Why Designers421?

MOTIVATION
In August 2008, thirteen designers from a variety of disciplines and backgrounds met to discuss
their individual and collective experiences as practitioners and educators in the creative design
field. Several important themes emerged throughout the summit discussions:
• staying connected to one another
• influencing the growth and development of the next generation of designers
• sharing success stories within communities-of-color
• facilitating diversity across the design industry

It became clear that an entity — a network of sorts — was needed to help facilitate these ongoing
conversations and inspire collaboration around key initiatives. Out of the passion, commitment
and vision of the original summit attendees grew Designers for the 21st Century (D421), a new
professional network focused on the multicultural multidisciplinary design community.

MANIFESTO
Leveraging a hub-like approach, D421 will engage, connect and rally the global community of
multidisciplinary designers-of-color around matters pertinent to their professional and personal
lives.

• D421 Identifying existing programs/activities

• D421 Connecting

• D421 Networking

• D421 Inspiring Growth

Through social networking, story-sharing, example-making, mentoring and advocacy around
critical community issues, D421 will facilitate organic interaction among its local, national and
international members.

. . .not by reinventing, but by connecting professionals, students, and community

D421’s intent is not to re-invent the work of existing professional design
organizations, but to identify opportunities for collaboration and provide
a platform for dialogue and synergistic action.

D421 is not exclusive, and thus seeks to embrace and celebrate all
who share its mission and values.

D421 will share and celebrate the success stories and accomplishments of minority designers.

D421 will help educate students, families and teachers in underrepresented communities about
career opportunities in design.

D421 will help sensitize the greater design industry to the importance of diversity in the creative
design field.

D421 will not have physical chapters, but the members will be encouraged to join existing local
design organizations and/or arrange their own informal “meet-up” sessions.

MANTRA
d421 = creativity + culture + community

Click here to download a PDF copy of this statement.

African American Car Designers Add New Flair

Earl Lucas is one of a handful of black car designers in the industry, but his role in the design of Ford Motor Co.’s 2010 Taurus illustrates that something major is happening.

Call it change sans the blue donkey or red elephant.

Actually, strike that. Call it change on wheels.

No, better yet, call it style noir on wheels.

Black car designers are being tapped to handle critical auto products, and in the famous words of Martha Stewart, that’s a good thing. Lucas designed the exterior body of the reborn Taurus. Judging from accolades received at the 2009 North American International Auto Show, the vehicle is off to a promising start.

“When you look at the Taurus, it’s gorgeous,” one analyst said. “It’s the complete package.”

The marquee was once the best-selling car, eventually nixed, then brought back from the dead after Ford decided killing it in the first place was probably not such a hot idea. Ford hopes the Taurus, an American staple, and Ford Fusion cars will help lift sales.

“It’s one thing to do a good-looking car,” Lucas said. “It’s another to do a car that’s iconic.”

No. Arguments. Here.

I asked Lucas to explain why auto makers appear to be putting more black designers at the forefront of major design projects. It’s about talent and hardwork, he said.

And of course, there’s that other factor. “African Americans really have a sense of style,” he said, pointing to a shiny red Taurus rotating on display at the auto show.

Among those in this exclusive club are Ed Wellburn, General Motors Corp.’s vice president of global design; Crystal Windham, responsible for the interior design of the acclaimed Chevrolet Malibu mid-size sedan and director of North American passenger car design for GM; Michael Burton, GM director of exterior design for front-wheel-drive trucks and luxury crossovers, which are sport utility-esque vehicles that ride like cars.

Burton was lead interior designer for the Buick Enclave and GMC Acadia. Ralph Gilles, Chrysler L.L.C.’s chief designer, gained notoriety for designing the bejeweled Chrysler 300C large sedan, a hit that was nicknamed the “Hip Hop Car” and caused automakers to ornate vehicles with chrome accent galore.

And so the story goes, blacks continue to redefine the arts, including car and truck sketches.
Designers, like other artsy folks, tend to pour their experiences into their work. The black factor, being an experience within itself, is no different.

“We’re an embellished people,” Burton said.

The auto industry is certainly paying greater attention. And quite frankly, on the backdrop of a global and, ahem, diverse economy, it can’t afford not to tap into all its resources. It’s about finding out what sticks.

And Ford is attempting to do that for a vehicle crucial to its comeback.

Who is Tribal Boy?

A colorful personal look at a graphic designer named “Tribal Boy”.

Boozhoo (Hello)
My name is Aabita Giizhig (Indian name-Half of a Sky) also known as Michael Bridgeforth. I’m an Anishinabe from the Lac du Flambeau Indian reservation in northern Wisconsin. Currently, I reside in Stevens Point, Wisconsin with my wife, Haley and daughter, Emma.

My love for art and design came at an early age when I won my first coloring contest at 7 years old. In high school I took every art class I could which continued to college (Gateway Tech) where I learned how to apply my creativity to not only paper but the digital medium.

With my degree in Graphic Technology, I headed back home to Lac du Flambeau where I worked as the Editor-Designer for a monthly newspaper called the “Youth News”.

http://www.tribalboy.com/Services/services-rates.html

French Vogue “blacked up” model backlash

French Vogue has found itself in hot water after publishing a 14-page spread featuring a white supermodel in blackface. The model, Lara Stone, is featured on all 14 pages in blackface, which is historically known as a form of racism. It began in the United States in 1830 and would be an acceptable form of entertainment for white people for the next 100 years. It also became popular in other countries in Europe.

According to an article in the New York Daily News, the reason French Vogue did the spread was to celebrate the fact that Stone did not fit the typical, frail image that supermodels possess. However, Stone is a size 4, much smaller than the average women in the United States.

A similar incident occurred last week on a variety show in Australia when a group performed a song by Jackson Five in blackface.
Harry Connick Jr., a judge for the show, spoke out against the performance and gave the group a score of zero for the act.
The show later apologized. The popular sitcom, “Mad Men”, also used blackface in one of their recent episodes.
The show, which is set in the 1960s, featured on e of the actors of the sitcom entertaining guests in blackface.

Many people have taken to the Web to discuss the latest controversy. Some news sources, such as ABC News, have opened up a blog about it while others have published opinion articles on French Vogue’s use of blackface.

Needed – An Inclusive History of Chicago Graphic Design

The history of graphic design in Chicago has been dominated until now by the work of middle-class white men and a few middle-class white women. Read the attached white paper on this subject written by Victor Margolin, Professor Emeritus of Design History at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC). Read this…

You may also want to read his paper entitled African-American Designers in Chicago: Some Preliminary Findings.

Is Black Barbie Getting a Lukewarm Response?

This is certainly not the kind of attention she’s used to getting.

Barbie, with her legs for miles, perfect (yet perfectly impossible) measurements and glittering, shimmering presence doesn’t seem to be wowing her critics with her latest incarnation: black Barbie.

The three new Mattel Barbies — Grace, Kara and Trichelle — were conceived with features more in keeping with African American females (fuller lips, curlier hair) to give young girls Barbies they could more readily identify with. The misstep, some detractors say, is that the new Barbies aren’t black enough. The hair is largely straight and long, and not styled in afros or braids, but isn’t that just par for the modern day course? White kids have dreadlocks and African American girls bleach their hair. (Where’s that Barbie, actually?) And, ultimately, black Barbie’s creator, Stacy McBride-Irby, who is black, would have faced a multitude of opinions no matter how her plasticized girls looked.

Let’s face it: there’s nobody — black, white or in between, that could really ever identify with Barbie, and that, we think, is a good thing. After all, she’s plastic.