Design. Diversity. Two powerful words.

What happens when they collide?

Judith Thompson and Jade Tang-Taylor take a look at why diversity in design is important and highlight some great initiatives making Aotearoa New Zealand more diverse and inclusive.

2018 saw a number of events that brought design and diversity into a sharper focus and a closer relationship to each other. How we recognise good design was challenged. Industry body governance was put under the microscope. Hui and panels on diversity were organised. Emotionally charged online conversations took place. This is important, because if design has a diversity problem, it’s a problem for all of us. So much of what we encounter in the world is designed. Who is doing the designing diverse needs and opinions are not being expressed within the sector, if what we value as good design is skewed to a minority voice, then we are not using design’s full potential to create a better future.

One indicator of the sector’s diversity problem is the gender gap between studying design and working in design. In Aotearoa almost 70 percent* of design students in tertiary education courses are women. This is surprising because when we look at various gauges of what’s happening in the industry, like senior leadership positions, conference speaker line-ups, awards, industry body governance, we don’t get any sense of female dominance. Of course gender is only one marker for diversity, but how well a company or an industry does on gender equality, is a good predictor of how diversity is valued across the spectrum.

As we grapple with unprecedented social, health and environmental challenges, design’s role could not be more vital. If there was ever a time when diverse perspectives are needed to design our way to a better future, it’s now.

The Value of Design report published by DesignCo in 2017 shows design contributes over $10 billion to the economy of Aotearoa. only one component to the design economy. It is the increasing use of design and designers in all types of businesses and the way design has become the driver for innovation across multiple sectors that pushes the scale and impact of design.

Design also speaks strongly to our sense of self. Consciously other and see ourselves collectively as a nation. If we don’t recognise ourselves in all our diversity in the images, artefacts and environments we create, our connection and sense of belonging is weakened. But, when we experiences spaces like Ti Ara I Whiti, Auckland’s much loved lightpath designed to welcome everyone, use an app like Pepeha that normalises use of Te Reo, see a family like Dee and her transgender son Hunter as part of a corporate campaign, more of us feel included and connected. This is the power of design to change our minds, our cities and our sense of who we are.

Design is a powerful tool to challenge the status quo and see our show how designers are looking within to make the industry more diverse and using design to create a more inclusive and compassionate society.

* Tertiary Education Commission, 2010 – 2018 statistics.