Are You “Cool”?
When Articulate Isn’t Enough
There is inherit privilege that comes with being a Creative. Stereotypes of waking up late with a genius idea are fed by media images of constant drawing or writing or building. Your work ends up on billboards and boutique shelves and other people’s Soundcloud and corporation internal decks. You can be aloof and whimsical and quirky and emotional and witty.
There is inherit privilege with being a black creative.
You’re “cool”.

However, what most people don’t see of creatives from the outside is the long hours learning a craft to be often underpaid and treated as a commodity because we are aloof and whimsical and quirky and emotional and witty. Why pay someone to create a logo when you already have PowerPoint? And if you do pay a professional you should expect to see 1000 versions until you “like” it, right?
If you are a creative, you’ve dealt with these slights for as long as you can remember wanting something in return for your creativity. When you did it for free, everything was good. You got a rush when someone liked you in a play or smiled at your drawing in the 4th grade. Then they told you to follow your passion and do what makes you happy.
It’s a different story when there’s an invoice attached.
But you learn to fight when necessary and let it go the other 90% of the time because it would take up 50% of your day. And fighting feeds into most of the negative stereotypes. So you simply “like” the memes associated with being a creative — “Make it cool, fast, young and fun like the Nike Swoosh? No problem.”
Now add being the black guy to the conversation.
“Cool” is okay for soda ads and basketball shoes, but coffee shops and pharmaceuticals don’t need “cool”.

Twenty years ago I was an engineer from Georgia Tech in Atlanta. In Beaverton I was “cool”. And “cool” landed me in the basketball footwear department where my ability to design was awkwardly connected with my being “cool”. The combination caused unnecessary tensions as I and those around me learned to juggle the two in a world where I was the THIRD “cool” guy in footwear design.
When pulled I finally pulled the parachute on that opportunity I was saved by those creatives that saw beyond the “cool” and simply wanted me to be a creative. I found myself in Japan where “cool” and creative we’re compatible. I grew as a footwear designer. I grew as a creative.

Today I’m optimistic about the opportunities that creatives that don’t neatly fit a stereotype can create for themselves thanks to social media, ecommerce and wonderful startups that see diversity as a plus. Yet every now and again I’m reminded by large corporations or conservative VC’s that “cool” and quirky should leave the heavy lifting to the professionals.
For all of the MAGA attention that Ye brought on himself, I have to admit that in 3 years with Yeezy, I was never the “cool” guy in the room. No one was. The only assumption you had about anyone in the room was that they were good at their job and they worked really hard.
The intersection of being black and creative is becoming less awkward. As more people of color shine in different media, genres and disciplines, the money is beginning to follow. And so the concept of intersection — born from the incredible conversation directed by black women — has become important in every project we work on. Diversity of thought on your team’s decision is crucial. Team growth rests on the inclusiveness of the growth of every individual on your team. And growth comes from practice. From exposure. From caring.
Just keep in mind that not everybody is ready for this conversation.
I have a mentor that would give me a not-so-subtle warning before going into a meeting where preconceived notions would be the norm. She would knowingly smile and say, “Be careful. Nothing but Richards in that room.”
From that moment I tried not to be a Richard and I tried to make sure every meeting I had in design included more than potential Richards — because even I was a potential Richard.
But in the right room I was a “cool” Richard.
-Good things.

