Yesterday Was a Good Day To Speak Out Against Racism. Today and Tomorrow are Too.

What’s design got to do with it?

What’s Design Got to Do With It?

Monday was International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, March 21st — its theme for 2022: “Voices for action against racism.” If only it meant the UN and UNESCO actually invested into taking action and used their voices to speak out against racism.

Creating new “initiatives” — aka, marketing — is one method (arguably the primary one) philanthropy or social enterprises use to facilitate systems change. Through social media campaigns, research, publishing, and posts, these initiatives are rolled to educate and inspire action, with an end goal to change policy and practice.

What does it say when an organization is reusing and repurposing content from the last few years?

Despite a small “headline” change, the UN made no other new content. Newer research from this past year was not highlighted. No visual updates were made to the 2021 campaign, which wasn’t even that strong to begin with. Directing us to evergreen design (meaning a seasonless design that can be used on repeat, any time of year) is telling. It does not say, we spent money and time on fighting racism, because it matters.