Tell us about yourself:
I’m an independent art director + brand designer. I love using design to tell stories and build brands that matter. I’ve been doing that for the past 15 years.
What is the inspiration behind your poster design?
Myself. It took me a while to learn that Black is Beautiful. I remember as a teenager using creams to lighten my skin or holding a clothespin to my nose in order to make it smaller. Society told me that I was ugly. I had to unlearn that. So this design is a self-portrait if you will, affirming my beauty. My blackness is beautiful.
How can we create a more inclusive design world and ensure that Black people are represented?
Anytime people talk about inclusion, I think back on what Vanessa Newman said at a WATBD conference a couple years back. I’m paraphrasing, but they said “Inclusion is including people into your white space. Whiteness is still at the center. We need to decenter whiteness. To say we need to invite more Black people to the table is still so problematic because it implies white ownership of the table.”
