The world’s top designers have gathered in New York for the annual Design Boom, which has been dubbed the most powerful event of the year.
The event, which sees more than 1,200 designers descend on the US capital, aims to encourage and nurture creativity and innovation.
But while it is an annual gathering of creatives from all corners of the globe, some in the industry say the annual conference has become increasingly dominated by men, who have dominated the design industry for years.
“It’s the only conference where we have this male dominated, and it’s so problematic because that is the industry where we are doing so much of our work,” said Paul Rand, an international creative director at WPP.
“The only thing that’s different is that the people who are really leading the industry are women.”
Paul Rand, creative director of WPP, says the world of visual design has become more dominated by male creatives.
“I think we have a lot more male creative directors, more male directors of agency, and I think that’s an interesting dynamic because it means that there is less of a diversity in the creative industry, that there’s less women doing creative things,” he told Al Jazeera.
He added that the designers at the event often did not have enough female staff to fill out their portfolios.
“That’s really important to say because that means that you’re not going to be able to say that you have a portfolio or you have female staff.
You’re just going to have a man in charge of it.”
And that’s where the imbalance comes in, as the lack of diversity is felt across a range of industries, including graphic design.
“Women are underrepresented in every industry, they are under-represented in creative leadership roles, and we’re under-represented in the design world,” said Rand.
“We’ve got to fix that.
We’re not a good representation of what we can be.”
While women make up just over a quarter of the global population, they make up only 18 percent of all designers, according to research from the UK-based Design Fund.
“When you look at the number of women in creative roles, that means we have two thirds of the world’s population of women and one third of the worlds population of people of colour,” said Emma Roberts, an executive at Design Fund and a designer herself.
“If we want to be a global creative community we need to have more people of color and women in that leadership role.”
So we’ve got a lot to learn from the designers and from the women in the world.
And we’re doing a lot better than we should.
“Women make up over half of the creative workforce and the percentage of women working in design, according the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.
While this is good news for the industry, it’s also important for women who feel that they are not seen as valuable and valued in the workplace.”
Design is about building relationships, and that’s a really hard thing to do,” said Roberts.”
And if you don’t do it well, you are going to do it badly.”‘
“I love what you’re doing. “
Why are you so passionate about your work?” they ask.
“I love what you’re doing.
Why can’t I do it?”
This is where the power dynamic comes in.
“You’re the first person to get your foot in the door and say, ‘I’ve been thinking about this and I’m going to start designing’,” said Roberts, who has worked at companies such as WPP and Jumeau, a fashion label.
“There’s a lot that goes into creating a design.
There’s a whole process of doing the research, the development of ideas, the design process, it can all come down to that, and you’ve got this sense of community that goes with it.”
Then you get to know this person and you can feel that this person cares about the world and wants to make things better.
“But it is not just about the personal experiences, but also about how the two can work together.”
In the world that we live in, we have to take care of our business and the way we do business,” said Jessica Smith, a designer at Lace and Thread, a design studio based in New Jersey.”
But the problem is, we’re all different.
We can be the first woman in the room.
And I think we need each other.
And then we can all do our work.
“Jessica Smith, Lace & Thread’s creative director, says women can do their work well when they are given the right support.
The Women in Design Conference is a forum for designers to share their experiences and learn from each other, but not everyone has the luxury of meeting each other face-to-face.”
My favourite way