Panel 09 November 2018
Color Matters
6:00 pm - 8:30 pm

AIGA San Francisco

130 Sutter Street, Suite 600

SAN FRANCISCO

Event is over
schedule
6:00 pm
Doors Open
6:30 pm
Panel Discussion Begins
7:15 pm
Q & A
8:30 pm
Event Ends // Doors Close

How do we build a culture of design that incorporates a range of experiences and fosters inclusivity? When it comes to creating space for marginalized people, companies and media continue to struggle. In tech, the Bay Area’s leading industry, which intersects frequently with the design profession, leading companies continue to be predominantly white, especially the higher up you go.

From confronting implicit bias, changing the lens on hiring processes, to investing in projects and companies founded by people of color, we’re talking about how to create a design profession that presents a more inclusive array of voices and perspectives.

REFUND POLICY: We do not offer refunds. All ticket sales go directly to supporting AIGA SF programming and events.

Getting to AIGA SF

Street parking is limited and the nearest parking garage is located at Sutter & Stockton. We encourage guests to use car sharing or take public transportation. We're located blocks away from the Montgomery BART station. We cannot accommodate bikes in our space, however, secure bike parking is located at the Embarcadero BART station, a 15-minute walk to our office.

We want to make all AIGA SF accessible to anyone who would like to attend, no matter their income level. For this reason, we have a limited number of scholarships available. For more information, please email harper@aigasf.org. Include in the subject line "Scholarship Inquiry," and a brief paragraph about why you're seeking a scholarship and why you would like to attend the event.

Illustration by Hamda Al Naimi

moderator
speakers
Zar J.i Matthews
J. Zari Matthews studied Middle Eastern Studies and ISF at UC Berkeley. Her IRB-certified ethnographic research was conducted onsite in Cairo; it utilizes cognitive science, anthropology, and linguistics to examine concepts of identity among folkloric artists and entertainers in contemporary Egypt. Her research has received grant funding from the Sultan Grant for Arab Cultural Studies; UC Berkeley Center for Race and Gender Studies; HASTAC; and the National Science Foundation. She is a former Rosberg-Geist Fellow at the Center for African Studies.
speakers
Mike Nicholls, Founder & Creative Director, Umber Magazine
Mike Nicholls is a creative director, brand strategist, editor-in-chief, visual designer and illustrator. He translates ideas into visionary creative solutions utilizing 20+ years of design experience and natural talent. Mike is also the founder and creative director of Umber Magazine, the creative thinker's graphic journal. An Oakland CA-based printed publication that focuses on creative culture from distinctive perspectives and nuanced world views.
Kat Vellos, Senior Product Designe, Slack
Kat Vellos is a Senior Product Designer at Slack, where she helps users understand the value of Slack and how they can get the most out of it. Prior to joining Slack, she was a product designer at Pandora and Viv (acquired by Samsung). For the last 15 years she’s been practicing design in diverse roles including graphic designer, art director, experiential facilitator, non-profit program director, and product designer. She’s the founder and lead facilitator of Bay Area Black Designers, a professional development/community group for Black design professionals in the SF Bay Area. Kat enjoys being a part of creation cycles that educate, inspire and empower others to live their best lives possible. In her free time, you can find her thinking of ways to help people have better conversations Better Than Small Talk, hunting for tacos, inventing new chindogu, and learning about Pre-Columbian Mesoamerican history.
Isaiah Andrew, User Experience Design Creative Director based in the San Francisco Bay Area
Isaiah formerly served as the UX Creative Director at VSA Partners where he helped launched the IBM Design Studio in NY, Tokyo, and London. Isaiah was also the product design lead at various start-ups such as Advocate, TalkSession, and Citizen Made.
Danielle Forward, Product Designer, Facebook
Danielle is a Product Designer at Facebook where she helps bring the next billion online for Facebook Connectivity. After 10 years of working to pay her own way through college, she graduated as valedictorian with her BFA in Interaction Design from California College of the Arts in San Francisco. As a Native American of Pomo heritage, she learned early on how structural inequality impacts livelihood and access to opportunity for marginalized groups, and dedicated her thesis to economic empowerment for Native American communities through tech and design. She founded Native Rising, a website that highlights Native American role models in tech and fosters mentorship connections between Native tech professionals and students.
Dave Nguyen, Creative Lead, Pinterest
Dave is a Creative Lead at Pinterest, where he brings the brand to life through design thinking and storytelling. As part of the Brand Creative Department, Dave leads an incredibly talented team of designers, animators, and producers. Through his career, Dave utilizes his background in design on projects that range from creating the identity of companies reinventing the mode of transportation, crafting the story for thought leaders, to designing programs for non-profits focused on shifting the paradigm of poverty. He is an active leader in the creative community, teaching workshops, working with students on pitching their work and speaking at conferences to a designer community. Outside of his professional career, Dave is a California native with an adoration for exploring the world and capturing a moment or two through the lens of his camera.