Kenneth Bailey is the co-founder of the Design Studio for Social Intervention, and with his colleague Lori Lobenstein, and their work with communities in Boston, have created a framework they call Ideas, Arrangement, Effects. This helps you see how big ideas (which we might call ‘beliefs’ in the UK) – like racism and which can be ‘invisible’ are translated into very visible effects (or outcomes) – like health or education which are experienced unequally through arrangements which can be social (like how service is designed) or physical (how a place is). But they can be rearranged and disrupted to create different outcomes.

Greg Bunbury is founder of Bunbury, a creative graphic design studio. Greg has been mentoring young black men and encouraging them to take up graphic design careers. Over the summer, he has been working with Brotherhood Media to create #blackoutdoorart, which uses billboards to provide a platform for black voices in the wake of Black Lives Matter, and to use the built environment to reshape the narrative that then informs the design of our worlds. He is interested in how marketing, advertising and UX design continues to drive 400-year old ideas around racism, and how graphic design can disrupt them.

Kathy Moscou’s background is eclectic and unique, merging visual arts and health. Her lived experience informs her art, focus on Black cultural aesthetics, contemporary design for social justice, and research focus – equity and empowerment of Black and Indigenous youth in Canada, United States, and across the African diaspora. Kathy is an assistant professor at OCADU in the Faculty of Design. She has a PhD in Pharmaceutical Sciences and Global Health; Master’s in Public Health; and BSc Pharmacy. Her Ph.D. research of pharma cogovernance and comparative health policy addresses equity in drug safety and governance to foster healthy communities. Participatory research with Indigenous youth used Indigenous frameworks to explore characteristics of healthy neighbourhoods and holistic health derived from urban gardening. Her art has been exhibited in Art Gallery of Southwest Manitoba, Royal Ontario Museum, M. Rosetta Hunter Gallery, Seattle and Bellevue Art Museum. Visit her website on www.moscouart.com

Join them in conversation this November where they will be discussing how design can disrupt racist ideas and beliefs and bring in different voices to create narratives that reshape our worlds.

Conversations with Black creatives (Nov) edition