This research project is mainly based on the article “What Color is Design?” by American industrial designer David H. Rice. In his writing, Rice states that within the American Institute of Architects, 380 members are black out of the total membership of 55,570 members, meaning less than 0.86% of the members are black. He states that, in Graphic Design alone, about 93% of working designers are white. This compares to the statistics of the United States 1992 census, where the recorded black population is 31.4 million out of a total population of 256.5 million (12.24%). Rice states that “There are no figures for other design professions, including interior design, because none of their professional design organizations have done a study” (Rice 221). During this …show more content…
He believes that “In many ways, design in America is sterile and dead, lacking in valid context and cultural relevance” (Rice 221). By “lacking cultural relevance” he means that there are little markers of contemporary state of culture, in contemporary design. He goes further with “lacking in valid context”, meaning that when any is applied, it has been appropriated. Detached from context, it loses importance and power. They have been too watered down by the narrow forms of production, which have been implemented by the same designers.
He also states that American design is not selling. A few reason for this is that it is missing out on ideas, concept, and new design that can be brought into the design disciplines. Without new design, demographics with high capital, meaning money to spend, have no place to spend said money. This market with high amounts of capital is not being appealed to. The market is cutting off consumers with vast capital from becoming active players in the national economy. This begs the question: how will the US appeal to a global market if it cannot even appeal to huge portions of its domestic