Your brand matters, and Lucidpress offers the consistency your brand needs to deliver its message effectively wherever it goes. In 1944, he became the curator for both the Museum of Negro Art & Culture and the George Washington Carver Museum, where he served until his retirement in 1951. Born and raised in New York, Anderson’s ever burning curiosity about design began with the teen mags of her adolescent years and was cemented while studying at the School of Visual Arts in NY. He was 17 years old. The 13th African American Designer’s name is a mystery because they are one of many, often invisible but the impact of their work is felt throughout history and should be acknowledged, such as; those who worked behind the scene as designers but did not receive credit due to the racist norms of the times; the logo creators for the uniforms of the Negro baseball and basketball leagues; the unknown graphic designer who painted the bold and sobering “A MAN WAS LYNCHED YESTERDAY” flag, hung by the NAACP from their New York offices whenever they learned of a hanging; and all of those presently active (Black Lives Matter) in creating banners, posters, signs, and media protesting discrimination of all kinds. Thanks for appreciating the article. Required fields are marked *. Her work with Citibank set an early precedent for human-centered automated customer service. Here you’ll find print ads, record album covers, and transparencies of Billboards, all McBain designed. Colleagues say he split his day between art-directing for Consolidated Manufacturing Company and for Johnson Publishing (Ebony, Jet). As one of Forbes' 30 Under 30, she's off to an incredible start. The article could be written today and feel pertinent (separate of the technology). Editor's note: Originally, the Lucidpress blog featured two different blog posts that highlighted two eras — past and present — of Black graphic designers. Check out Holton's awesome Daily Digits series, where she photographs numbers made of daily objects (like flowers, hairpins and gummy worms). Unfortunately, black businesses constitute a very small percentage of the total corporate population of America, and, as the graphic design business is a “business to business” service, black corporations provide little or no opportunity for black graphic designers. Michele Washington, who studied at the School of Visual Arts and Brooklyn's Pratt Institute before working for Vogue Butterick Patterns. Harris helped guide some of the largest public institutions, hospitals, and universities with systems planning. Her poster designs for Broadway and off-Broadway plays have been hung all around the city and featured in outdoor transit advertising. In fact, he's become a leader in AIGA, the largest community of design advocates in the nation. This event provides a platform for constructive conversation among those who design, innovate, and lead.". Yes, there are plenty of contemporary African-American Designers, Millennials, working in the field right now, but this article is about history, with one requirement being they must be older than I. He worked for Doyle Dayne & Birnbach in the 70s. After college, Anderson eventually landed at The Boston Globe for two years where she worked with those responsible for pioneering the new newspaper design of the late 1980s. When she isn't designing and overseeing creative work there—such as AARP's The Magazine and TheGirlfriend—she also creates compelling window displays and mannequin styles for The Gap. Her career in media is wide-ranging, from newspaper design at the Chicago Tribune and The New York Times to editorial art direction at Essence and Self magazines. Your email address will not be published. They never shied away from race in their work, opting instead to acknowledge it directly and challenge audiences to rethink their assumptions and prejudices. An active student, Dawson was involved in several jobs and student organizations. We start with Charles Dawson, who was born in 1899. Seven years later, he was the company's Art Director, overseeing a staff of 60 people. After graduation, the sunshine state was calling his name and Sims headed to LA. In 1959, he was the chairman for the International Design Conference in Aspen. Another round of gratitude for the African American Graphic Designers group on Facebook for being a constant source of inspiration and for introducing me to many of the folks on this list. Much of his art and illustration for the paper initially focused on Black rights, but it soon expanded to include women, children, and community figures, alongside the party’s focuses. He went on to work for CBS where he continued building his independent portfolio. Here, Harris really began to explore how to use and grow her skill set to create large-scale public information systems. Tim Hykes is a UX consultant and frequent speaker at design conferences including Adobe Max, Design + Diversity, and AIGA. His irreverent attitude toward race in his designs and lasting legacy through his time as an educator make Archie Boston one of the most prolific African American graphic designers of our time. From his first foray into the art world with the “Draw Me” test from magazines and TV of the 50’s and 60’s, Sim excelled. It is greatly appreciated. Great talent. During his time at university, he interned with the advertising agency Carson/Roberts, where he cemented his desire to work in design and eventually returned to work, years later. Learn more about Sylvia Harris at AIGA.org. Danita Albert One such aspirant designer is Danita Albert, a mechanical artist at New York’s Pace University. The late designer Sylvia Harris believed that only an increase in the numbers of Black designers doing this type of work could affect real and meaningful change. In 1980, along with two partners, Harris founded Two Twelve Associates, a graphic design consulting firm.