D&AD's deputy president Ben Terrett has turned down the opportunity to ascend to the UK design body's presidency, quoting concerns over the "indisputable" lack of diversity in positions of authority across the industry.
"I look around at the world and I see too many people who look like me, middle-aged white men, in positions like this," he wrote in a blog post. "So I've decided to stand aside and make space for others."
The D&AD, which is responsible for handing out the annual Black Pencil award for excellence in design and advertising, has had only one non-white and five female presidents since its inception in 1962.
Ben Terrett is the founder of Public Digital and former deputy president of D&AD On the whole, a 2018 Design Council report found that people of black, Asian and minority ethnic backgrounds (BAME) make up only 13 per cent of design industry employees and 12 per cent of managers in the UK.
That same year, research by the Design Museum found that only one in five British designers is female.
"Everyone in a position of influence needs to ask themselves what they can do right now. And that's why I've taken the decision that I have," Terrett told Dezeen.
"I'm trying to help in a small way by creating a visible example that people can point at and say: why don't we do what they did""
Replacing him as D&AD's new president will be Naresh Ramchandani, a Pentagram partner and founder of creative ag...