Essay - Design examples

Design examples for discussion

(I started to gather research on some design examples that may be appropriate to use in the essay)

Intern

http://intern-mag.com/mind-the-gap/

For a sector that prides itself on bringing imagination to life, the creative industry is depressingly conformist in its gender imbalance. Not only are women vastly underrepresented in creative workplaces (especially when it comes to leadership), we are discriminated against in the most insidious of ways – by the gender pay gap.

In 2015, the Design Council found that despite a female majority in tertiary design courses – the working industry is dominated by 78 percent male workers. This is an above average level of under-representation: across the whole working economy the figure is a lower 53 percent. And for those women who do make it – well – 68 percent of women designers are earning below the average salary in the design economy. It’s an echoing of the sad reality we know as women – that everything will take that much more grit because we are always less – less logical, less powerful, less heard, less safe and underpaid to boot.

Moving forward

 I’d also like to believe that men care enough too. It is frankly sad and it is tiring to think that we alone must band together to solve a situation that we had no hand in creating (not least because we weren’t allowed to). We are not the only industry with an imbalance, but are we not the industry to respond creatively to this mess? “The factors underpinning [the balance of power in the industry] are multitudinous – unconscious bias, historical lack of paternity support, sheer lack of confidence, lack of role models – but we now know that the more women we have in leadership roles, the more will rise. Equality begets equality. And we must do everything we can now to speed up the balance. We need every level, every discipline in design, and every gender to be a part of the solution,” says Nat, before elaborating on the necessity for industry-wide action from all genders. “That’s why we called it Kerning the Gap, and not ‘women in design’. Men simply have to be involved in the debate. It’s not enough to just ask women to ‘lean in’. That’s really important, but businesses have a responsibility to create environments where women can flourish too. We should know that women find it difficult to push for more pay, and act responsibly and fairly as employers, to encourage and facilitate the conversation.”

This is showing the importance of avoiding pointing out women as the gender behind certain designs, keep it neutral and not gender focused as this is the only way in which the gender gap is going to narrow. Editorial design decisions can be made in order to achieve this by simply avoiding the traditional masculine design styles and being very content aware.

Anxy: Masculinity

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/redindhi/anxy-the-masculinity-issue

·       Bold typeface

·       Bright but masculine colours to show a modern twist

‘Some of us feel we were shaped by masculine norms that existed before we were born; others feel capable of shaping masculinity into an evolving identity. Masculinity influences the relationships we have with our friends, our families, our work – and our inner worlds.’