Uncovering the Gender Gap in the Design Industry
To begin my inquiry I started with gathering references around the male gaze, the female gaze, and general feminist topics. In my research I landed on Joan Riviere 1929 writing, Womanliness as Masquerade. To quote Riviere “Womanliness therefore could be assumed and worn as a mask, both to hide the possession of masculinity and to avert the reprisals expected if she was found to possess it — much as a thief will turn out his pockets and ask to be searched to prove that he has not the stolen goods.”
And so I began to ask the question of how the putting on of a facade to conform to a male dominated world translates to today’s society?
From here I began researching the design industry landscape and came across the Design Councils 2018 report on the design economy. Hidden in this 45 page report is a small paragraph discussing the ‘design diversity challenge’ Within this are shocking statistics on the gender imbalance and salary disparity within the industry. It’s worth noting that this ‘challenge’ is placed between statistics on how well paid UK designers are and a large quote on how the industry is modernizing from a white male architect.
I then began gathering additional references around the design industry and data visualization.
My first iterations of making took the form of poster campaigns. These iterations conveyed the facts from the page 17 paragraph in the design council report. I wanted to put these facts on blast and give them the space they deserve and the visual space they need to occupy. Design elements were inspired by the design world and utilize data visualization to drive the statistics home. However, this still felt distant from my position and I wanted to explore making in a more tangible way, incorporating new and old references found in my research.
From there I began iterations of a publication relaying these statistics. I wanted my design to be informed by other women designers so I began researching female design type with badass Libre fonts by women – a collection of open source female designed fonts. I also explored the Malee Scholarship which supports women of color in type design and showcases an index of typefaces from around the world. I also dove into Women in Type, a website built to inform visitors on the history of women design typography and showcase many of the unknown type designers such as Dora Laing who first designed Times New Roman though she still is not credited for it. To inform the graphics of my publications I focused on Carolyn Davidson who designed the Nike logo for payment of 35 dollars. It took a decade for Nike to truly recognize her work.
With all these ingredients and utilizing the notions from my original references, a more complete final iteration was created to showcase the statistics from the design economy 2018. The form of this publication is a nod to the hidden truths of the industry and often masqueraded nature that being a woman in the design world often takes. To guide the viewer on their own journey of discovery the publication has interactive elements. My hope is for this to be a widely shareable but still digestible object to spread awareness for the gender gap in the design industry.
Moving forward I want to question the most effective way to present the gender gap to the design community? After this iteration I still question if the form needs to be louder, bigger, bolder. Taking up more space and making visibility inescapable and unignorable to spark the desire in others to make real change in the design industry.
References
Design Council (2018) ‘The Design Economy 2018 – the State of Design in the UK’, pp. 17
Riviere, J. (1929). Womanliness as Masquerade. International Journal of Psycho-Analysis Vol 9 pp. 303-313
www.design-research.be. (n.d.). ⚧ LIBRE FONTS BY WOMXN. [online] Available at: https://www.design-research.be/by-womxn/.
Artmonsky, R. (2016). Women in Type — Rediscovering women’s contribution to type history. [online] Women-in-type.com.
Available at: https://www.women-in-type.com [Accessed 29 May 2025].
Thisisloremipsum.com. (2025). The $35 Logo That Defined an Empire: Carolyn Davidson’s Nike Story. [online]
Available at: https://thisisloremipsum.com/post/the-35-logo-that-defined-an-empire-carolyn-davidsons-nike-story [Accessed 29 May 2025].
The Malee Scholarship. (2025). The Malee Scholarship. [online] Available at: https://themaleescholarship.org/type/ [Accessed 29 May 2025].
Font Degheest by Ange Degheest, Camille Depalle, Eugénie Bidaut, Luna Delabre, Mandy Elbé, May Jolivet, Oriane Charvieux, Benjamin Gomez,
Justine Herbel. Distributed by velvetyne.fr.
Font Romie by Margot Lévêqu
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