Essay - Gender inequality and the role of women in graphic design

(The purple writing is my thoughts on the quotes)

Gender inequality and the role of women in Graphic Design

Interview with Shelia DeBrettville

Interview with Sian Cook & Teal Triggs

https://issuu.com/rachel_irwin/docs/itc_report_rachel_irwin

The graphic design workplace:

During the 1990s there was a surge in the publications debating the lack of flexible working in jobs in general and specifically in the creative industries. Publications such as ‘Communications Arts’ brought the issue to the light;

‘This is not a women’s issue. I this a design issue. The need for flexible work schedules, family leave and feasible childcare, affects both male and female designers but are particularly critical to women who have traditionally been the caregivers.’ (Moira Cullen, 1993, p.27)

In the early stages of the realisation that there was an inequality within the creative industry, editorial design addressed the issue by giving the issue a voice and printed publications could be distributed to a large audience of people.

This feminist revolution and artist groups such as the Guerilla Girls, who created bold graphic posters tackling feminist issues, such as their 1989 image of Ingres’s Odalisque wearing a gorilla mask, with the text: ‘Do women have to be naked to get into the Met. Museum? Less than 5% of the artists in the Modern Art sections are women, but 85% of the nudes of female.’ (Allen, 2009)

More of a feminist movement highlighting the lack of women in the creative industry, interesting to see how they established an identity and have now well-known editorial pieces.  

The magazine industry has been a successful area for creative women for over 100 years; this success could be attributed to the social nature of women’s magazines, during the World War 2 magazines were at a distribution high as there were one of the few leisure activities aimed solely at women’s interest. This demand led to women taking on top roles in the industry, such a Cipe Pineles who became art director of Glamour magazine in 1942 and Estelle Ellis becoming promotional director of Charm in 1944. Estelle Ellis also took an active role in working with women designers on advertising campaigns, which was a new area for women to be involved in (Lupton, 2000). The demand for magazines dropped in the 1950s as TV became the entertainment of choice.

Look at the outputs back them and see the contrast to the magazines now to see if the design decisions are the same, maybe going back to the traditional design styles to take back the communication power creative women had during this time period.

Grafik magazine recently produced a special report on women in graphic design heroines.

‘My hope is that we won’t need special editions for female designers of today’s generation in tomorrow’s press.’ (Emmi Salonen, Grafik, 2008)

Find an example of a more neutral magazine that maybe doesn’t point out that the article is about a creative role model just because she is a woman.

‘Design is a profession that will ultimately be dominated by women. The numbers are there.’ Paula Scher

The graphic design workplace will adapt with the increased number of bolder and louder women, getting noticed more within the creative industry. Women need to help each other out more by not seeing other women as a threat, supporting women managers and their management style. Editorial design is starting to act upon this by having women designers promoting other strong creative women in a very positive way.