Have We Got News for You!

Time is flying. We’re mid-year already and D×D has been busy…really busy.

If you have been following Diversify by Design (D×D) on social media, you’re already aware of some of our recent activities. If you haven’t been following us on LinkedIn and Instagram, well, come join us!

Right out of the gate, we’re pleased to announce that we’ve welcomed OPENHOUSE Founder and Creative Co-Pilot, Nagela Dales, and Florida A&M University Division Director, Anosh Gill, to the Advisory Council (AC). We are delighted to have these two outstanding leaders bring their talents and vision to D×D and look forward to applying their contributions to D×D's mission. For more on Nagela and Anosh, check out this blog post.

In more good news, please meet K.C. Fabiero, DxD’s new Educator Program Manager. K.C.’s been in front of the classroom, at the helm of a school as a Principal, and behind the scenes as an education consultant—the perfect combination of skills, expertise, and experience to head up DxD’s education programming. Click here to get the upload and welcome aboard K.C.!

Now, onward!...

PROGRAMMING

Design=

Early exposure is key to building awareness, problem-solving skills, imagination, and possibilities in young people, and the Design= program and the companion Curriculum Kit, launched last August, were developed to do just that. 

D×D’s Core Partner Amazon has renewed their commitment to the initiative and will be co-hosting (with D×D!) Educator Design Workshops later this summer, where educators will learn about design thinking, the Design= curriculum, and network with Amazon designers. Locations, dates and times on the way to you soon. 

Then, later in the Fall, Amazon will once again host a student cohort on their campus to do a deep dive into the Design= Curriculum Kit—sparking their creativity, honing their critical thinking and teamworking skills, and connecting them with professional designers to lay a foundation for a potential career in design.   

But wait, there’s more! D×D Partners, Delta Dental, Intuit, and Workday have all focused their talent and resources on D×D's Design= initiative. 

Intuit ramped us up quickly to connect with the Cedar Hill Independent School District in Texas, where the Curriculum Kit was customized to introduce 130 students in their Robotics, Health Science, Engineering, and Biomedical classes to design, linking design thinking and concepts to their science studies. Ingenious and very cool. 

Then, Workday lent their design expertise at Hyde Park Academy in Chicago, where the Design= curriculum was deployed to approximately 120 high school students across five classes. A Workday designer, and D×D’s very own AC member, Kelli Wilbert, virtually joined the Hyde Park classroom, inspiring students to learn about design as a viable career.

Next up: D×D and Workday have partnered to create a 90-minute workshop of the Design= Curriculum Kit. It includes all the core components of the Design= curriculum in a shorter format, allowing students to learn about design, collaborate on new Workday design challenges, and engage directly with Workday designers. The workshops will begin this Fall. 

Looks like more than a few folks realize the importance of giving youth access to all the tools, resources, and possibilities that could be in their future.

As things heat up and the doors open for summer school and community-based programs, we encourage educators and design leaders (responsible for youth programming) to incorporate the Design= Curriculum Kit into their summer learning curriculum. And don’t forget that the D×D team is here to guide you every step of the way. Any questions? Get the info you need here.

D×D  Intensives

2024 is brewing up some exciting opportunities for D×D’s signature program, Intensives. The coalition team is in discussions with another New York-based university and a Florida-based HBCU to bring two new minority serving institutions to the DxD family. Two more opportunities  for industry partners to provide historically excluded design students with the opportunities to learn, create, and excel. Want to learn how your team or organization can make a positive impact on a student cohort and start to build a network of diverse talent? Drop us a quick note here.

Ask Me Anything…no, really!

D×D’s newest endeavor to help right-side the design industry is our “Ask Me Anything” (AMA) event series. 

AMA was developed to provide a platform for designers who champion diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging to answer questions about their journey to design, their experiences as a professional designer, or the things they create.

Our first AMA conversation was with Shawn Williams, Associate Footwear Designer at Vans and D×D AC Member. Shawn walked attendees through his unconventional journey from social work to design and how he managed…and still manages…the bumps in the road with virtue, integrity (his super powers!), and his vision of a greater good filled, with grace. Check out his talk here.

The most recent AMA virtual event featured Fringe22 Co-founders, Lara Alsoudani Weeks and Alfredo Weeks (who also serves as a member of the D×D Advisory Council). Lara and Alfredo led us in a candid conversation centered on diverse workplaces and what they mean for creatives of color. A conversation not to be missed—and if you did, well, we have the recording for you right here.

Scholarship Program

At the start of 2024, D×D joined forces with the Worldstudio Foundation and AIGA to manage the AIGA Worldstudio D×D Scholarship Program. This long-standing initiative was established to address the lack of diversity in the creative professions and foster social responsibility in the creative professionals of the future. Now, entering its 30th year, D×D is thrilled to be at the helm, to not only support the program, but to grow its reach to even more young creatives in various design disciplines with even more resources.

This year’s incredibly talented and illustrious jury pool has discussed and assessed applications in three disciplines: communication design, illustration, and photography. With 146 applications to review, they’ve had their hands full! 

Scholarship winners will be announced in late August, so mark your calendars and keep an eye out on D×D’s social channels to get a peek at the work of these truly talented students. 

COMMUNICATIONS

Social Media

D×D's LinkedIn and Instagram channels have been chock-full of content that's informed and inspired.

Check out either platform to learn more about women making design "her-story" because we continued our Women's History Month content past March (seriously, women's impact spans the confines of a month). Keep scrolling, and you'll meet some highschoolers who dove into the Design= Curriculum Kit and rather liked it..alot. You’ll also hear about what actually happened in that amazing collaboration within the Cedar Hill Independent School District’s Robotics, Health Science, Engineering, and Biomedical classes. Again, ingenious and very cool. 

You may have also caught the first two installments of “The Only” interview with Pratt graduate student Keyarow Mosely . “The Only” was created to give voice to and share lived experiences of being the only through a series of interviews with designers who have been “the only” somewhere, at sometime in their youth, formal or informal education, or career. 

Be sure to check out the third and final installment of Keyarow’s “The Only” interview, where she wraps up what it’s been like for her as one of the only Black women in her masters program at Pratt. Find out whether she’s lost faith or continues to walk her path with truth and grace. It posts on Wednesday, July 3rd.

Lastly, watch for the amazing creatives to be featured on our social channels throughout July and August. We asked our Advisory Council to recommend individuals who excel in the design space and should be highlighted, and they did not disappoint. Thanks to our AC, we are excited to introduce you to many new designers who will inspire. So keep an eye out.

That's it for now, but stay tuned—there's always more exciting news wherever D×D is!