On 27 June, a virtual conference called Where are the Black Designers" will tackle racism in design. Dezeen spoke to the organisers about its objectives and the "overwhelming" response from the industry.
"The expectation was that maybe a couple of hundred people would attend," said co-organiser Garrett Albury, who is a New York-based interaction designer.
Instead, since the Where are the Black Designers" (WATBD) conference was announced less than a month ago, close to 10,000 people have signed up to attend online. "We've just had such an overwhelming response," said Mitzi Okou, who is running the event together with Albury.
Conference will "tackle the diversity issue"
Okou, a visual and interaction designer based in San Diego, announced the conference in an Instagram post on 5 June, saying it would contain lectures and workshops exploring "how we can come together and use our skills to creatively resolve issues within this racist system as well as tackle the diversity issue within the creative and tech field". "We're still getting emails from design studios, companies and agencies saying that they want to help even just a few days before the conference," she told Dezeen.
Graphic is by Ian Moore.
Over a series of live-streamed panel talks, lectures and workshops on 27 June between 9:00am to 2:00pm Pacific Time, the conference will tackle the underrepresentation of black talent across both the design ind...