Does it feel like the 94th month of 2020? It’s just February.

Black History Month.

Here is a quick primer on old school designers you’ve never heard of because they’re not Stefan Sagmeister or John Maeda or David Carson. Check out Laci Jordan. Adé Hogue. Andrea Pippins. Aurélia Durand. You’ll be psyched.

We tend to gloss over the myriad of contributions by Black people in America because it’s hard for us (white people) to deal with our feelings about slavery and how we uphold white supremacy today, simply by not fighting the system that rewards white people for being white and punishes Black people for being Black. But let’s not avoid that uncomfortable feeling. Let’s sit in it. Let’s confront it and move forward together by lifting each other up.

How can we, as white people, lift up Black people in our industry?

• Hire them. Duh.

• Make sure our supply chains include Black people and Black-owned businesses; printers, coders, textile producers, photographers, writers, whoever it is you need, see how (and who) you’re hiring. Then do better.

• Credit Black creatives when you use their work. This goes for everyone, always, but for the love of all things sacred, we can not erase contributions by people who are different than us.

• Representation matters. It does. With young Black students being kicked out of school (there are so many examples, use the internet) and it being legal to refuse someone employment because of locks, it’s important we show our audiences the “all of us.” So when we design, we must include as much of humanity as makes sense in that piece. Not just the guy you think of when you hear #okboomer (his name is Glenn, isn’t it?). If the All Lives Matter crowd truly believed all lives mattered, they’d cater more ads and products to ALL LIVES. Newsflash: they don’t.

• If it feels pandery (not a real word), it probably is. Curious 7 is a woman-owned, queer-owned business. We understand pander. It’s gross. We shouldn’t do this.

Curious 7 is a small operation. But we will make the promise to check into our supply chains and hire diverse contractors when we use them. It matters. This country would be nowhere without the contributions of Black artists (and Black people in every industry). #blacklivesmatter

Happy February. Let’s celebrate how much our Black siblings kick ass. Then let’s do better for them.

Cheers,
Erin

(thumb image is from an email campaign designed by Curious 7 for client Wunderman Thompson Data)