White designers still make up more than 70 per cent of the industry, according to the Design Census. How could an industry so rooted in creativity and empathy be one that's so inexcusably homogeneous?

This month, we meet up-and-coming designer Mitzi Okou, Founder of 'Where are the Black Designers?'. Okou candidly shares her experiences as a young designer pushing for systemic change, moving the Black design narrative away from tragedy, and why prioritising diversity in design is the biggest opportunity we have — not just in terms of changing lives but also in being good for business.

"When you see one Black person getting hired at a company, it will be like, 'Oh, shit, that's the one Black person that they need'," says Okou. "They're definitely not going to hire another one... So I have no chance, right?' The experiences and the reactions [of the Black community], I would say, are universal, but the stories are extremely unique, which is why I think we try to encourage bringing in people's backgrounds into their work."

'Where are the black designers?' is a platform that supports, empowers and amplifies Black designers throughout their careers and invites in allies who want to contribute to the movement constructively. Its first conference last year brought together more than 10,000 people to celebrate Black voices in design and address the shocking statistic that only three percent of the industry comprises black designers.

While Okou acknowledges last year's public rise of the Black Lives Matter movement led to some industry progress, action is slow. She highlights how companies are now showing signs of improvement but points out their targets are still way too modest.

"Hire Black talent because you really like it and you think it's powerful, not out of a diversity check."

"From what I've seen before last year, we would go into this horrible, natural cycle, which I kind of referred to as like the 'cycle of death' where the death of an innocent Black individual would be 'meme-afied', exposed all over the internet and used as trauma porn," she explains. "And it would circulate, even though it happens every year."

"We're still in that cycle. But people are actively working to keep the narrative going [...] I think the fact that companies are starting to kind of hold themselves accountable by putting out their demographics is great. But, we still have such a long way to go [and] I'm very impatient in the sense that when companies say, 'We're still working at trying to get our diversity up, and by 2025, we want to have at least eight percent of our working population be made up by Black people'. That's still such a low number." 

"If you want to hire Black talent, hire Black talent because you really like it and you think it's powerful, not out of a diversity check [...] We're more than just struggle and death."

The Podcast Series
'Can design save us?' is a series exploring design as a pioneering force for good. We dive into the most pressing problems of our time and meet inspiring people using design to solve them. We explore the good, bad, complex and controversial. Listen on iTunes, Spotify, Google Podcasts and Podimo.

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