategy to slow down and engage in each city, and make each home.

New York-based Rodney Leon’s presentation revolved around his cultural identity and how, through it, he has explored notions of form, space, procession, site and context in architecture. During the session, Leon, a Haitian-American and graduate of Pratt and Yale, discussed his experience with the African Burial Ground Memorial project.

In partnership with Aarris Archiects (architect of record), he designed the African Burial Ground as a sacred place and focal point of slavery, identity politics of past, present and future African history and culture. “In my process of design, I realized that memorialization was immersed in ritual”, Leon contended, and this site was about different generational experiences steeped in African-American, African, Caribbean, local and International culture, yet carved in the social fabric and cultural context of lower Manhattan.

This cultural memorial represents an opportunity for education. As a symbol that is spiritual, it was designed to be participatory, from its architecture elements– Walls of Remembrance, Memorial Wall, Ancenstral Chamber – to its spiral procession ramp. Leon’s design process for the memorial and a number of his projects, Leon remarked, dealt with an exploration of his cultural history, personal identity, African and Caribbean roots intermixed with his contemporary identity and a search to give form through architecture. Simply put, “Architecture is a medium to discover self and a therapautic process”. He also spoke briefly about the importance of reconstructing Haiti as a sustainable society that would involve Haitians, Haitian-Americans and the Haitian Diaspora.

Washington, DC-based Architect, Peter D. Cook, an African-American and graduate of Harvard and Columbia Universities, began his talk with the profound statement, “I know some of you believe that with the election of Barack Obama, things are good, but we are not a post-racial society, even though we have a black president. Black architects are still a rarified group and diversity events like this one are more important because there is a push back.” Cook is plainly spoken and comes from an exceptional place and perspective.  His lineage as a fourth-generation black architect began with his great grand-uncle Julian Abele and his grandfather Julian Abele Cook and continued with his mentor, architect Max Bond, who passed away last year. Bond was deeply respected by his peers and deemed by the New York Times “the most influential African-American architect in New York and one of a few black architects of national prominence”. What a impressive heritage Peter Cook shares.

As the design principal at David Brody Bond Aedas, by taking on the focal mantle of socially relevant design, Cook signals a continuation of Bond’s legacy and philosophy of social empowerment. That thread is evident in his role as the lead designer for programming on the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of African American History and Culture which Cook, Bond, their partners, and architect Philip Freelon of the Freelon Group worked on for ten years before adding lead designer David Adjaye and winning the competition.

During the presentation, Cook also reflected on the Benning Neighborhood Library in Washington, DC, which highlights the firm’s emphasis on public architecture.  He explained how their design strategy focused on the site, its context and their understanding of how the neighborhood uses space. As Cook put it, “Davis Brody Bond Aedas is a firm of partners with a variety of voices, and not one style. We respond to client’s needs, site, context and program”. And at the core, “I believe that architecture can affect change through design.”

For more information about Max Bond, see the NY Times Article: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/19/arts/design/19bond.html?_r=2

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Atim Annette Oton is a Nigerian-born, U.S. and British educated designer and co-Founder of the Black Design News Nework (http://www.blackdesignnews.com), a cultural writer, editor and publisher who stepped down from her role as the Associate Chair of Product Design at Parsons School of Design in 2006 to concentrate on a bi-monthly lifestyle publication about black Brooklyn home décor, fashion, culture, and lifestyle, Calabar Magazine and take her company, Calabar Imports globally. She studied architecture at the City College of New York in Harlem under the influential black architect Max Bond and the Architectural Association Graduate School in London, England; and worked for Davis, Brody, Bond Architects and various other firms in New York. She also worked as a design consultant on the Underground Railroad Experience, a cultural education website from 2000 – 2004; and won an Independent Grant from the NYSCA on her work, the Black Hair Salon in 2002. She served as the editor-in-chief and executive vice president for Blacklines Magazine, a quarterly magazine publishing features on black designers in architecture, interior design, construction, development and the arts from 2000-2002 and the Co-Organizer, Limitless Layers, Blacklines’ Second Conference, Design Showcase and exhibition, April 11-14, 2002 and Co-Organizer, Bridging the Gap between Education and Practice, Blacklines Architecture Conference, Design Showcase and exhibition, October 19-22, 2000. She can be reached at atim @ blackdesignnews (dot) com.

Design Master: Noel Mayo

As part of the D421 Black History Month 2010 celebration, today we’re celebrating design master Noel Mayo.  As a designer, educator, and entrepreneur, Noel has influenced the careers and lives of many.

In 1960, after becoming the first African American to receive a Bachelors degree in Industrial Design from the Philadelphia College of Art (now University of the Arts), Noel Mayo began a wildly successful career designing telephones, seating, desks, lighting fixtures, offices, stores and restaurants.

Early on, he also stretched his entrepreneurial wings, establishing Noel Mayo Associates (NMA) – the first African American industrial design firm in the United States. Noel and his team have completed high profile projects like the interior design of the United Bank of Philadelphia; signage programs for hospitals, universities, and transit authorities; and US government exhibits across North America, Morocco, Spain, and Nigeria. With partners and clients like NASA, IBM, Black and Decker, and Lutron Electronics Company, Noel and his team have made an indelible impact on society.

As an educator, Noel returned to his alma mater, University of the Arts, where he taught and served as chairperson of the Industrial Design Department for 11 years. During his tenure there, the department grew by three hundred percent, from the ninth to the third largest department in the college. In recognition of his outstanding achievements in and contributions to design, he was awarded an honorary doctorate (D.F.A.) from the Massachusetts College of Art in 1981.

Noel then transitioned to Ohio State University where he teaches product, interior, and graphic design. In 1989, Noel was named the Ohio Eminent Scholar in Art and Design Technology, a program designed to attract nationally and internationally known scholars to further strengthen outstanding academic programs that deal with compelling statewide issues. Since that time, Noel’s leadership at the university remains strong. Most recently, he has been helping drive recruiting and retention initiatives for minority students and establishing a directory of minority professionals in industrial, graphic, interior, and architectural design.

Noel places a very strong emphasis on the importance of mentoring and advocates alternative methods for education, accelerated learning, and information dissemination using new technologies. Mayo’s personal interest is in the development of synergistic learning products that include vision, music, color, psychology, and light.

For those of us who know Noel personally, he is a leader, a mentor, an inspiration, a friend, and a strong reminder to do great things!  Definitely someone worth knowing.

Now, let’s talk . . . In the comments below, tell us:

• Has Noel taught or mentored you personally? Tell us about it.
• What personal experiences you have with Noel or NMA’s product, exhibit and communication designs?
• What other design masters would you like to see profiled here this month and in the future?

African Perspective: What is Your Design Intention?

It’s Black History Month and D421 has been thinking alot about not only designers of African descent in North America, but our counterparts on the African continent as well.  So, we reached out to Nii Commey Botchway, a designer and educator from Ghana and South Africa, to see what’s on his mind.

“Design is the first signal of human intention.”
-Bill McDonough

Whenever I talk to people about design, about life, about what I do as a visual communicator, I use that quote. I find that it sums up soooo much of what I (and I believe a lot of other designers) struggle to get people outside our profession to understand — namely, that design IS life and life IS design.

Design is not just a group of creative people hiding in brightly colored rooms and thinking up crazy ideas that have with no bearing on the ordinary man in the street. And it’s not just about inspiring interest in the newest trendy hi tech gadget, or touting the latest avant-garde works that, at the best of times, bamboozle those who view and interact with them. OK, so maybe on some level design is ALL of these things, but, ultimately it is and should be so much more. Design matters at the most fundamental level. It is the underlying matrix of life, of our existence on this planet, and how we interact with not only our built environment but our natural one as well.

So, why is making this distinction clear so important to me today? The obvious answer is that I am a designer that wants to make a difference in this world. But, the most honest answer is that I am embarking on a new adventure in this field and I appreciate any opportunity to restate my perspective and to reaffirm my footing in this field, before the world around me changes.  I was born in Ghana, but I’ve spent most of my life in South Africa. It was there that I learned about design, it was there that I worked in advertising, and it was there that I taught my first of many classes to the next generation of designers. But, this week, I have moved back to my motherland with one purpose in mind: to educate and inspire passion in the young, burgeoning creative minds of Ghana! As this new adventure begins, it is my hope that I manage to impart just a tiny bit of all the wonder and possibility, that I experience as a designer, to my future students. Then, I would have done my part.

What is my design intention? What are OUR design intentions collectively and how do we realize them in a more equitable, sustainable, encompassing way? These are my questions; that is my journey, and i hope to share it with you along the way.

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Nii Commey (Nii K) Botchway - Trained at Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University (formally the Port Elizabeth Technikon), in South Africa, Nii is a graphic designer and educator. After serving as an art director in the advertising industry for several years, he shifted his focus towards academia. Nii’s most recent posts were at Vega the Brand Communication School Johannesburg, heading up the 2^nd year B.A. programme, and a part-time lectureship at NEMISA (National Electronic Media Institute of South Africa). As a participant in the ICSID Interdesign Citymove Gellivare Sweden, he worked in an internationl, multidisciplinary team of designers to develop sustainable solutions for relocating a city adversely affected by mining. This was a rewarding experience that significantly influenced his approach to design education. Nii has just relocated to Accra, where he is helping to set up Ghana’s first privately owned design school (The Accra International School of Advertising and Design), and would welcome any advice and insights as he begins this amazing task. Be sure to check out Ab-Strackt, Nii’s online T-Shirt company.

Reach One, Teach One: Mentoring in Design

During Black History Month, the call for community feels stronger than ever. So, it seems an appropriate time to think about community and things we can do to improve our collective growth.  This topic is timeless and must be something we continue to discuss across time, generations, locale, discipline, and cultural background.  So, this post is just the beginning of a deeper, longer discourse.  We welcome D421 friend, and strong advocate for mentoring Gloria Taylor Williams to share her thoughts on the matter.

Mentoring is an ancient art practiced by many civilizations.  Tribal elders have traditionally passed down their wisdom and experience, two or three generations into the future.

Acknowledging the critical role that mentorship plays, comes by way of my own experiences — returning to school to become an Interior Architect, learning as much as I could about design and the business of design, aspiring to the level of Project Manager — each of which fueled my desire to set an example for other women, designers and designers of color. My deep passion for this age-old (but still relevant) practice, comes from the many lives that have touched mine, and I was inspired to follow the example of the elders, making a contribution wherever mentoring takes me.

Through many years of observation and what seemed to be a disconnect across the design industry, an increasing need to become a conduit for preparing the next level of designers has become more and more evident.  Whether working for a firm, industry business or following an entrepreneurial path, designers must be prepared to do what it takes to be successful and learn the intricacies of the business whatever their genre. Mentoring can help open the path for opportunity, while at the same time fosters relationships throughout the industry, but it was clear that we are not taking advantage of this powerful tool. During industry events, presentations, conferences, my question has often been, “Where do we go from here?”  With so many available opportunities for mentorship, establishing Mentoring International — a Project Osmosis initiative devoted to expanding the use of this personal and career development tool across the global community — was a natural response.

Memorable stories about the power of mentoring include pulling off a straight 24-hour turnkey San Francisco facility renovation. Cheerleaders on the sidelines were waging whether or not we could meet the challenge. Thanks to the dedicated team, strong coaching and mentoring, and a good program plan, we were not only successful, but received a Director’s commendation, for efforts over and beyond the call. His mantra became, “Showing how it can be done!”

On the international front, a graduate student from the School of Architecture in West Africa, that I mentored, went on to secure a position with a design firm. In a recent update, he shared “At the moment i’m working on a project that takes me round Nigeria, its been a lot of fun. Discovering different cultures i never new existed right in my own back yard, meeting people…..its great”.[sic]  His name is Ajayi Wale and we remain in touch to this day.

Through mentoring relationships, many continue to touch my life. In the words of an African proverb, we are better people for having dared to “hold on to each other by the Robe.” Mentoring International has been embraced by the global community. “We are the fabric, which culture, talent, and human interest are combined.” It’s about broadening perspective and shaping the future. Those who are willing to step outside the box and make their contribution, will be forever changed.

My questions for you today are:

• Do you personally have a mentor?
• What impact has mentoring had on your career and your life?
• Are you a mentor to someone in the next generation?
• What can we do as the D421 community to raise the awareness about and increase the practice of mentoring?

Please share your thoughts with us in the comments below.

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(Chief) Gloria Taylor Williams

Ms Williams is a Senior Project Manager, specializing in Architecture, Construction, Engineering Management, across multiple industries from Aircraft to Government, Design, Architecture and Engineering firms. Her passion is designing for the 21^st Century; her mission is coaching & mentoring.  As an ambassador for diversity, she consistently builds bridges and forges business relationships through global networking. Gloria’s travels have taken her to Germany, France, Spain, Mexico, the Bahamas, Africa, and across the US. While in Africa, she was bestowed a chieftaincy title, Akabueze Palace, Anambra State, West Africa, during ‘Ofala’, an International Ceremony.  “However far the stream flows; it never forgets its source.” (Yoruba Proverb that Gloria Williams has adopted as her motto.)

Design Master: Chuck Harrison

Continuing with D421’s Black History Month 2010 celebration, today we’re recognizing Charles (Chuck) Harrison and his design contribution to the world.  Chuck who has mentored and taught many designers is well-loved. And you probably know more about him than you think. If you’ve ever played with a View-Master, owned a plastic garbage can, used a sewing machine, there’s a chance that you’ve benefited personally from Chuck’s ingenuity.

Charles Harrison is a designer and educator specializing in industrial design across multiple consumer products areas. The primary portion of his career was spent working for Sears Roebuck & Company, beginning as a freelancer, then as a staff designer and later as the head of the company’s design department. An accomplished designer, Harrison’s work touched almost every area of household products from cribs to tractors and everything in between.

During his career, he executed more than 700 designs, a significant number of which were highly successful in the marketplace. Perhaps most iconic were Harrison’s redesign of the View-Master in 1958 and the first-of-its-kind plastic garbage can designed in 1963.

The View-Master quickly became a worldwide success as a toy and his design sold with only minor color changes for over 40 years. It could be found in almost every U.S. household and throughout the world. Similarly, Harrison’s design of the polypropylene garbage can in 1963 remains resonant today. The cans were developed during a unique period within plastics manufacturing, affording Harrison the opportunity to adapt an old standard into a new execution. His subsequent reworking of the can to a rectangular form with wheels is the foundational design for contemporary refuse containers that line the alleys and streets of urban and suburban America.

Harrison is the 2008 National Design Award recipient for Lifetime Achievement. He also has received awards from the Industrial Designers Society of America (IDSA), Executive Leadership Council and HistoryMakers, among many others, and in 2009, he received an honorary doctorate from the School of the Art Institute. Harrison received significant mention in the Encyclopedia of Chicago and has been profiled in by national news media including The Washington Post, Chicago Tribune, Chicago Sun-Times, Ebony Magazine, WGN-TV, The Crisis Magazine and the Tavis Smiley Radio Show.

Throughout his prolific career, Charles focused on developing relevant, useful products to solve, rather than create problems for consumers. He continues to build his legacy as a speaker on the topics of design inclusion and education and as an educator at Columbia College Chicago and The School of the Art Institute where, leveraging his extensive industry contacts, he helps prepare young designers for entry into the profession.

Chuck’s work is chronicled in his memoir A Life’s Design: The Life and Work of Industrial Designer.

Now, let’s talk . . . In the comments below, tell us:

• What personal experiences you have with Chuck’s products?
• Have you read his book? If so, were you as inspired as we were?
  
• What other design masters would you like to see profiled here this month and in the future?

Reflecting on Black History Month 2010

When February arrives, there’s a special buzz in the air and an excitement in my step.  It’s not just the cold days traipsing through snow, the anticipation of spring around the corner, or the heart-shaped candies, red roses and professions of love floating about.  I get stoked just thinking about the collective history and praiseworthy accomplishments of the descendants of Africa.

First founded in 1926 by Carter G. Woodson as “Negro History Week,” this institution has grown into a month-long observance in the US and Canada (and UK in October), celebrating the accomplishments and sacrifices of our forefathers.

To me, an American child of the 70’s and 80’s, Black History Month was the time that my mother, an inner-city science teacher, encouraged me to look beyond historic American figures like George Washington to discover African-American inventors like George Washington Carver and Jan Matzeliger. She introduced me to creative heroes who looked like me, providing a deep respect and pride for those who came before us.

In recent years, journalists and public figures in the African-American community have questioned the relevancy and validity of Black History Month in today’s times.  Has it “degenerated into a shallow ritual” as actor Morgan Freeman claims?  Is it useful to the community?  Is it fair to other communities to celebrate one specific culture during a given month?  These are the criticisms. While such questions are interesting to ponder, Designers421 is choosing to take a celebratory stance this month.

To us, Black History Month is necessary and very much relevant! The generations since Carver and Matzeliger have continued to make deep and lasting impacts on the world through design and innovation.  And, until we all know the accomplishments of modern designers like Chuck Harrison and Noel Mayo, there is still much work to be done to capture, share and celebrate the stories of this era.

Is it fair to other cultural communities for us to focus on the history of the African diaspora this month? Of course! Why not?  But, as a globally-connected community of creatives, the D421 family must also participate in the celebration of Latino, continental African and Asian heritage as well as other multicultural design communities.

In 2010, we will!  As the months progress, join us in sharing and connecting, as we work with designers and design organizations from a variety of cultural backgrounds to start documenting our collective creative contribution!

And, for the rest of this month, stay tuned for some great designer profiles and interesting blog posts. As African-American designers (and those with different cultural backgrounds joining in the celebration), please jump in on the thought-provoking dialogue about our collective contribution to the design field.

So, to get things started . . . . Tell us (in the comments section below) . . . . . What does Black History Month mean to you? And, what are you doing to celebrate the creative contribution?  How can we celebrate with you?

Happy Black History Month 2010!
Joi L. Roberts