Welcome to Industrial Design
Who was the target audience? (make a guess)
The target audience for A Brief History of Industrial and Interaction Design is designers or people interested in design that usually come from backgrounds that are somewhat familiar with terms and history of Western design. In the King & Chang chapter, brand name designers are discussed and the general tone of the article is geared towards people that have some kind of interest in the field. The language is business casual and although it explains terms that are very specific to the field, the fact is that it is somewhat of an introduction into Industrial and Interaction Design.
The target audience for Black People Made America is Black Americans and those interested in learning the truth behind aspects of design history. What is important to note is that the text provides examples of inventors and designers that have been intentionally erased from history because of what? white supremacy. The work that the Black People Made America text does is dig into the past and go into the trenches of history and does so to illuminate the advances that Black people have made in the field of design and innovation.
Are there assumptions about the target audience the text reveals? (have a hypothesis)
The King & Chang chapter utilizes some language that is very much geared towards either tech people or people who already have an interest or curiosity in design. The examples used in the chapter are basically all from western european societies and do not go into the innovations and designs of societies of color. Something the article could have done is actually try to look for examples from non-white societies besides the brief mention of the Chinese crossbows example such as the connection between architecture and tools from Mesoamerican societies to the utilization of natural resources from African societies. All this is to say that the target audience of the King & Chang article is primarily affluent white and white-adjacent people.
The Black People Made America text centers Black experiences and is writing for Black Americans who are barely getting started into the design and innovation field. The text’s framework is not that of a design publication recruiting Black people to become diversity tokens in the field, no, it’s a Black publication that is seeking to inform their own people about their ingenuity and get them curious and started in the field.
What values are embodied in the texts?
The King & Chang chapter is about information and the value of information being communicated through physical and digital means. The general sense of the chapter is to value “innovation”, which is a loaded word in terms of who benefits from said innovation practices, who is harmed, how this affects the earth and those in close relation with the land whose resources are being extracted for the innovation of the invader. The way that the King & Chang text frames matters is, at least to me, “innovation” as a linear progression with each iteration of the iPhone, and falls into the trap of tech culture where being the first to get the “Next Big Thing” instead of the holistic and comprehensive “Right Thing” is the goal.
The Black People Made America text values honesty, history, and resilience because of the way that it delves into the examples of Black inventors and designers. Being honest about the origins of the inventions and the systematic barriers the inventors faced was refreshing because a lot of the narratives regarding design and innovation are oftentimes by and for hegemonic benefit. What is important for me to see in this article is the way that it uses relatable and practical examples of inventions that are in our lives to drive the points home about the necessity of recognizing Black designers and inventors and how much they affect us.
How does the “voice” differ between the two?
The King & Chang text sounds more like an article intended for affluent white and white-adjacent people that are in salaried professional careers that are somewhat exposed to the resources that would lead you to well done western design. The Black People Made America article has a voice that draws the non-designer reader into the field of design because its aim is to expose the audience to Black innovators from an accessible historical perspective, not from a technical design perspective. What the two do well is speak to their audience but I feel that the King & Chang piece falls into the generic design history category whereas the Black People Made America article engages more with the reader as far as the structure and way it asks questions and evokes responses.
