Celebrating the #PowerofBlackDesigners and How They’re Shaping the Industry
Black designers celebrate big wins while also navigating cultures that haven’t caught up to embracing their experiences or design potential. Knowing this, Senior Design Lead Terrence Williams decided to amplify many of these perspectives in the recent #PowerofBlackDesigners social campaign.
Terrence created the campaign to showcase and highlight the success of Black designers. The idea resonated so much that it spurred the largest monthly follower increase to date on social media. “There are folks here who are enjoying their work and we can celebrate that and also acknowledge the challenges they may face doing that work,” says Terrence. “I wanted to hear what it’s like for Black designers across teams and disciplines and in all of Salesforce’s major hubs.”
To surface these discussions, he reached out to a dozen passionate designers spanning roles — from UX/UI design to experience design, learning design, and presentation design to brand design.
While the type of design work varied, each person was eager to uplift one another and raise awareness of what it’s like in their worlds. In his conversations, a few similar ideas surfaced including the importance of Black perspectives; visibility and representation; and empathy in our shared humanity. Together, they shape a powerful vision for the future of the industry.
The Importance of Black Perspectives
Many people we heard from shared that the way we design the world should resonate with everyone in it. Yet many have been left out of that story.
“Whether we know it or not, design permeates every aspect of our lives. Knowing this, it’s vital that designers also reflect the diversity of the people that we design for,” shares Kendrick Perkins, a Learning Experience Designer based on the East coast. This ability and familiarity to design for diverse groups is something Kaylyn Harris knows well. She calls it a “superpower” in her role as a Learning Designer for Partner Enablement and highlights that now more than ever Black perspectives are necessary and valued.
The industry can make Black experiences more ingrained in design culture.
One way to do this is by listening to all the voices in it and “harnessing the power of empathy and compassion” that moves us forward — something Jerrica Profit does in her inspiring work as a Senior Productivity Specialist. Empathy can be a powerful bridge. It’s one way to better understand the long-standing disconnect between the Black experience and design — both in practice and in the profession.
On the same subject but in a different field of design, Asterisk Loftis also comments on this disconnect. “Understand your presence as a Black designer. It will significantly affect how people perceive you and your work. It’s important for us to tell our stories authentically,” says the Product Design Leader & UI Developer at Fonteva, a Salesforce Customer.
Giving voice to team members in roles where they’ve been marginalized is a critical step — especially in design where only 3% identified as Black in the latest AIGA design census. It is also necessary to be represented, which came up many times in our interviews.
What Visibility + Representation Mean
There is power in numbers. It’s an opportunity to break down walls through lived experience and claim all spaces for all people. Spencer K. Edwards works in Digital UX for Salesforce Marketing and acknowledges both this obstacle and the role he likes to play in it: “The design world isn’t well balanced when it comes to Black representation. The little light that I can shine goes a long way.”
In design, there’s an even more inherent opportunity to advocate for inclusion and progression. Shirleen Lavalais points out that design allows us to question, learn, connect and challenge.
“Women who look like me should be seen in design. Black people should be everywhere, design included,” she shares as the Associate Creative Design Director of Brand Design and Brand Values. This is an issue that impacts designers all over the nation, from her west coast location to NYC where Senior Instructional Designer Emelia Dowie resides. She reinforces what’s possible when teams have much more than one Black member — something she’s encountered. “It’s necessary to foster inclusivity, drive innovation, and counter inequities within the design community,” says Emelia.
To address this at scale, an equality group at Salesforce exists to expand and empower its black community.
BOLDforce stands for Black Organization for Leadership and Development and is led by Lola Banjo, a Strategic Innovation Executive at Ignite. She affirms that Black design voices have always mattered and the future can be emboldened. “Now, more than ever, Black designers must be visible, elevated and celebrated. We see the harm that not being inclusive can cause — now imagine the magic we create when our voices are represented.”
Being seen matters. And it doesn’t stop there. Culture and conversation can adapt to be more inclusive to the full human story, too.
Creating Empathy for Our Shared Humanity
A common theme in these conversations was that a bigger story needs to be told. It’s about what it means to be human. If that story isn’t inclusive, it’s not yet written. Being regarded as a human is an infrequent experience for many Black women, explains Camellia Parham. As an Instructional Designer for CSG Enablement, she appreciates that the product’s learners and users hold her work in high regard but also acknowledges that’s because of the anonymity of being behind the screen.
This brings up the sense of acknowledgment and purpose that all humans seek. Marketing Cloud Senior Product Designer Jasmine Weathers says she designs to contribute to something bigger than herself. Similarly, Marketing Operations Enablement Senior Analyst Jalissa Hills believes design knowledge can build and strengthen other skills.
“We’re really needing to own our stories more,” summarizes Terrence.
Rather than normalizing the Euro-centric narratives taught in design school and extended into the design workforce, Terrence sought out other perspectives. He also shares his experience on Medium of what it’s like to be “Designing My Blackness.” The trailblazing voices he spoke to are only some of the creative Black designers in the industry today. And this is only one way to think about the bigger culture shift that’s required to a truly inclusive industry. After all, design is about transformation. Salesforce Senior Product Designer Denise Francis says it best when she quotes a famed Italian designer who said design can help cure the ugliness and visual disease that surrounds us.
All teams can reinforce the importance of Black perspectives, enhance visibility and representation; and communicate empathy for our shared humanity. To learn more about designing with an inclusive mindset, skill up in the Relationship Design module on Trailhead.
Thanks to the team who brought this Twitter series to the Medium audience. Special acknowledgment to Asterisk Loftis, Jerrica Profit, Kaylyn Harris, Kendrick Perkins, Shirleen Lavalais, Spencer K. Edwards, Emelia Dowie, Lola Banjo, Camellia Parham, Jasmine Weathers, Denise Francis, and Jalissa Hills. And to our editorial team Kate Hughes and Noelle Moreno.
