Andrew Moya’s Reviews > The Black Experience in Design: Identity, Expression & Reflection > Status Update

“your native tongue is the one that expresses you the best—not your adopted,forced-upon language” the idea that my intuitive graphic language has value/merit was a notion I’d retired after several institutional critique. This chapter shed clarity on why, and inspired a new exploration.

Pt 2. -class and my white professor was confused by the story. It was a short that showed a kid getting scared to get caught doing graffiti by the police. It wasn’t anything special and did deserve critique but as I stood in front of the class she asked, why was the character scared. She didn’t understand the character’s experience, and I was hesitant to explain in to my all white class. No one came to co-sign.

Pt1: Steve Jones presents a scenario in his essay Unvisible (What’s the Scenario?) that I hesitantly resonate with. I’m always weary of claiming being the victim of so type of discrimination, I always tell myself I must be mistaken, they didn’t mean it that way but the scenario detailed sent me back to a very specific moment in my academia. My freshman year I presented my final animation project to the…

Quinlin B. Messenger’s Some Life Lyrics has been my favorite collection of thoughts thus far. He articulates his position and methodology with a certain balance of grace and assertion that deeply resonates with my own personal methodology and ethos for self expression.

Flow of the book gets more digestible as you go

Key takeaways from the reading
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- “Contemporary Design”
- Does “Black Aesthetic” in Design exist?
- “addressing the unique cultural experience”
- Black inspiration is a powerful force attributed to the success of many artists (black and non black alike)
- Cubism is Black? (It is, sort of)

I often debate on reading the Forward when starting a new book. This one has two and they were both worth the read. It preps your mind for how to think about the material that’s ahead. Design is a part of power dynamics, a part of mass communication, it’s subtle with immeasurable effect. This book is for those who have the bandwidth to think critically.