The hard truth of looking back and realizing you are part of the problem.
Diversity in the creative industry will only happen when we change how we hire and who we hire.
In 20 + years of hiring creative talent for the design industry, I always felt unquestionable certainty that my process was fair, unbiased, and, most of all, welcoming. After all, I ran an eclectic, passionate design studio and was actively involved in social and political work. That certainty disappeared once I looked back and reviewed the full roster of past employees.
On the surface, it was easy to feel complacent. For example, more than 50% of the people hired had been women. On top, more than 1/4 needed work visas and came from abroad. We employed married people, single, with and without kids, straight, gay, and neurodivergent. We run a creative agency, and the understanding is that our most creative people are, by definition, unique and diverse.
But on closer inspection, there were two BIG and noticeably missing groups. The first one is anyone who doesn’t have a degree from a top tier university. Looking back, only one hired person didn’t have a college education, and that person had to start from the “mail room.” The second is more difficult to admit. Even though we had what always felt like a racially diverse team, we lacked one specific group: black designers. This issue is so prevalent in our industry (according to the 2019 AIGA Design Census, 3% of designers are Black) that there are organizations like “Where are all the black designers?” https://www.watbd.org/ who have been working on the need for urgency and attention around the lack of representation in the design industry for more than a decade. The latest effort in the sector is DXD Diversity By design https://www.dxd.design/
Our internal bias, culture, and broader systemic issue in the industry drove our lack of diversity. It is evident that our efforts didn’t even bring us to meet the industry average; 0% is still less than 3%. What was most shocking in retrospect is that I don’t recall ever receiving a resume for a job opening from a black designer. Was our job posting, our described hiring process, our website, and our portfolio so unwelcoming, so clearly biased to immediately repel any available black designers looking for employment at that very moment? It probably was otherwise; how can you explain a zero application rate?
Now that I am confronted with how my bias affected my hiring, I must take a step back and reflect on what I should have done differently and what others can learn from my mistakes. Even though it is natural for people to have biases, it’s essential to try to overcome them to make fair and unbiased hiring decisions. One way to do this is to establish objective criteria for evaluating candidates and to stick to those criteria throughout the hiring process, something that can easily sleep up as soon as you find yourself more comfortable with one candidate over another. This can help to minimize the impact of personal biases on your decision-making. Additionally, seeking input from others can help create a more balanced perspective, but chances are they share your same biases or may even have additional ones. So how do you ensure that you welcome all applicants and everyone deserves a chance? The first step, understand that you are the biggest enemy of your good intentions. After that, look at and implement best practices and processes. But most importantly, keep a detailed record of everyone who applied, everyone who was interviewed, everyone who made the shortlists, and who was ultimately hired and why. You can improve the future by regularly looking at what you have done in the past and making the necessary adjustments not to repeat the same mistakes.
Diversity is not a fixed point in time and space but rather a constant effort to bring into the fold everyone who, for one reason or another, has previously been kept out. Checking on your hidden biases and making them self-evident is the first step.
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Manuel Toscano was a founding partner of the New York-based design consultancy Zago; the studio worked for more than 20 years building corporate identities and brands for corporate and not-for-profit organizations. His career started by studying photography at the Corcoran College of Art in Washington, and later, he received his master’s at the School of Visual Arts (SVA) in New York. Manuel served on the communications advisory board at Human Rights Watch, on the board of the Photo Agency VII, and as National Director of Social Engagement for Design for Good at the AIGA. He is currently a funding member of TurnoffBias.com and Future’s People.
