For 15 years, Inneract Project has been serving the community with free youth design education programming. As you can imagine, our programs have evolved over the years. What was once a graphic design class is now a series of courses that aim to create a pathway into a range of design careers.

We recently had the chance to reflect on what 15 years looks like with our very first Volunteer, Luke Woods. Read his interview below to hear about the early days of IP and what empowering black & brown youth means for the future of design.

Inneract Project (IP) primarily serves middle and high school youth who identify as Black and/or LatinX, and/or come from low income backgrounds. Rather than offering isolated engagements, IP creates a long-term investment strategy with free design initiatives to introduce youth to creative career paths. In doing so, we work towards a vision of bringing design to local communities and increasing representation in technology.

Inneract Project started in 2004, with a purpose, to teach youth of color about design. As a grassroots organization, we learned, failed and evolved. It became apparent that without context, education would only have a marginal effect—if our students did not see designers that reflect the realities of their worlds, they might not see a place for themselves. The years of developing our program taught us that to impact students, we needed to think about multiple touch points, to develop a strategy for building retention and accountability.

Design Hour is a new Inneract Project event series of small gatherings and discussions covering a variety of topics; diversity and inclusion, education, art, culture, music, sports and how they all intersect with design. Design Hour in meant to provide attendees with an opportunity to engage with speakers, asking questions and participating in dialogue around the things they care about. Event time is capped at 1 – 1.5 hours max, with as little as 20 attendees to a max of 100.

This edition of Designed, features Liz Ogbu, designer, urbanist, and social innovation strategist. Liz talks about what she does, her process, how she got into design and family.

Inneract Project is a nonprofit organization working over 18+ years to empower the next generation of Black, Latinx and underrepresented designers of color. We care about uplifting the voices and creativity of designers of color, and introducing them to the many pathways in design.

We sent two IP Alumni to Spain with the Twitter team to attend Barcelona’s 18th annual gathering for creatives, the OFFF Conference. Meet Olivia and Saaleha…

We had the honor to chat with our friend, Marcos Chavez, a principal and creative director of TODA New York. TODA is a multi-disciplinary design studio in Brooklyn whose projects range from designing tea kettles to websites, creating books, chairs and exhibits, as well as packages and spaces. During our time with him, we had the opportunity to hear about his design process, work, and advice for youth.

When I first left Richmond, I was headed to college at University of Washington (UW) on a basketball scholarship. My first, and only, ambition was to play professional basketball. I had it all figured out. I would go to UW and dominate the Pac 10 (Note: Pac 12 was Pac 10 back in my days). My mentality was like most young basketball high school preps who had some success, and was heavily recruited to play college ball.

In 2015, Inneract Project hosted its first-ever panel on diversity and inclusion. That event brought forth an honest, open, and frank discussion about diversity issues in the tech industry and how to develop more informed inclusion strategies.

When I sat down to write this article, I did so with a bit of skepticism. In my mind, because there are so many articles about diversity these days, it is difficult to gauge the climate. I wonder if design diversity is getting worse or if it will ever change…I have been working to increase the amount of designers of color for a long time and have heard it all! That was my first thought anyways…

Diversity in design and technology leads to more creative, innovative and profitable solutions; in our industry, community and in the world that surrounds us. But when we examine personnel data, it’s apparent there’s still a large diversity gap. In 2015, only 6% of U.S. graduates in design fields were African American and only 10% were Hispanic. For these same professional groups, the disparity extends with African American and Hispanic employment representing only 3% of our workforce. We believe those numbers can be improved with a strategic deliverable being stronger inclusivity.

There are certain principles that define different aesthetics. One is psychological: the artist or individual perceptions of reality, how does this inform their work. The other is the philosophical: the study of how meaning or notions of beauty, art, and desire are associated as ‘collective truths.’ For the perspective of this thesis, my research reflects the philosophical ideals associated with Black culture.

We shot this video a long time ago. In fact this was when Arem worked as a Design Director for the New York Times Magazine. Currently, he is a Cross-Functional Creative Director within Apple’s Worldwide Marketing Department. During our time with Arem, we had to pleasure to chat with him about his work, perspective on diversity in design as well as advice for parents who have kids with creative interests.

The Black aesthetic evolved from a group initiative to enhance the image of the New Negro. In the mid 1920’s, at the end of the First World War, Blacks were faced with a new sense of hope and promise for the future. Expressions of racial pride encouraged Blacks through their art as a means for discovering and developing a system of African identity in America. As W.E.B. DuBois stated, “the great mission of the New Negro to America and the modern world is the development of art and the appreciation of the beautiful.”

Inneract Project started in 2004, directly as a result of Maurice Woods’ life. As a kid, Maurice always loved to create things but never considered it as a profession. As one of the tallest kids on the block, basketball seemed like the most logical career path. His athletic abilities helped him secure a college scholarship, but it would be another two years before he realized he could take his passion for creating and parlay it into a career in graphic design.

D’Wayne Edwards’ accolades precede him. He was the Design Director of Footwear for the Jordan Brand, one of six designers ever to design an Air Jordan 21 and 22, he has designed shoes at the highest level for today’s premiere athletes and teams, such as Michael Jordan, Carmelo Anthony, Derek Jeter, Roy Jones Jr. and 2004 National Champion and the University of North Carolina Tarheels.

Envisioning Blackness in American Graphic Design is a monograph written by Maurice Woods. The goal was to identify, from Black culture, an aesthetic in design that is easily recognized as arising from the uniqueness of the Black experience. The pretense is in support of increasing the value of diversity in design, one of Inneract Project’s future goals. We will release chapters of this monograph throughout the year. Share if you like these.