Centered: People and Ideas Diversifying Design

by Kaleena Sales

A rich, inclusive, contemporary, and global look at design diversity, past and present, through essays, interviews, and images curated by design educator and advocate Kaleena Sales.

As the design industry reexamines its emphasis on Eurocentric ideologies and wrestles with its conventional practices, Centered advocates for highlighting and giving a voice to the people, places, methods, ideas, and beliefs that have been eclipsed or excluded by dominant design movements.

Curated by Kaleena Sales, a powerful voice and noted advocate for diversity in the design community, the thirteen essays and interviews in this volume feature important and underrepresented design work and projects, both historical and present-day, Gee's Bend Quilters, by Stephen Child and Isabella D'AgnenicaA Chinese Typographic Archive, by YuJune Park and Caspar Lam Indigenous Sovereignty and An Interview with Sadie Red Wing (Her Shawl is Yellow)The Truck Art of India, by Shantanu SumanNew Lessons from the An Interview with Ellen Lupton Vocal An Interview with Tré SealsDecolonizing Graphic Design, A Must, by Cheryl D. Miller And moreFilled with striking visuals from a range of global designers, Centered is a must-read and must-have for design practitioners, educators, students, and anyone interested in expanding narratives and gaining a more inclusive understanding of design diversity and its impact on culture.

Genres: Design, Nonfiction, Art

192 pages, Kindle Edition

Published October 24, 2023

Reviews

[Christy]

Interesting. Hadn’t done a lot of thinking about collecting documents as a colonial structure and semiotics as a function of nomadic lifestyles. Lots of beautiful images and global examples.

[Grant Emerson · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was transfixed viewing some of the images in this book. I hope design history becomes more holistic and not just all boring and white.

[Matt · Rating 3 out of 5]

While broadening ideas of design in some ways, in other ways this book limited them. Much of the text focused on various types of 2D design, like rug patterns and print and digital media. But there are diverse scholars and practitioners with expertise or professional experience in other areas of design. People like Kevin Bethune, Joyce Lee, Cliff Kuang, Bon Ku, and Ron Eglash might have been good candidates to interview for this book.