About this episode
In its origins as part of the early AIGA Diversity & Inclusion task force’s goals, the intent of the Design Census is to cast the widest net possible to capture AIGA’s community and the global design audience and start gathering hard facts about how diverse the organization really is.
This episode addressed the opportunities to make the design profession more inclusive and AIGA membership more diverse the challenges of communicating around these sensitive issues and the fundamental hope of inviting new voices practices and perspectives into the design field.
About the panel
Moderator Laetitia Wolff AIGA director of strategic initiatives was joined by:
- Antionette Carroll president of AIGA St. Louis founder of the AIGA Diversity & Inclusion task force and CEO of Creative Reaction Lab
- Jonathan Lee creative director at Google Design and president of AIGA New York
- Jacinda Walker current chair of the AIGA Diversity & Inclusion task force and designer/design researcher
Highlights
- “Who is defining the standards of excellence and what’s good design in a context of privileges?” asked Antionette Carroll; she also provided the origins of how the D&I task force generated the need for a survey in the first place.
- “Interpret the data draw your own conclusions show what it indicates for you ” encouraged Jonathan Lee. Hinting at phase two of the Design Census which is now open and in which anyone can upload a visualization to the gallery section of the website Lee hopes the results becomes a tool to activate creative communities.
- “I can’t wait to see the results—how do we serve our design community when we don’t know who it is composed of?” said Jacinda Walker who discussed the various outreach strategies that the Diversity & Inclusion task force has put in place to engage chapters. Accessible to all the census opens up the conversation and presents a strategic opportunity to reach a wider audience.
About the series
Mixing information inspiration and practical instruction the Diversity & Inclusion webcast series will offer opportunities for dialog leadership development and training. It will feature select guest speakers—AIGA members task force members and beyond—who are active practitioners in the fields of diversity and inclusion ability social impact design racial justice and more.
This webcast series is supported in part by an award from the National Endowment for the Arts.
