Excuse the stupidity of my question but I have to ask.
Is any of you /gd/ers black? and do you know of famous/succesful black graphic designers?
I'm not biased, just wondering why I've never come across a black graphic designer.
>Pic related: Studio Muti in capetown South African
>not even the cat is black
>>241527
I worked with a couple of black GDers. Nothing really interesting, though. Most gravitate towards rap style album art with lots of bling.
>>241529
Sounds rather cliché. There must be one out there as hipster as me!
>>241532
of course there are, but a lot of them were influenced from their upbringing
i knew a black GDer that was really good conventionally esp webdesign, but his passion was comicbook art
i'm asian and mostly hung out with black hispanic and white people, basically non-asians. i gravitated towards fine arts and album art the most, with a emphasis on negative space and minimalism. i also loved da-da, robert rauschenberg, pollock, kurt schwitters, joseph cornell, rothko, cy twombly, which all have a big influence on my work
"Famous" would require a bit of a dig because the most famous graphic designers are from the history of it (swiss typographers, bauhaus, etc) and art/design history is pretty white-washed, unfortunately. I personally know 1 graphic black designer in my cohort who is excellent and probably in the top 2 or 3 at my university, if that counts for anything. Mostly Filipino and Korean students doing the best in my program, all the white kids are in painting or industrial design.
I'd be interested to know, I know there have been great efforts to get more black people in tech (black women specifically have increased a lot) but not things like design. When the graphic design canon was being laid down I feel like most connected black people were in the US or France/French colonies, and it was not a social environment that encouraged renown or fame for those black people :| Probably some sick shit coming out of Africa but no one was paying attention
>>241527
Yes, and so is a friend of mine.
Now that I think about it I can count on two hands the black designers I know, and they all have a very "urban", low-brow style. I think painting, music and writing are a lot more friendly to the artsy afro-american type, but I couldn't explain why.
I'm in an entry level GD class in my university and about half the class is black.
Nearly all of them (save for one) don't give a fuck about the class. Even though it's the major that they picked out for themselves, and they should take it seriously.
The one exception, sits next to me in class. He's a really talented artist, but is only really held back by the technical aspects of the programs. In traditional art he's great, and he has a great eye for design, but he lacks any kind of knowledge about Illustrator or Photoshop, so it really holds him back in that aspect. I'm pretty good with both, and I'm helping him get over that. Mainly because I have a lot of respect for him as an artist, and I'd love to see the kind of things he'd come up with once he's experienced with the programs.
He can't really wrap his mind around typography quite yet either.
My only real problem is he sometimes lacks any motivation to really push things further than what they need to be. And half the time he comes to class high.
We've become friends, and I really want him to succeed.
Don't want to start my own thread for this so I'll ask here.
What would be the best way to achieve the effect on the right for the image on the left? Greyscale then screw with the levels until I like the look of it?
>>241660
because you have racist ideas about what the artsy afro-american type is
Joshua Darden is a well-known, well-respected black designer. At least in type design circles. He's not famous in that "celebrity" sense though.
https://www.dardenstudio.com/
I'm black, but not a pro yet. I know a few black pro designers who've worked for some pretty big studios. Wieden and Kennedy being one of the more notable ones. Overall though, I can't say black people are well represented in design. I'm sure you can find a few working in editorial, but I haven't really seen many outside of that. Whenever I look at pictures of design events like AIGA awards, ADC awards and events, Creative Mornings events, I never see any black people in the audience.
Check this: https://instagram.com/coopertype/
One photo with one black dude out 98 photos, many of them group shots. lol damn. Don't get disheartened though.
