"It's not just about talent. It's also about perseverance," said Denys Cowan, designer, director, illustrator, and one of the Organization of Black Designers' (OBD) DesignNation2 Conference panelists.
In effect, he captured the essence of this conference, the third such gathering of graphic designers, interior designers, architects, fashion designers, interactive artists, animators, illustrators, and the most interdisciplinary design conference one might encounter: being good is not good enough—you've got to prove it.
Most would take one hard worker over five geniuses any day. So give me one conference of 700 souls with ambition over any with 3,000 people celebrating the familiar. The people who labor to grow and develop the OBD's conferences are making this event one of the most diverse design conferences around today. That's good news for David Rice, conference founder. More people are coming to the OBD conference than ever, with nearly 700 attendees (double the attendance five years ago). The organization now boasts 4,133 members, making organizers' pool for drawing talent, content, and attendance wide and deep.
What is truly making this event unique is its ability to touch the lives of the professionals who go there. While Rice, Shauna Stallworth, Donna Wair, Barbara Laurie, and Patrice Green, labor to build a conference with the most design disciplines and cultural perspectives imaginable, the OBD DesignNation2 conference has come to play a role that is rare in the world of professional organizations. It resonates with passion.
Says Michael Davis of Magic Johnson Entertainment and Sweet Lorraine Productions, "Black people make such a huge impact on American culture today. If we can drive the popular culture, then why can't we define it professionally too? Well, we can. If those who have arrived at a certain level of professional accomplishment are willing to step up and create opportunities so that other young designers can achieve still greater opportunity."
This sense of duty, of professional commitment to lead and help others, was heard throughout the three-day event. Take Holly Hamilton, an African American designer who recently was made a Principal at Sussman Prezja Design in Los Angeles, one the nation's leading environmental graphic design firms:
"I was asked to be a speaker at the second OBD conference in Philadelphia," she recalls. "It was the first time in my career that I was able to share my work and experiences with a room full of people who share two things in common with me: my culture and my profession. That experience deeply moved me. After being an invited guest to that conference, I decided that from then on I would attend all future conferences. For me, the Atlanta conference was a family reunion."
What was the focus of the conference? "We will explore the exciting new ways the digital design revolution is reshaping Information,Communication, and Entertainment…[W]e will explore the work, ideas, and the new design culture of outstanding designers working in these three dynamically divergent areas," reads the conference guidebook.
Well, I am still trying to figure out how the "Brand Jordan" presentation by Nike is reshaping anything but Nike's excuse for selling Michael Jordan. And never mind that some presentations strayed from the point, or that some presenters exhibited a disappointing lack of personal work during their breakout sessions.
Never mind. Never mind. This being only its third conference, the OBD can be excused for program moments that were longer on self-promotion than on client work. That's because the sum of the conference has become more significant than its parts: it has become the most well-attended, most interdisciplinary, and most thorough survey of black design talent in America today.
Rice insists that the OBD conference not be labeled a "Black Thing." His goal is to make it the "United Nations of Design Conferences," the most multi-cultural exhibit of design thought in America—hence, "DesignNation." While some founding members of the OBD disagree a bit with his plans to make this predominantly black gathering one for all hues (they fear diluting its passion), Rice's ambition is noble, if ambitious. But ten years ago this conference would have been considered impossible, now it's anticipated. Rice might do it.
"American design is still 97 percent white, and most of the focus in national design meetings and publications is on their work," Rice says. "Our gatherings should set a different tone: they should welcome everyone, of any color, from any culture and all perspectives. It is my hope that this conference becomes a stage for the talent of anyone who thinks beyond the mainstream. That includes white kids with pierced noses."
While Rice plans his United Nations meeting, the OBD conference remains ultimately an experience black audiences are finding both intellectually stimulating and spiritually moving. Nearly all attendees describe their experience in emotional terms.
"When I came to my first OBD conference in Philly in ‘96, I was overwhelmed," says Ray Butts, communications design director at Nike in Portland. "I have long believed that African Americans make a huge contribution to design, but when I walked into that conference in Philadelphia, I had never seen so many black designers in one place, at one time, in my lifetime. I had to come to Atlanta; to learn, to enjoy, and to share ideas with people who have so much in common with my experience."
Others, like Auriea Harvey of New York, a new star in interactive-web design, were motivated to come to their first conference to prove to themselves that they were not alone: "A friend of mine from the Netherlands asked me what I was up to in April. I told him I had been invited to present my work at the OBD conference in Atlanta. He asked me, in half jest, if ‘OBD' stood for the ‘Only Black Designer.' At that moment, I said to myself, ‘that's it, I have got to be there.'"
With Dantley Davis of NetNoir (wonderful company name, by the way) of San Francisco and Michael Bell of Diamond Design Interactive in St. Louis, Harvey and her colleagues' presentation had enough big name clients and whiz-bang technology to make even a Michael from San Francisco wet. Their presentations told of their experiences as black design entrepreneurs and exhibited the joy of the imaginative process. It was the level of programming that the OBD will build upon in the years ahead.
A large measure of the continued growth of the conference can be attributed to David Rice, a veteran of industrial design with a successful practice in Washington, DC. His persistence and "won't-take-no-for-an-answer" attitude have built the conference's sponsorship base and driven successful black designers to participate, t is own frustration with the lack of visibility given to designers of color.
"For years I heard the complaints of my black colleagues that our work simply did not get the kind of recognition it deserved. But I don't put the responsibility on the white design community to promote the contributions of African American design. It is up to us to build a forum that demonstrates that the incredible contributions of minority designers do not occur in a vacuum. It is up to us to spread the gospel of our talents and contributions," says Rice.
During the closing address, Michael Davis told the audience that they would be in contempt of their profession if they did not join OBD and attend the next conference. When asked about his thoughts that day, Davis took the opportunity to reflect on why it is important for leading black talent to attend the next OBD gathering.
"Our kids grow up thinking it is easier to become a player in the NBA than to become a success as an artist. Why is that? Because black designers who have made it have not made themselves visible enough," says Davis. "I didn't go to Atlanta to party, that's what Freaknik's for. I was there on business. I was there to create opportunity for others and me. I was there to make a commitment to my profession and to my culture."
After running the conference as a biennial event for the past decade, the OBD plans to hold the conference every year beginning in 2000, when it is tentatively scheduled to take place in Miami, October 26-30, 2000.
It is certain to bigger and better than ever. Past attendees who come will embrace friends made at previous conferences. Newcomers will discover opportunities previously unknown. They will come and they will learn and they will meet many individuals responsible for the impact of Black Culture on America.
But perhaps most of all, they will discover that Black American Design is thriving. And that our industry and our culture are better for it. That should be motivation enough for any of us.
Meet me in Miami.